Professor Zainab Al-Attar

Professor Zainab Al-Attar is a practicing and academic Forensic Psychologist specialising in terrorism, counter-terrorism, and forensic mental health. She has 26 years’ experience in forensic psychology practice, most of which has focussed on counter-terrorism. Prior to that, she worked in neuropsychology at the doctoral and post-doctoral levels. Zainab has worked in academia for over 28 years since completing her doctorate. She has published widely in the field of terrorism and forensic mental health and is a reviewer for many peer-reviewed international journals in this field and is the author of the RAN Handbook of Extremism, Radicalisation and Mental Health which is published in three languages. She is co-author of the British Psychological Society ethics guidance for practitioner psychologists working with extremism and terrorism cases. She has delivered training to thousands of practitioners over the decades and presents at conferences on a regular basis, within her field. She is Honorary Professor of Terrorism and Mental Health in the UK and Adjunct Professor in Counter-Terrorism in Australia.

In addition to her forensic practice specialism in terrorism, she has extensive experience in autism spectrum disorder and neurodevelopmental conditions, has delivered training on autism and neurodiversity in forensic contexts and developed guidelines for forensic practitioners working with individuals with autism and ADHD, which have been employed internationally by forensic practitioners working across settings. Zainab has led and supervised several research projects on terrorism, neurodiversity and mental illness and continues to conduct research in this field, currently undertaking a research project at the University of Oxford on terrorism and violent extremism pathways in autistic individuals convicted of terrorism. She is also a member of the terrorism and extremism expert group of practicing psychologists in the British Psychological Society. Finally, Zainab works as a part-time Consultant Psychologist in an autism and psychiatric diagnostic service, in addition to her full time clinical practice in the field of terrorism. Zainab co-authored the Avert paper on neurodiversity and violent extremism.