When: Monday, September 19, 2016, 14.30 – 16.00 Uhr
Where: HSFK/PRIF, Großer Sitzungssaal (4. OG)
Ongoing strife in the international arena, regional and domestic conflicts and the enduring presence of terrorist groups has facilitated the increase of violent extremism around the globe. Extremist and terrorist plots both in US and Europe show that violent extremism from the far-right to jihadism constitutes threats to our societies. Governments and civil society organizations are trying to develop measures to prevent radicalization and violent extremism from flourishing and to ensure safe civic societies and resilient communities. We would like to look at efforts in the United States and Germany in countering violent extremism and share good practices in developing counter-narratives for extremist propaganda.
Humera Khan is the Executive Director of Muflehun, a think tank specializing in preventing radicalization and countering violent extremism (CVE). Her experience ranges from CVE research, program design & implementation to evaluation. Ms Khan contributes in an advisory capacity to the U.S. government and law enforcement agencies in several European countries. She is a frequent speaker on CVE and the role of social media in fighting extremism around the globe. In 2012 she received the FBI Director’s Community Leadership Award for her work. Ms Khan’s experience in security strategy and knowledge of theology provides unique expertise for the design of narratives to counter online radicalization. Focusing on countering the ideology of violent extremism, she runs CVE trainings for youth, communities and religious leaders. Her work includes the design and launch of the Viral Peace program for the U.S. Department of State to train youth leaders on the strategies of using social media to build communities and counter extremism. Ms Khan specializes in scenario planning, strategy formulation and threat assessment using agent-based modelling, morphological analysis and system dynamics. Previously, as principal at a DC area think-tank, she designed and integrated methodologies for threat anticipation and risk assessment for the Singapore government “Risk Assessment and Horizon Scanning” initiative. She was also a team member designing energy security strategy for US government clients. Ms Khan holds four degrees from MIT: MS Technology & Policy, MS Nuclear Engineering, BS Art & Design and BS Nuclear Engineering. She also has an MA in Islamic Studies from the School of Islamic and Social Sciences, an affiliate seminary of the Washington Theological Consortium.
The event is hosted by the U.S. Consulate General and the Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (HSFK/PRIF).