BiographyDr. Thomas Renard, PhD, is the Director of the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT), in The Hague, since September 2021. His research focuses on (counter-)terrorism and (counter-)radicalisation in Europe. His recent research has focused on the evolution of counter-terrorism policy in liberal democracies, on anti-government extremism, on (returning) foreign fighters, on radicalization in prison and on terrorist recidivism. His latest monograph is The Evolution of Counter-Terrorism since 9/11 (Routledge, September 2021). He also co-edited two books in 2024 (ICCT Press): Russia and the Far-Right: Insights from Ten European Countries; and Female Jihadis Facing Justice: Comparing Approaches in Europe. 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), the European Commission and the European Parliament, among others, and his recommendations regularly inform global policy discussions. He also contributes regularly to media worldwide (New York Times, Washington Post, Guardian, BBC, Le Monde, etc.).
Dr. Renard is a member of the steering committee of Europol's European Counter-Terrorism Centre (ECTC) Advisory Network on terrorism and propaganda. He is also a Senior Associate Fellow at the Egmont Institute and at the UNESCO-PREV Chair at the University of Sherbrooke. He is an active member of the EU's Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN), having authored several reports, including the RAN Manual on Responses to returning foreign terrorist fighters and their families, as well as contributing to RAN trainings, workshops or tailor-made support services. He is also the Chair of the Steering Board of Perspectives on Terrorism, a leading academic peer-reviewed journal, and he sits in various scientific committees or advisory boards. Furthermore, Dr Renard is member of the International Gender Champions (ICG), committed to ensure gender equity in his work and organisation. 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 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). |
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