About Joel

Joel Busher is Professor of Political Sociology at the Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations, Coventry University. His research examines the escalation and restraint of political violence, mobilisation against minoritised groups, and the enactment and impacts of security policies. His work is published in leading journals in these areas, and he is the author of four books, including the forthcoming Routledge Handbook on Radicalisation and Countering Radicalisation. His book The Making of

Anti-Muslim Protest (Routledge) was awarded the British Sociological Associations Philip Abrams Memorial Prize. He is also joint editor of the volume Researching the Far Right: Theory, Method and Practice (Routledge) and is currently the principal investigator on a project that examines pathways towards and away from violence during periods of heightened activity by organised anti-minority groups, funded by the Centre for Research and Evidence on Security Threats (CREST). He has previously conducted CREST-funded research projects exploring processes of restraint within militant groups. He has also undertaken research on the conceptualisation of radical groups and their intersections with one another and with the so-called ‘mainstream’. Professor Busher frequently presents to and advises senior policymakers in the UK and internationally on how they respond to, interpret and implement counterterrorism and counter-extremism policy.