28 & 29 SEPT 2026 | CONFERENCE VORTEX Transfer

On behalf of the VORTEX doctoral network (Coping with the Varieties of Radicalization into Terrorism and Extremism), a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions funded by the EU, we are pleased to invite you to our upcoming Transfer Conference which will be held in Brussels from the 28th to the 29th of September 2026.

This event marks the end of our project and will allow a reflection on our achievements as well as the next steps. It is also specifically designed as a space to bridge the gap between academic research and real-world application by bringing together leading scholars, industry practitioners, and policy makers.

The conference will serve as a platform to present the findings and work developed by our team of doctoral candidates over the past years. Our goal is to foster a dynamic exchange of ideas that can inform future policy frameworks, enhance practical interventions, and deepen theoretical understanding of radicalisation.

Below, you will find our preliminary program.

Please confirm your attendance by the 1st of September via this form

Due to the high demand and limited space, we might have to close the registration before September if we already have the maximum amount of people our venue can welcome.
Similarly, please contact us as soon as possible if you have registered but can no longer attend so we can give your spot to someone else.

You can do so at: mens@staff.uni-marburg.de

Fees and Dietary Requirements
The attendance to the conference is free.
Travelling fee, consumables or accommodation will not be covered for this activity.
Your registration includes two coffee breaks and lunch which we will completely take in charge but please let us know through the registration form if you have a specific diet or any allergies.

“Online environments as data sources for researching extremism”
Dr. Kathleen Blee, Joshua Farrell-Molloy, Marzena Oliveria Ribas, Heidi Campana Piva
This roundtable will address the data collection challenges as well as legal issues that come with working with online extremist content. It will also talk about the specificities the researcher faces with this immersion in online extremist spaces, in comparison to fieldwork in physical spaces.

“How is prevention produced?”
Dr. Charlotte Heath-Kelly, Lotta Rahlf, Laura Stritzke, Camilla Winde-Gissel, Rohan Kit Bains Stevenson
This roundtable interrogates the main logics underlying prevention in Europe and explores how they produce different realities across different countries. It also highlights various consequences of prevention, including harms and ambiguities.

“Informing radicalisation research through the concept of securitization”
Dr. Robin Andersson Malmros, Violette Mens, Orwa Ajjoub, Javid Ibad
In this roundtable, the participants will discuss how they can apply the concept of securitization to their own research, its limits and interest for the field. Indeed, radicalisation research is highly intertwined with politics and security concerns. Yet, it remains unclear how the concept of securitization can inform this research field, especially regarding very different field works.

Dr. Sebastien Tutenges – “Resistance to Jihadism and Grassroot Prevention in Street Culture”
Over the past two decades, there has been a convergence between criminal networks and violent jihadist groups. Whether in the case of the Islamic State or Al-Shabaab, extremist groups often include individuals with criminal backgrounds. A substantial body of research has examined this phenomenon, focusing on why individuals with criminal pasts are drawn to extremist groups, how they are recruited, the threat they pose, and how they disengage. This talk takes a different approach by examining why and how the majority of individuals with criminal backgrounds resist and actively oppose jihadist ideology and its proponents. The analysis draws on ethnographic fieldwork conducted among Muslim individuals involved in street life and crime in Norway. The article highlights (1) how these individuals socially represent those they label as “jihadists” and (2) how they act towards them. It underscores the importance of grassroot prevention, that is, preventive actions undertaken directly by friends, family members, or actors involved in street crime, who intervene at an early stage to limit radicalization and counter jihadist influence.

“Intersectionality and (counter)radicalisation”
Dr. Sebastien Tutenges, Joshua Farrell-Molloy, Camilla Winde-Gissel, Rohan Kit Bains Stevenson, Violette Mens
This roundtable dives into the intersectionality debate, questioning how gender, race, class or even age can impact different aspects of radicalisation at the individual, group and society levels. Here, discussants will present their own research and how these various questions impacted their work and observations.