Biography

Raquel Beleza da Silva is Assistant Professor of International Relations at the School of Economics, University of Coimbra and Integrated Researcher at CEI_IUL. She has an MA in Justice Psychology from the University of Minho, Portugal and a PhD in Social Applied Studies from the University of Birmingham, UK. She held a British Academy postdoctoral fellowship at the International Development Department at the University of Birmingham, UK, as well as a Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowship (MSCA-IF) at CEI_IUL. She is assistant editor at Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression. Her research explores processes of engagement in and disengagement from violent organisations through the narrative study of the life stories of former militants and their families. She is also interested on the intersection between non-violent and violent activism and on the impact of Preventing/Countering Violent Extremism (P/CVE) interventions in the life of individuals, groups, and communities. Raquel values creative public engagement and the translation of research into practice and policy. She has published a monograph entitled Narratives of Political Violence: Life Stories of Former Militants (Routledge, 2019), as well as different articles in national and international journals. She tweets at @RaquelBPSilva