The CANSES Executive

Dr. Amarasingam is the author of Pain, Pride, and Politics: Sri Lankan Tamil Activism in Canada (2015) and co-editor of Stress Tested: The COVID-19 Pandemic and Canadian National Security (2021) and Sri Lanka: The Struggle for Peace in the Aftermath of War (2016). He has also published over 60 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, presented at over 100 national and international conferences, and written for The New York Times, The Monkey Case, The Washington Post, CNN, Politico, The Atlantic, and Foreign Affairs. He has been interviewed on CNN, PBS Newshour, CBC, BBC, and various other media outlets. An experienced field researcher, he conducted hundreds of interviews for his doctoral dissertation on social movement activism, organizational dynamics, and youth identity within the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora, as well as over 50 interviews with former Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE, or Tamil Tigers) fighters in former war zones of Sri Lanka in 2013 and 2014. He has also conducted field research in Syria, Iraq, Morocco, Somalia, Lebanon, and Israel/Palestine. He co-directed a six-year study of foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq, based at the University of Waterloo, during which he conducted numerous social media and in-person interviews with current and former foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq, as well as relatives and close friends of those who left to fight. He also conducted several interviews with former far-right extremists and conspiracy theorists.

In addition to presenting at numerous national and international forums, Dr. Davies has also presented at briefings for the Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (“E” Division), the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and Public Safety Canada, and has testified on national security matters before the Canadian Parliament as well as the Standing Senate Committee on National Security and Defence.

She organizes and hosts the C-REX webinar series “Researching the Far Right: Methods and Ethics.” She received the FRQSC Paul-Gérin-Lajoie Relève Étoile Award for the empirical contributions of her article published in the Canadian Journal of Sociology and the Léon-Dion Award for the best article published in Politique et Sociétés in 2018-2019.

Dr. Hassan is a member of the RCMP Management Advisory Council and was a member of the Department of Canadian Heritage’s Expert Advisory Group on Online Safety. In addition, she is a researcher and senior clinical advisor at SHERPA-Research and Action on Radicalization and Social Suffering (SHERPA-RAPS) at the CIUSSS West-Central Montreal. Her systematic reviews, research, and clinical activities are focused on four major areas of clinical cultural psychology: 1) social suffering, intercommunity relations, hatred, racism, and extremist violence; 2) intervention in family violence and cultural diversity; 2) identity, belonging, and mental health of children and adolescents from ethnic and religious minorities; and 3) work with vulnerable immigrants and refugees.

Dr. Hofmann’s current research interests focus on five broad areas: terrorism and political violence, charismatic leadership, right-wing extremism, apocalyptic and millenarian groups, and criminal and illicit networks. David is a mixed methodologist, with a particular interest in social network analysis.

Michael works to use behavioral science to counter violent extremism. He draws on his academic training and knowledge, as well as his experience working at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and Public Safety Canada. Michael received his PhD in social psychology from McGill University, where he studied how individuals legitimize the use of terrorism.

Dr. Kitchen served as Co-Director of the Canadian Network on Terrorism, Security and Society (until 2023) and serves on the Executive Committee of its successor, the Canadian Network for the Study of Security, Extremism and Society (CANSES), where she co-leads the CANSES Early Career Scholars Working Group. She has published widely on gender and national security, heroism and global politics, international relations pedagogy, mega-event security, Canada-US security relations, and transatlantic security relations.

Dr. Thompson served as Associate Director of the Canadian Network for Research on Terrorism, Security and Society from its inception to its completion (September 2012 to May 2023) and co-chaired the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police Research Advisory Committee from 2018 to 2023. Her recent and ongoing research focuses on hate crimes, extremist violence, programs to prevent and counter violent extremism, community reporting thresholds and preferences in the context of hate crimes and violent extremism, and the evaluation of violence prevention programs and policies. Her research utilizes mixed and community-based participatory methods, deep engagement with security practitioners, and various knowledge mobilization activities to foster concrete policy and societal impact.

She has participated as a principal investigator in multi-year, multi-center research projects funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Public Safety Canada, Defense Research and Development Canada, and the United States Department of Homeland Security. Dr. Thompson has presented her research findings at various national and international academic and practitioner conferences and has briefed senior government and security officials on issues related to hate crimes, violent extremism, preventing and countering violent extremism, and program evaluation.