Periodic Reporting for period 1 - D.Rad (De-Radicalisation in Europe and Beyond: Detect, Resolve, Re-integrate)
Période du rapport: 2020-12-01 au 2021-11-30
The first phase of the project has been an intensive working period for the whole Consortium. The cooperation between partners has run efficiently, and partners have worked hard in order to complete the large number of country reports submitted in the first year of the project.
During the reporting period, we have organised two project meetings: the kick-off meeting (3-4 December 2020, Online), and the annual project meetings (21-22 October 2021, London and 24 October Belgrade). Additionally, the steering committee had monthly online meetings (12) and work packages and task-force teams have organised regular meetings with the participation of involved partners. The Advisory Board members took part at the meeting at the kick-off and the London meeting in October.
While the consortium has carried out expert interviews for WP4 and WP5, the consortium ultimately was forced to delay primary data collection in the face of the pandemic for the second year. Nonetheless, over 65 expert interviews were conducted across the 16-countries of the consortium for WP4 reports – to map out the existing de-radicalisation legislation and associated programmes within each country. Currently, the consortium is finalizing its interview and recruitment strategy for the D.Rad youth and intervention work packages of the project. Finally, the consortium has progressed with the D.Rad survey questions and scheduled a delivery plan for this survey, which is due to be launched imminently.
During the reporting period, we have organised two project meetings: the kick-off meeting (3-4 December 2020, Online), and the annual project meetings (21-22 October 2021, London and 24 October Belgrade). Additionally, the steering committee had monthly online meetings (12) and work packages and task-force teams have organised regular meetings with the participation of involved partners. The Advisory Board members took part at the meeting at the kick-off and the London meeting in October.
While the consortium has carried out expert interviews for WP4 and WP5, the consortium ultimately was forced to delay primary data collection in the face of the pandemic for the second year. Nonetheless, over 65 expert interviews were conducted across the 16-countries of the consortium for WP4 reports – to map out the existing de-radicalisation legislation and associated programmes within each country. Currently, the consortium is finalizing its interview and recruitment strategy for the D.Rad youth and intervention work packages of the project. Finally, the consortium has progressed with the D.Rad survey questions and scheduled a delivery plan for this survey, which is due to be launched imminently.
The project is satisfied to have delivered 16 of our promised deliverables during the first year of the project which reflects a team effort across the international consortium. Despite the difficulties imposed by COVID-19, we have been successful in organizing monthly online team meetings (12 to date) and sharing responsibilities between partners to achieve the objectives set out. Additionally, we have published 32 blogs on our website.
With regards the milestones, the first year of the project has focused on the detection of trends: to identify the actors, networks, and wider social contexts driving radicalisation, especially in the emerging context of everyday polarisation over mundane issue in micro-spatial environments, in order to base interventions in evidence grounded in contemporary data and methodologies. This has been achieved in trends, stakeholders, legal and media and cultural aspects of radicalisation/deradicalization focused reports (WPs3-5).
With regards the milestones, the first year of the project has focused on the detection of trends: to identify the actors, networks, and wider social contexts driving radicalisation, especially in the emerging context of everyday polarisation over mundane issue in micro-spatial environments, in order to base interventions in evidence grounded in contemporary data and methodologies. This has been achieved in trends, stakeholders, legal and media and cultural aspects of radicalisation/deradicalization focused reports (WPs3-5).
For the second year we have already scheduled events, including a large consortium meeting to be held in Helsinki in June 2022. Our iGap survey is due to be launched shortly and we are excited to be moving in to the next phase of the research project. As we move through the second year, we will recruit participants for the intervention work packages and begin to test our initiatives across the countries of the project.
One of the largest challenges faced in the project thus far has been the termination of Yarmouk University (YU) from the D.Rad consortium. This has caused organizational difficulties and involved considerable bureaucratic work for the GCU team to facilitate the departure and consequent Amendment process required. This has taken almost a full year and still not fully resolved. The COVID- 19 pandemic has continued to pose difficulties to the project as we have been limited with regards to arranging physical meetings and conducting our research. To mitigate these challenges the lead has organized monthly steering committee meetings, online consortium meetings in May, June, September as well as in person meetings in London and Belgrade. Also, the consortium found an opportunity to talk to each other at D.Rad research days organized in line with the online launch for D3.1 and D3.2 as well as on occasions of D.Rad guest speakers.
One of the largest challenges faced in the project thus far has been the termination of Yarmouk University (YU) from the D.Rad consortium. This has caused organizational difficulties and involved considerable bureaucratic work for the GCU team to facilitate the departure and consequent Amendment process required. This has taken almost a full year and still not fully resolved. The COVID- 19 pandemic has continued to pose difficulties to the project as we have been limited with regards to arranging physical meetings and conducting our research. To mitigate these challenges the lead has organized monthly steering committee meetings, online consortium meetings in May, June, September as well as in person meetings in London and Belgrade. Also, the consortium found an opportunity to talk to each other at D.Rad research days organized in line with the online launch for D3.1 and D3.2 as well as on occasions of D.Rad guest speakers.