Through a series of research projects, I've looked at the ideological, operational, and discursive facets of global jihadism. My interest is in the interaction between ideological claim-makers, their opponents, and their constituencies, and how this produces the conditions that support or constrain violence.  

In developing this research, Gilbert Ramsay and I carried out a project exploring the ideological constraints that influence the violent practices of 'grassroots' jihadists. Uncovering two quite distinct targeting and operational profiles exhibited by those with links to wider militant networks and those without such ties, we developed an account of what might inform these two distinct global jihads. Some of the findings of this research have been published in the Journal of Strategic Studies in a paper exploring: Leaderless Global Jihadism: The Paradox of Discriminate Violence and a paper analysing the characteristics and qualities of prominent jihadist ideologues: Radical distinctions: a comparative study of two jihadist speeches,

I've delivered my work on militant Islamism to a range of audiences. As well as academics, I have presented to practitioners in both statutory and third sector settings, policy-makers, and counter-terrorism professionals. You can see more of my academic output and commentary on issues of security, counter-terrorism and jihadism here.