However, other than anecdotal stories and professional observations, there is little information regarding how many young people are actually ‘at risk’, how much younger this cohort is, and when this phenomenon began to occur.
Utilising Australia Jihadism as a case study, the following presentation will unpack when this shift began to occur and (using a definition of ‘at risk’ not based on geographic or demographic factors) how large this population is.
Moreover if this shift in demographic is as significant as stated, this has serious implications for how Western governments conduct their counter-terrorism and countering violent extremism work. While CVE already faces serious issues in identifying and reaching the exceptionally small number of individuals who radicalise towards violent extremism, this presentation will explore some of the additional challenges that working with this younger cohort will present for Western society.
Shandon Harris Hogan is an Australian Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) consultant with experience working for both university and government organisations. Formerly a Researcher at the Global Terrorism Research Centre (Monash University) and a graduate of Monash University’s Masters of International Relations program, Shandon is currently a Visiting Research Fellow at the College of Asia and the Pacific (Australian National University).
Shandon’s research focuses on understanding violent extremism and analysing the structure of terrorist networks. This work has been published in a number of leading academic journals including Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, Terrorism and Political Violence and Behavioural Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression, and in 2014 he was named the Future Strategic Writer of the year by the Institute for Regional Security.
Shandon’s applied research focuses on helping to facilitate disengagement from violent extremism through the design, implementation and evaluation of CVE programs and policy. Since 2010 he has been involved with a dozen Counter-Terrorism and CVE applied research grants with partner agencies including the Australian Federal Police, Victoria Police, the Federal Attorney-General’s Department and the Australia New Zealand Counter-Terrorism Committee.
Shandon has also delivered presentations at a range of international and domestic academic conferences, lectured in post-graduate university courses and briefed high level government and police officials on matters of terrorism, security, international relations and religion.