Fed Event: RSVP for START Seminar and student lunch with Dr. John Horgan

Dear All

Please see the announcement below and the flyer attached regarding the START Seminar on February 16th. As always we strongly encourage students to attend these events and we hope to see you there.

START Seminar Announcement:
RSVP now (infostart@start.umd.edu) for the START Seminar with Dr. John Horgan at noon Thursday, Feb. 16 in Biology/Psychology Building Room 1142.


Please RSVP to infostart@start.umd.edu .

Student Lunch:
In addition to the seminar we have arranged a special lunch for students with Dr. Horgan the following day, Friday February 17 at 1pm. During the lunch students will have the opportunity to talk to Dr. Horgan in a more relaxed setting regarding his research and academic career. In order to attend the lunch you must respond to this email. There are only 10 places – only the first 10 respondees will secure a place, lunch attendees must also attend the seminar the previous day.


In his talk “Disengagement and De-radicalization from Terrorism,” Horgan will discuss how and why people leave terrorist groups. In recent years, there has been increasing interest in disengagement and de-radicalization from terrorism. But despite the significance of this topic for national security interests, social and behavioral scientific research on these areas remains underdeveloped. Drawing on interviews conducted with dozens of former terrorists, Horgan will discuss the social and psychological factors that influence the decision to disengage, and will draw on lessons learned from similar processes in gangs, cults, and industrial organizations. In making a fundamental distinction between disengagement and de-radicalization, Horgan will outline an agenda for future psychological research on these phenomena.
Horgan is Director of the International Center for the Study of Terrorism (www.icst.psu.edu) at the Pennsylvania State University, where he is also Associate Professor of Psychology and Affiliate Professor of International Affairs. A leading expert on terrorist psychology, he has published extensively in the area. His books include The Psychology of Terrorism (2005; 2nd ed. to be published late 2012), The Future of Terrorism (1999, with Maxwell Taylor), and Walking Away from Terrorism: Accounts of Disengagement from Radical and Extremist Movements (2009). In late-2012/early-2013, Oxford University Press will publish his newest book Divided We Stand: The Strategy and Psychology of Ireland’s Dissident Terrorists. He is a member of the Editorial Boards of multiple journals including Terrorism and Political Violence, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling, and Behavioral Science of Terrorism and Political Aggression. He is Associate Editor of Dynamics of Asymmetric Conflict. Dr. Horgan is a member of the Research Advisory Board of the FBI’s National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC). He holds a Ph.D. and B.A. in Applied Psychology from University College, Cork. He lives in State College, Pennsylvania.