EXPERT: Professor Paul Thomas
Professor of Youth and Policy at the University of Huddersfield’s School of Education and Professional Development. He specialises in youth and policy, with a strong research focus on state policies concerning young people, community cohesion, and the prevention of violent extremism.
With a career ranging from youth worker to academic, Professor Paul Thomas has worked closely with young people in the North of England’s most troubled communities. He describes the complex interactions of race, religion, class and culture within areas which have been riven by violence, and how building communities resilience and solidarity can create a bulwark against radicalisation. He provides an overview of the UK’s Prevent programme, designed to counter violent extremism, explaining how it has changed over time to address changing risks of radicalisation. In this interview, Paul Thomas describes how communities can develop healthy attitudes to pluralism and come together to overcome their divisions, as well as warning about emerging threats to societal cohesion.