Michael Moncrieff is a Postdoctoral Researcher in Social Sciences at the Law Faculty of the University of Geneva, Department of Public International Law and International Organization. He is in charge of the empirical dimensions of the research project on ‘Preventing and Combating Terrorism and Violent Extremism: Towards a Legal-Empirical Approach’.

He specializes on the sociopolitical and psychological causes of radicalization, the social dynamics of terrorist networks, and the effectiveness of policies to prevent and combat violent extremism. He holds degrees from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in Sociocultural Anthropology (Ph.D. & M.A.) as well as degrees from the University of Central Florida in Psychology (B.S.) and Public Administration (B.A.) with a specialization in Homeland Security.

Prior to joining the University of Geneva, Michael Moncrieff received a United States Fulbright Research Award to conduct fieldwork in the Republic of Croatia to examine the question of how otherwise ordinarily peaceful people get mobilized to participate in extreme violence. He has published his work in leading journals such as Frontiers in Psychology, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, The Journal of Cognition and Culture, and Evolutionary Psychology.

Michael Moncrieff’s research has addressed the emergence of extreme behaviours in a number of social contexts including ethnically marked societies and competitive social markets. His approach to social research is problem-focused, integrating sociology, anthropology, cognitive and social psychologies, evolution, and institutional studies. His broad research interests include coordination, cooperation, coalitional psychology, morality, and inter-group conflict.