My research is primarily concerned with the critical and sociological exploration of the intersections between radicalisation, ethnicity, and social exclusion as Professor of Criminology and Global Justice and Director of the Centre on Radicalisation, Inclusion, and Social Equity. While my work has a particular emphasis on the United Kingdom and Western Europe, it is situated within a broader global context and examines wider issues of Islamophobia, polarisation, migration, and racism. I investigate pressing questions about identity, belonging, and status among minority communities while also analysing how state policies and practices shape these social dynamics. My research critically evaluates how state responses to extremism and political violence often reinforce the status quo or fail to address the underlying structural causes of social division.

This research agenda is international in scope, demonstrated through my leadership of several multi-million-euro, European Commission-funded projects. I have served as the Scientific Coordinator for the H2020 Drive project, which investigates the causes of radicalisation and extremism in northwestern Europe, and as Principal Investigator for the ISF-funded Protone project, focused on protecting places of worship. My position as an Honorary Professor at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter, further reinforces this international profile.

My methodological approach is interdisciplinary, combining deep sociological analysis with an array of qualitative research, such as in-depth interviews, discourse analysis, computational content analysis, ethnography, and observational analysis, as well as advanced quantitative techniques, including hierarchical regression modelling, moderation and mediation analysis, structural equation modelling, multiple imputation, and machine learning for complex social data. This commitment to methodological innovation ensures that my work is not only theoretically informed but also empirically rigorous, contributing new insights to the fields of ethnic studies, critical criminology, political sociology, political psychology, and urban studies.