POSTPONED TO A STILL TO BE CONFIRMED DATE IN THE AUTUMN 

The imperative to understand and address violent radicalization is brought into stark relief by recent world events, with attacks against a demonized ‘other’ a tragically prevalent feature of our news cycles. Yet, it is clear that reactive security measures will never be sufficient to address the issues at hand.  It is in this light that, in 2016, the EU ministers responsible for youth affairs agreed on exploring a pedagogical approach to understanding and tackling violent radicalization.

Recently, research began exploring the efforts of practitioners and policymakers to build resilience to violent extremism and polarization. This research has examined formal and non-formal contexts of upbringing and civic education and has supported a diverse range of practices in their efforts to build resilience, in collaboration with local partners.  The extensive experiences generated by such grassroots practices in Europe and beyond have given rise to valuable insights and pointed to important challenges. At the same time, policymakers have been taking diverse approaches in trying to address this issue. This conference provides an opportunity to learn from this collective experience, and to meet around the questions and challenges facing practitioners and policy-makers alike.

Crossing boundaries is a central theme in this endeavor: bringing together diverse practitioners and policymakers, we will examine the challenges, and successes, of collaborating across and disciplines and sectors.  At the same time, we will seek to push the boundaries of our ideas about prevention: what is the potential of a preventive outlook?  What are the limits of such an outlook? Can the initial phase of radicalization be approached more affirmatively than a preventive outlook currently allows?

In a spirit of open discussion and honest engagement with these issues, the conference will provide an opportunity to:

• Collectively consider the insights from recent research into diverse practices and identify implications for further developments in policy and practice
• Examine and discuss common questions and challenges
• Showcase diverse practices and learn from one another’s experience
• Find the meeting points between the perspectives of practitioners, policymakers, and researchers

Please find the conference program here.

Register here for the conference.

Consult the FAQ page for any questions you may have regarding the conference. For further questions, contact us at resilient.identities.fsw@vu.nl.

Curious about accommodations in Amsterdam? We have provided a few examples close to the conference venue.