Dr Elizabeth Pearson is a Senior Lecturer in Criminology and Programme Lead for the MSc Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism Studies course, taught from our central London campus. Her research interests are in gender, extremism and counter-extremism. 

Elizabeth's most recent book, Extreme Britain: Gender, Masculinity and Radicalisation was published with Hurst and Oxford University Press (US) in December 2023. The book explores misogyny and masculinities in the radical right and Anjem Choudary's al-Muhajiroun, and is based on interviews with leaders including Choudary, Tommy Robinson, Jayda Fransen and Anne Marie Waters. It argues extremism and radicalisation are fundamentally gendered. The book started life as an ESRC-funded PhD at King's College London. 

She is also author of the book Countering Violent Extremism: Making Gender Matter, co-authored with Emily Winterbotham of the Royal United Services Institute and Dr Katherine Brown. CVE: Making Gender Matter is based on research in 2015-6 looking at the gender dynamics of extremism and countering violent extremism, and in five countries (Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK). 

Elizabeth has worked to study extremism online and off, and in 2015 conducted research on Islamic State supporters on Twitter during a Fellowship with VOX-Pol, the European Union Network of Excellence for the study of extremism online. Elizabeth has also written on gender and the West African jihadist group Boko Haram, and worked with the European Union Technial Assistance to Nigeria's Evolving Security Challenges (EUTANS). 

Elizabeth is also a member of VOX-Pol and works on VOX-Pol's REASSURE project, aimed at producing safety guidelines for researchers of online terrorism and extremism. 

Prior to academia, Elizabeth worked as a radio journalist, mainly for the BBC.

Elizabeth is the Programme Lead for the MSc in Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism Studies, taught in our central London campus. This master's course is suitable for professionals working in the security sector, as well as those with an undergraduate qualification, looking to deepen their knowlege of terrorism and how to counter it. The team includes Dr Anthony Richards, Professor Andrew Silke, and Dr Andrew Whiting.

She teaches on:

Debates in Terrorism (Module Convenor)

Debates in Counter-Terrorism

Contemporary Debates in Terrorism

Dissertation (Module Convenor)

Elizabeth also teaches in undergraduate criminology, and leads Risk, Insecurity and Terrorism Part 1, taken in the third year.