PRACTICIES Final Conference – Online sessions

toolbox_provaGiven the evolution of measures to prevent further spread of COVID19 in Europe, the PRACTICIES final conference scheduled in Riga on 25 and 26 March has been cancelled. The event co-organisers, Efus and the University of Toulouse, have adapted to these circumstances and the planned in-person meeting sessions will now be offered online.
Below is the programme of activities of the PRACTICIES final conference.

>>> Please note that you have to register seperately for each session <<<

Webinar 1, 27 March 11am – Session in French

> Introduction and welcome to the PRACTICIES final conference activities

  • Séraphin Alava, University of Toulouse-Jean Jaurès, PRACTICIES coordinator
    Séraphin Alava is professor of Educational Sciences at the University of Toulouse-Jean Jaurès and associate member of the UNESCO Chair in Prevention of Radicalisation and Violent Extremism. He is the author of many publications on radicalisation, violent extremism, social media, cyber violence and youth delinquency. He is the scientific leader of the PRACTICIES project.
  • Martí Navarro Regàs, European Forum for Urban Security
    Martí Navarro Regàs is a programme manager at Efus, where he follows several topics including radicalisation, public spaces, risk management and nightlife. He holds a Master 2 in political science specialising in public security policies from the University of Versailles-Saint-Quentin (UVSQ) and obtained a degree in criminology from the Open University of Catalonia (UOC). He also worked as a jurist-criminologist trainee for a Catalan prison.

> Experts panel 1: Young people’s perception of extremism, results of a Europe-wide survey and findings from the psychological approach

  • Nicolas Becuwe, KANTAR
    Nicolas Becuwe is Senior Director at Kantar with extensive experience in European public opinion and election research. Among other prestigious research projects, he is in charge of managing the Eurobarometer surveys for the European Commission and the European Parliament. He led the design, management and analysis of the research conducted through PRACTICIES among young Europeans about their attitudes towards violent radicalisation.
  • Dounia Bouzar, Bouzar Expertises
    An anthropologist specialised in religion, Dounia Bouzar has authored some 20 books on the management of Islam in businesses and institutions. An expert at the Council of Europe on the religious dimension of intercultural dialogue, she worked with the French Minister of the Interior between 2014 and 2016 on the issue of why youngsters were leaving their country to join Daesh in Syria and Iraq. She also contributed to the training programme delivered to staff in charge of de-radicalisation at the French prefectures.
  • Yanis Lammari, Youth ID
    Yanis Lammari is the founder and director of the “Youth ID” association. He has been working for many years on the topics of young people’s participation and mobility. He works with a number of researchers and international research institutions on youth issues. Youth ID seeks to prevent extremism among young people in a positive manner, using various tools for mobility and international solidarity.

>>> The PRACTICIES project conducted a Europe-wide survey on youngsters’ perceptions of extremism and developed a systematic psychological approach to radicalisation and deradicalisation processes. How are youngsters in different parts of Europe affected by rising tides of extremism and what can be done to support them and foster resilience? Leading researchers, practitioners and youth representatives discuss these questions and key outcomes of their research.

Documentation :

Webinar 2, 3 April 11am – Session in English

> Experts panel 2: Radicalisation through language, tackling polarisation and hate speech

  • Claudine Moise, University of Grenoble Alpes (tbc)
    Claudine Moise is professor of linguistics and French as a foreign language at the University of Grenoble Alpes. Her research interests include sociolinguistics, critical discourse analysis and conversation analysis. Recent publications cover discursive constructions of security, homophobic and anti-homophobic narratives, and verbal violence in the workplace.
  • Robert Örell, Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN)
    Robert Örell works as an independent consultant in the P/CVE field with a specialisation in capacity development and training. He has over eighteen years of experience in work with disengagement from violent political extremism and organised criminal gangs. He is the Director of Exit USA at the NGO Life After Hate and has the position as the chairman of the non-profit NGO Transform. He leads the Exit Working Group of the EU Radicalisation Awareness Network.
  • Valentina Dragos, National Office of Aerospatial Studies and Research (Office national d’études et de recherches aérospatiales, ONERA)
    Holding a Masters and a PhD in Computer Science from Paris V University, Valentina Dragos is a research scientist, member of the Department of Information Processing and Systems at ONERA, the French aerospace lab headquartered in Palaiseau, France. Her research interests include artificial intelligence, with emphasis on natural language processing, semantic technologies and automated reasoning.

>>> The PRACTICIES project conducted intense research into extremist online content and its lexical, linguistic and semantic features. How does radicalised discourse circulate online today and what is its performative relation to extremist violence on- and offline? How can linguistic and discursive research inform our prevention strategies, such as alternative narrative campaigns? This panel composed of researchers and practitioners will discuss these and related questions.

Documentation:

Webinar 3, 15 April 10 am – Session in English

> Presentation of the PRACTICIES Policy Paper

  • Rasha Nagem, University of Toulouse-Jean Jaurès
    Rasha Nagem is a doctoral researcher at the University of Toulouse-Jean Jaurès and programme manager for the PRACTICIES project. Her research focuses on radicalisation processes among young people and related prevention policies. She is involved in a number of European projects on topics of violent extremism, youth delinquency, migration and integration.

> Experts panel 3: Radicalisation prevention policies and strategies at the local, national and European levels

  • Rut Bermejo, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos
    A legal scholar and political scientist, Rut Bermejo is professor at the University Rey Juan Carlos (Madrid) where she directs the Masters degree in forensic profiling and criminal risk assessment (Perfiles Forenses de Peligrosidad Criminal). She specialises in European justice and home affairs and has worked with the Real Instituto Elcano on the Global Terrorism Programme.
  • Chafiaa Djouadi, University of Toulouse-Jean Jaurès
    Chafia Djaoudi holds a PhD in urban planning and human geography and is a senior researcher at the University of Toulouse-Jean Jaurès. Her research and project management activities focus on questions of social stability, territorial development and approaches to urban planning (decentralisation, governance, climate change, regional integration). She is an expert in gender equality and womens’ empowerment at the United Nations.

>>> The PRACTICIES project focused on the role of European municipalities and local stakeholders in the prevention of violent extremism, seeking to reinforce their capacities to understand and counter violent radicalisation and protect vulnerable populations. This panel presents and discusses key policy recommendations that resulted from this work and are directed at policymakers at the local, national and international government levels. Followed by an outlook on new EU funding programmes and closing remarks by Elizabeth Johnston and Séraphin Alava.

> EU new funding programming: Towards renewed cooperation

  • Marina Martínez, Framework Programme Officer at the Spanish Office for Science and Technology
    Dr. Marina Martínez is programme officer at the Spanish Innovation Agency (CDTI – Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnológico e Industrial, Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad) in Brussels. She is responsible for the capacity building activities of the European research and innovation programmes aimed at Spanish entities. She is also a “National Contact Point” for the European Horizon 2020 “Secure Societies Societal Challenge” research programme.

> PRACTICIES Final Conference closing remarks

  • Séraphin Alava, University of Toulouse-Jean Jaurès
    Séraphin Alava is professor of Educational Sciences at the University of Toulouse-Jean Jaurès and associate member of the UNESCO Chair in Prevention of Radicalisation and Violent Extremism. He is the author of many publications on radicalisation, violent extremism, social media, cyber violence and youth delinquency. He is the scientific leader of the PRACTICIES project.

>>> REGISTER <<<

PRACTICIES’ Toolbox presentations

>>> Additionally, we invite participants to have a look at the PRACTICIES Toolbox through the following presentations, whose contents and schedule are detailed below. They will focus on the tools developed by the PRACTICIES experts for professionals specialised in the prevention of violent extremism, and are aimed at providing local and national stakeholders with news ideas and strategies in this field:

> Toolbox presentation 1: Extremist content analysis tool

31 March 11am – Presentation in English

This session will provide a description of the “Extremist content analysis tool” implemented as part of the PRACTICIES project’s WP7 – “Fighting with effective tools against digital radicalisation”. This tool will help radicalisation-detection experts to handle the huge amount of data that social media such as Twitter, Facebook or chat forums provide by highlighting comments, sites or users with relevant radical characteristics in order to detect faster elements of interest. Such an analysis of social media contents obviously entails significant security and ethical constraints, which is why this tool is strictly restricted to radicalisation experts such as police and national security and intelligence services.

  • Joaquín Lago, Gradiant
    Joaquín Lago Fernández graduated from the University of Vigo in Telecommunications Engineering, in 2010. He also holds a Masters in Telematics Engineering (2011) from the same University. Between 2008 and 2014, he worked as a researcher at the University of Vigo’s Information Technology Group (GTI), focusing on areas such as security with electronic identity cards (eDNI) and communication protocols design. He has been working in Gradiant since 2014, where he is currently developing NLP (Natural Language Processing) tools and technologies and focusing his research on the analysis and visualisation of the extracted data.
  • Adrián Abalde, Gradiant
    Adrián Abalde Méndez has a degree in Telecommunications Engineering / Speciality in Telematics from the University of Vigo (2015). After graduation, he worked for two years as a software developer in large IT companies, mainly in  the retail and telco sectors. He joined Gradiant in May 2017 as a developer-researcher and has since worked on Big Data projects, focusing on natural language processing technologies and developing the various architectures that support these systems.

Documentation:

> Toolbox presentation 2: Citizens Agora

31 March 12pm – Presentation in English

A Citizens Agora offers a space for inclusive citizenship participation and empowerment at the local level in order to prevent early anti-democratic extremism and violent radicalisation. Citizens Agoras can provide information and training for different target groups, bring together groups for better mutual understanding, and offer a space for dialogue and discussion, thus giving a voice to those who often have no or little access to public debate. In all their forms, Citizens Agoras enable democratic experience, empowerment and self-efficacy. Heiko Berner and Markus Pausch speak about the experiences and lessons learned in the PRACTICIES project.

  • Markus Pausch, University of Applied Sciences, Salzburg
    Markus Pausch is an Austrian political scientist and author and professor at the University of Applied Sciences Salzburg. Until 2014 he was head of the Centre for Future Studies in Salzburg. He researches and teaches on social and political future issues in the European multi-level system, including democracy, participation, migration and innovation.
  • Heiko Berner, University of Applied Sciences, Salzburg

Documentation:

 

> Toolbox presentation 3: Digital Me

7 April 12pm – Presentation in French

The Digital Me Teacher Toolkit provides secondary school teachers and trainers with a course for young people aged between 14 and 18 that seeks to promote active citizenship. During the course, students create a digital story: a short video (1-3 minutes) expressing their opinion on a topic through images and a voice-over. The stories are shared within a Story Circle, where students must ask and answer questions about their work and offer feedback to others in the group. They thus are encouraged to think critically about the information they encounter whilst learning to participate actively in a group. In general, the stories they produce address an injustice or raise awareness of an issue. In this manner, students feel empowered in their ability to solve problems in society from within.

  • Veronique de Leener, Media Actie Kureghem (MAKS)

Documentation:

> Toolbox presentation 4: Newscraft, a serious game

14 April 11am – Presentation in French

Within the framework of the PRACTICIES project, the company Vertical has worked with the University of Lille, through the GERiiCO research laboratory, to create a serious game on media and information literacy. It seeks to help young people acquire critical thinking skills in order to better sift through all the discourses and images they regularly access through different media at a time when the danger of “fake news”, so-called “conspiracist” narratives and radical propaganda fuels intense public debate.

  • Céline Matuszak, University of Lille
  • Aurélia Lamy, University of Lille

Documentation (in French):

Newscraft – a serious game presentation

>>> Find out more about the PRACTICIES project

>>> Find the replay of the sessions here

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