Biography
Petra Regeni is a Research and Project Officer in the Terrorism and Conflict group at RUSI Europe, based in Brussels. Petra primarily works on the EU-funded Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN) Policy Support programme and the Extremism and Gaming Research Network (EGRN), as well as the Far-Right Extremism and Terrorism programme. Her research focus encompasses preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) and deradicalistion programming and efforts, jihadist and right-wing ideologies, and online radicalisation and extremism. Some of her recent research outputs include analysing the classification of terrorist content online in national CT/CVE action plans, radicalised women, and the gamification of violent extremism.
Prior to joining RUSI Europe, she worked for the research and analysis department at Hedayah on violent extremism and P/CVE-related research and programmes and served as a capacity building and third-party M&E officer at Trust Consultancy in Gaziantep, Turkey, working on humanitarian and development aid projects in Turkey, Syria, and Kurdish Iraq.
Petra holds a BA with Honours in Political Science from Dalhousie University, having also studied international security at the Australian National University, where her dissertation examined the fluctuating interpretation and operationalization of ‘jihad’ among radical Islamist groups and across time. Her MSc in International Crimes, Conflict and Criminology at the VU Amsterdam, focused on terrorism and counter-terrorism policy, jihadist and right-wing extremism, including the convergence of ideologies, and international criminal law. Petra is also an alumnus of the German Marshal Fund’s 2022 Young Professionals Summit programme.
External publications
Defining and Classifying Terrorist Content Online: Leveraging National Countering Violent Extremism Strategies and Action Plans – https://gifct.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/GIFCT-TaxonomyReport-2021.pdf
Quarterly Research Review: Radicalised Women – https://home-affairs.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2022-12/Quarterly%20research%20review-radicalised%20women.pdf
It’s All Fun and Games, Until It’s Not: The Risks of Gamified Violent Extremism and How We Can Tackle It – https://rusieurope.eu/the-risks-of-gamified-violent-extremism/
RAN Policy Support aimed to provide EU policy-makers with evidence-based information and analysis on preventing and countering violent extremism and related topics.
