The Society for Terrorism Research (STR), the School of Law & Social Sciences at Royal Holloway, University of London and the Conflict, Violence and Terrorism Research Centre (CVTRC) are delighted to announce that Professor Charlotte Heath-Kelly will present the closing Keynote address at the 17th annual STR conference. The conference will be held on July 7th and 8th, 2025, on the University’s historic Egham campus.
Professor Charlotte Heath-Kelly will deliver the closing Keynote of the Society for Terrorism Research Conference, which takes place on the 20th anniversary of the London Transport attacks on 7/7. Charlotte Heath-Kelly is a Professor of Politics and International Studies at the University of Warwick. She has recently completed a five-year comparative study of how European countries counter violent extremism, results of which will be published with Oxford University Press in Autumn 2025. Previously, her research explored how societies memorialise terrorist attacks and the surge in memorial building during the War on Terror era. Her books have been published by Oxford University Press, Manchester University Press, and Routledge. She joins former Assistant Commissioner for the Metropolitan Police Neil Basu, the opening keynote speaker.
Heath-Kelly says, "Twenty years on from the 7/7 attacks, it is an auspicious moment to think about how we remember terrorist attacks. The C20th conflicts in Northern Ireland and the Basque country are remembered through the lived experience, and spaces, of the affected communities. They are 'territorial' memories from territorial conflicts. But the War on Terror was characterised by a different type of 'memory boom' - where physical monuments in city centres, usually associated with war memorialisation, transferred to terrorism. But, what happens now? What does memorialisation look like, now that societies are amidst a digital revolution?"
This year STR will also focus on the future of terrorism research in the context of overlapping global crises – India and Pakistan, Israel and Gaza, Russia and Ukraine, alongside jihadist and far right threats and emerging technological innovation. In the process the conference hopes to identify new and emerging research agendas, synergies and collaborations, in addition to showcasing cutting-edge research. Anyone interested in these topics can register to attend.
Hosted at Royal Holloway’s picturesque Egham campus, the 2025 conference brings together academics and practitioners working to understand the causes of terrorism and how to counter it.
Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL) is a leading research centre in terrorism studies, and home to academics with a range of expertise, including the psychology of terrorism, history of terrorism, critical approaches to terrorism, definitions of terrorism and gender and terrorism. RHUL also offers the MSc in Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism Studies, and hosts the Conflict, Violence and Terrorism Research Centre co-directed by Dr. Akil Awan and Dr. Elizabeth Pearson, who along with Ieva Cechaviciute are the host organisers of this year’s STR Conference.
