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 Travis Frain, OBE, will address more than 120 delegates from 13 countries worldwide attending the STR conference held on 7 8 July, on the University’s historic Egham campus.
After surviving injuries sustained in the Westminster Bridge terrorist attack in 2017 aged 19, Travis began working in counterterrorism and advocating for further support to be provided to victims of terrorism.
Frain co-founded the pressure group Survivors Against Terror in January 2018 and in November 2021, he launched Resilience in Unity, in response to a reported increase in radicalisation during the COVID19 Pandemic. He has also served as a Lecturer at several universities, training Police Officers and students of counterterrorism, criminology, and history, and serves on the boards of several charities.
He was made an OBE in January 2024 and appointed as the country's youngest Deputy Lieutenant, a personal representative of HM The King, in November 2024.
At STR he will give an address on the opening day, titled “20 years since 7/7: Resilience in Unity and the Human Cost of Terrorism”.
Ahead of the conference, Travis said: "Anniversaries can prove an incredibly difficult time for victims of terrorism and, on this momentous date marking twenty years since the 7th July Attacks, I look forward to sharing my story with the Society of Terrorism Research Conference scholars, and discussing how we can better incorporate survivors into our efforts to prevent future attacks".
The STR conference will also welcome Professor Charlotte Heath-Kelly a Professor of Politics and International Studies at the University of Warwick to deliver the closing keynote and former Assistant Commissioner for the Metropolitan Police Neil Basu, the opening keynote speaker.
This year STR will focus on the future of terrorism research in the context of overlapping global crises. Across some 28 different panel discussions, scholars will present cutting edge research on themes including: Challenges after an Attack, Misogyny and Incels, the 6 January Capitol Insurrection, Islamist Terrorism, the Future of Terrorism, Youth Radicalisation and AI and the Far Right.
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.
