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Thomas Renard

Senior Associate Fellow

+32 (0)471 325285

EU strategic partnerships, emerging powers, global security, terrorism, cyber

Biography

Dr. Thomas Renard joined the Egmont Institute in 2009 and was a Senior Research Fellow until 2021, when he became Director of the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT) in The Hague. He remains closely involved with Egmont as a Senior Associate Fellow. 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, 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 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.  

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. 

He is an Adjunct Professor at the Brussels School of Governance, an Associate Researcher at Ghent University 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 has a MA in International Affairs from the George Washington University (GWU) and a MA in Journalism from the Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL). Previously, he worked as a journalist and as an analyst for US think tanks, based in Washington DC.

 

ACTIVITIES

-24 June: Thomas Renard had a briefing discussion on radicalisation in prison with US counterterrorism officials (US State Department)

-22 June: Thomas Renard presented his research on terrorist recidivism at a webinar hosted by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy

-15 June: Thomas Renard participated to the Steering Committee of the EU-funded EMMA project, on multi-agency response to radicalisation

-28-29 May: Thomas Renard was a speaker at an InfoEx workshop on recidivism and deradicalisation, organized by DGAP.

-27 May 2020:  Presentation on terrorist recidivism for UN personnel, during a webinar hosted by UNOCT and UNCCT

 

Publications