About Levi

Dr Levi West is an internationally recognised authority on terrorism and counter terrorism. He is currently a Research Fellow at the Research School of Social Science at the Australian National University, working on an Office of National Intelligence funded grant, researching radicalisation. From 2013 to 2022, Dr West was previously the Director of Terrorism Studies at the Australian Graduate School of Policing and Security at Charles Sturt University in Canberra, Australia (CSU) for over a decade. Additionally, Dr West is the Director of Praxis Advisory, a bespoke consultancy service providing a diversity of strategic advisory services to a broad range of government stakeholders, particularly within the national security domain. Dr West is also an Adjunct Fellow with the Irregular Warfare & Special Operations program at UNSW Canberra; an Adjunct Research Fellow with the Institute for Sustainable Industries & Liveable Cities at Victoria University; an expert with The Cipher Brief; and a Director of Leviathan Analysis Advisory. He is also a 2024 Fellow with the Irregular Warfare Initiative, a joint project of Princeton University’s Empirical Studies of Conflict program and West Point Military Academy’s Modern War Institute.

Dr West holds a PhD from Victoria University. His thesis, submitted in 2022, which won the Terrorism Research Initiative Thesis of the Year competition, was entitled Violent Propaganda: Violence, Communication and Technology - The Strategic Logic of Terrorism. He holds Masters of International Security Studies, and Masters of Policing, Intelligence, and Counter Terrorism from Macquarie University, and a Graduate Certificate in National Security Policy from the ANU. His research interests focus on the intersection of terrorism, communication, and technology. He has been published in academic journals and scholarly books, as well as national media outlets and on prominent national security blogs and podcasts. He has lectured at numerous academic conferences, and extensively to law enforcement, intelligence, military, and policy audiences both domestically and internationally, including at institutions such as Cornell, Oxford, NYU, and Reichman University, as well as the US Naval War College, the Indian National Police Academy, the Jakarta Centre for Law Enforcement Cooperation, and the Australian Defence College. Dr West has liaised with, and advised, the Australian and US intelligence, special operations, and law enforcement communities in relation to counter terrorism matters. He is a frequent media commentator and sought after speaker on terrorism and counter terrorism matters.