Biography

​Dr. Thomas Renard, PhD, is the Director of the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT), in The Hague. His research focuses on (counter-)terrorism and (counter-)radicalization in Belgium and in Europe. His recent research has focused on the evolution of counter-terrorism policy in liberal democracies since 2001, on (returning) foreign fighters, on radicalization in prison and on terrorist recidivism. His latest book is The Evolution of Counter-Terrorism since 9/11 (Routledge, Fall 2021), whereas his research has been published in many journals and think tanks, including: International Affairs, Perspectives on Terrorism, CTC Sentinel, Cambridge Review of International Affairs, ICCT or RUSI. He presented his research findings in many policy venues, including the UN Security Council, UN CTED, the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF), or the European Parliament, among others, and his recommendations inform regularly global policy discussions. He also contributes regularly to media worldwide (New York Times, Washington Post, Guardian, BBC, Le Monde…). Previously, Dr. Renard was a Senior Research Fellow at the Egmont Institute in Brussels (2009-2021) and an Adjunct Professor at the Vesalius College/Brussels School of Governance. He also worked with the Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation (as the head of the Brussels office) and with the Jamestown Foundation, a US think tank. He started his work on this topic as a data-entry analyst for the Center on Terrorism and Intelligence Studies (CETIS) in the US, contributing to the elaboration of the Global Terrorism Database (GTD) hosted by the University of Maryland, the largest database worldwide on terrorist incidents. During a brief moment, he also worked as a journalist, for Le Soir newspaper.

​Other topics of research include cyber-diplomacy, as well as the EU’s strategic partnerships in the context of the multipolarisation of international affairs. He edited notably the book The European Union and Emerging Powers in the 21st Century: How Europe Can Shape a New Global Order (Asghate, 2012, with Sven Biscop). His publications have been translated in Chinese and Russian, notably. 

Dr. Renard is a Senior Associate Fellow at the Egmont Institute and at the UNESCO-PREV Chair at the University of Sherbrooke. He is also a member of the expert pool of the EU’s Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN) and sits on a number of scientific committees. He obtained his PhD from Ghent University in 2021, and was awarded the ‘Best Doctoral Dissertation on Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism’ by the Terrorism Research Initiative (TRI) in 2021. He has a MA in International Affairs from the George Washington University (GWU) and a MA in Journalism from the Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL).