This month marked ten years since C REX was founded; February 1 2016.
I would like to take this opportunity to highlight what the center has achieved and to thank everyone who has contributed to reaching our goals.
C REX was established as a direct result of the devastating terrorist attack in Norway on July 22, 2011. The attack – unusually lethal for the region – also appeared to represent a new form of right wing terrorism, marked by online radicalization and the gamification of violence. There was an urgent need for more research and up to date knowledge.
When C REX was established, the center had three main goals:
First, we wanted to develop cutting edge empirical and theoretical knowledge on right wing extremism, violence, and hate crimes in Norway, Europe, and beyond. We have achieved this through the completion of 16 PhDs and the publication of roughly 300 journal articles, about 50 reports, policy briefs and working papers, eight special issues, three edited volumes, and six monographs. We have also produced new datasets – such as RTV, CFP and FORMERS – and engaged with methodological and ethical issues through publications and our webinar series.
Second, we wanted to serve as an international hub for multidisciplinary research on right wing extremism. We have welcomed around 60 guest researchers from across the world, many through our Younger Fellows Visiting Program. We have hosted major international conferences, including the STR annual conference and the Nordic Conference on Violent Extremism, as well as several smaller workshops with leading scholars in the field. In collaboration with ECPR and VOX Pol, we have regularly organized PhD summer schools on concepts, methods, personal safety, and ethics. Finally, C REX has organized events with our four international partners: CSTPV (St Andrews University), ISGA (Leiden University, The Hague), IKG (Bielefeld University) and PERIL (American University, Washington, D.C.).
Third, we wanted to disseminate research based knowledge to stakeholders, policymakers, the public, civil society organizations, schools, and the media. To this end, we have organized more than 200 seminars and delivered hundreds of talks, both nationally and internationally, including engagements with the United Nations and the European Commission. We have made around 200 annual media appearances, published almost 200 blog posts on RightNow!, organized an annual seminar for practitioners and educators, participated in the national Consortium for Terrorism Research, and published the compendium Knowing What’s (Far) Right – an open access, accessible summary of research based answers to complex questions whose several entries have been read more than 50,000 times.
Thanks to everyone who has been part of C REX. Thanks to the more than 60 people who have, at different times, been closely affiliated with or worked at C REX. It has been a privilege to get to know many talented and generous scholars in this field. Thank you as well to all research assistants, the advisory board, our national and international partners, and everyone who has participated in any of our activities. Special thanks to Professor Tore Bjørgo, who served as director for the first eight years, and to Dagfinn Hagen, who has been head of administration since the very beginning.
With gratitude,
Anders Ravik Jupskås
Director
C-REX - Center for Research on Extremism
