Kevin McDonald joined Middlesex University as Professor of Sociology and Head of the Department of Criminology and Sociology in July 2013. Fluent in three languages, he is a leader of international research networks around engagement and disengagement from violence, social and religious movements and the construction of civil societies, and the empowering role of digital technologies. He is a facilitator with the UK-based Council for Assisting Refugee Academics, where he has worked on its Iraq Research Fellowship Programme, and is a member of the Australian Attorney General's Countering Violent Extremism Research Panel. He has held senior academic positions at the University of Melbourne in Australia, the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris, together with a Marie Curie International Fellowship at Goldsmiths College in London. He is a research associate at the Centre d'Analyse et d'Intervention Sociologiques at the EHESS.
Qualifications:
Doctorat (Sociology) Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris,1991
Diplome d'Etudes Approfondies (Sociology) Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, 1983
Bachelor of Arts (Honours) La Trobe University, Melbourne (1978)
Key publications:
Our Violent World: Terrorism in Society, Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2013
Global Movements: Action and Culture, Oxford: Blackwell, 2006
Struggles for Subjectivity: Identity, Action and Youth Experience, Cambridge: Cambridge Unieversity Press, 1999
Fluent in French and Spanish
Professor McDonald is actively engaged in developing new ways to link theory and practice in the social sciences. In particular he is working to support experiential learning and placements and internships in Middlesex University's criminology and sociology programmes.
Professor McDonald's research focuses on culture, politics and action. Key areas include social movements, urban gangs, uses of digial communications, justice and ethics in action, engagement and disengagement from violence. Professor McDonald is available to supervise doctoral students in these areas.
McDonald, Kevin (2020) Jihadist and far-right extremism: subjectivity, embodiment and imaginaries of violence. In: United by violence, divided by cause? A comparison of drivers of radicalisation and violence in Asia and Europe. Waha, La Toya , ed. Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, Baden-Baden, Germany, pp. 33-49. ISBN 9783848764495
Parkinson, Tom and McDonald, Kevin and Quinlan, Kathleen M. (2020) Reconceptualising academic development as community development: lessons from working with Syrian academics in exile. Higher Education , 79 (2). pp. 183-201. ISSN 0018-1560
McDonald, Kevin (2018) Radicalization. Polity Press, Cambridge, UK. ISBN 9781509522606
McDonald, Kevin (2015) From Indymedia to Anonymous: rethinking action and identity in digital cultures. Information, Communication & Society , 18 (8). pp. 968-982. ISSN 1369-118X
Johns, Amelia and Grossman, Michele and McDonald, Kevin (2014) "More than a game": the impact of sport-based youth mentoring schemes on developing resilience toward violent extremism. Social Inclusion , 2 (2). pp. 57-70. ISSN 2183-2803
Vice-President of Research Committee 47, Social Movements and Social Classes, International Sociological Association
Member of international Advisory Boards forSocial Movement Studies(Taylor and Francis),Sociology Compass(Blackwell),Sociopedia.ISA(Sage), andNew Cultural Frontiers(published in collaboration with the ISA).
Member of the Australian Attorney General's Research Panel on Countering Violent Extremism
Expert to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in the area of Countering Violent Extremism and Radicalization that lead to Terrorism
