Prof. Ghosh and PEER team launch new website
Preventing Extremism through Educational Research (PEER), a research team headed by Professor Ratna Ghosh of our Department of Integrated Studies in Education (DISE), have launched a new website at www.mcgill.ca/peer.
PEER was formed to investigate and increase the potential of education in countering trends towards violent extremism among youth. Unlike some countries, Canada’s counter-radicalism policy does not mention education as a preventive measure, but attempts to prevent radical and extremist acts through intelligence and police surveillance. The PEER approach suggests a systematic, proactive educational strategy as an additional preventive measure that will attack the root issue. Although educational strategies may not produce immediate results, they are cost-effective and long lasting.
PEER is currently involved with several research projects and publications. Members include Professors Ratna Ghosh and Anila Asghar (DISE), and Ingrid Sladeczek (Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology). PEER collaborates with McGill’s School of Religious Studies, and with the Faculty of Psychology at New York University Abu Dhabi. PEER also includes several graduate students who work as research assistants.
Dr. Ratna Ghosh is James McGill Professor and William C. Macdonald Professor of Education at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. She was Dean of Education from 1998-2003. She was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada (C.M.) in 2000, Officer of the Order of Quebec (O.Q.) in 2005, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (F.R.S.C.) in 1999. Prof. Ghosh is also a Full Member of the European Academy of Arts, Sciences and Humanities. Her areas of expertise include research into the role of education in countering radicalization of youth.
