ISD

As founding CEO of this leading global counter-extremism ‘think and do’ tank, Sasha has spearheaded ISD’s pioneering research and data analysis, digital education, policy advisory, training, tech and communications programmes. With a background in conflict resolution and an expertise in extremism, digital information operations and electoral interference, she has advised a range of governments at the highest levels and has spearheaded partnerships with the UN, EU Commission and Global Counter-Terrorism Forum. She has also worked with the private and civil society sectors to innovate real-world solutions to the rising challenges of polarisation, extremism, hate and disinformation, including major programmes run in partnership with Google, FB and Microsoft. Sasha serves as an expert advisor to the UK Counter-Extremism Commission and the Mayor of London’s counter-extremism programme, and is a member of the European Council on Foreign Relations. Sasha previously served as Senior Director at the EastWest Institute where she led conflict resolution programming. Sasha has testified before US Congress, the UK Parliament and is a regular commentator in the media (CNN, BBC, Channel 4 News and other networks).

Rashad Ali is a counter terrorism practitioner. He works on deradicalisation initiatives alongside Prisons, Probation Services, Police and community groups. He is a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD). He was formerly a national leadership member of Hizb ut-Tahrir, the revolutionary Islamist organisation. He has been actively involved in undermining its extreme ideology and perversion of Muslim faith since his departure. He is classically trained in Islamic theology and jurisprudence and Modern studies in Islam. He studied at al-Azhar University, Cairo, and the Markfield Institute. As a researcher he has given testimony and contributed submissions to the Home Affairs Select Committee on Radicalisation, the Parliamentary Select Committee on Intelligence and has briefed the London Mayor's office on Counter Terrorism. He is the author of: ' Islam, Shariah and the Far Right' published by Demoqratiya journal; 'A Guide to Refuting Jihadism' published by HJS and EFD; a chapter analyizing Hizb ut Tahrir ideology and strategy, and more recently 'Blasphemy and Free Speech - Hebdo and reactions to the incidents in Paris', for the ISD. He has been consulted by think tanks and governments in Germany, Denmark, the EU and the US. He works across Europe. He is an external lecturer for Derby University’s Master Class courses on Radicalisation and Counter Terrorism. He has written for The Observer, The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, The Times, Dissent Magazine, Birlingske in Denmark, Conservative Home, and given commentary for Newsnight, BBC News. He was a researcher and Assistant Producer for BBC's flagship Panorama documentary show.

Zahed Amanullah is a Resident Senior Fellow at ISD and leads on ISD’s civil society engagement, communications, and partnerships, coordinating the public and private sectors with activists, frontline workers, and relevant civil society networks to counter disinformation, hate speech, extremist propaganda and recruitment. Zahed has worked recently on research and capacity building for NGOs in Kenya, Europe, and the Middle East. He recently co-authored The Impact of Counternarratives, a cross-platform study on counternarrative messaging impact and Between Two Extremes, a study of extremist messaging during the 2017 Kenya elections. Along with Google.org, he has helped oversee a £1m innovation fund for UK civil society organisations. He has given testimony to the UK and European parliaments and has been featured at the BBC, NPR, Channel 4, Sky News, the Guardian, CNN International, The National, The Daily Star, Le Monde Diplomatique, and Newsweek, among others.

Kelsey Bjornsgaard is a Manager, Technology, Communications & Education at ISD focusing on counter-narrative development and delivery as well as youth engagement and education. Kelsey is responsible for running the Youth Civil Activism Network (YouthCAN) and organising ISD’s Youth Innovation Labs. Kelsey is developing new strategies for enhancing peer-to-peer messaging and works closely with young activists internationally to develop innovative youth-led initiatives to prevent and counter violent extremism. Kelsey also works closely with the Strong Cities Network to amplify youth voices amongst government and policy-makers at a city level. Kelsey previously managed marketing and social media strategy for an independent US-based IT company. She holds a Masters in International Conflict Studies from King’s College London and a Bachelors in European Studies from the University of Oklahoma.

Joe Collenette is Head of Project Operations at ISD and oversees grant and project management for the organisation. Joe has a background in strategy, change and programme management in the international development sector with organisations including Save the Children and HelpAge International, and has lived and worked in countries including India, Lebanon and Nigeria. Joe studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics at the University of Oxford and has an MBA from the Smartly Institute.

Milo Comerford is Senior Manager, Policy, leading ISD’s work developing innovative research approaches and policy responses to Islamist extremism. Milo regularly briefs senior decision makers around the world on the challenge posed by extremist ideologies, and advises governments and international agencies on building effective strategies for countering extremism. His writing and research features frequently in international media, including the Guardian, CNN, Wall Street Journal, Sunday Times, Spectator, and New Statesman, and he has made recent broadcast appearances on BBC News, Sky News and Al Jazeera. Milo was previously Senior Analyst at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, where he led major research projects on jihadi propaganda, religious counter narratives to extremism and the transnational far right. He holds a BA (Hons) in Philosophy and Theology from the University of Oxford, and has previously worked on a global education programme, building open-mindedness and resilience to extremism in young people across 30 countries.

Chloe is Head of Digital Policy and Strategy at ISD, leading a global team of analysts studying disinformation and extremism online. Chloe has led programmes of work detecting and responding to online manipulation targeting the German, European Parliamentary, UK, Swedish and US Elections. Based on this research, Chloe advises governments and technology companies on responses to online harms from state and non-state networks. In this advisory capacity, Chloe has worked on the development of the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism with Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter and Google, and has provided expert testimony to the UK Home Affairs Select Committee, the Swedish, New Zealand, Canadian, French and German governments, the International Grand Committee on Disinformation and the Global Counter Terrorism Forum on digital policy and tech regulation. Her work has appeared in CNN, the BBC, Sky News, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Wired and Bloomberg. Chloe is a Yale Mellon Fellow and sits on the Advisory Board for Accountable Tech.

Patricia joined ISD as a Programme Manager leading on the SCN expansion in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia as part of its delivery of new pilot programmes in the regions. Under this new phase, Patricia will be responsible for strengthening sub-national governments’ capacity to prevent and counter all forms of violent extremism (P/CVE). This includes developing context-specific training materials and tools, supporting national/local cooperation, facilitating whole-of-society approaches, city exchanges to share good practice, and direct policy and programming support to cities and sub-national governments. Previously, Patricia worked for the Commonwealth Secretariat’s CVE Unit designing and implementing government capacity-building projects on community policing, youth empowerment, and education and dialogue in the Caribbean, Sub-Saharan Africa and South and South-East Asia. Patricia has also worked for the Canadian Government focusing on crisis response, consular emergencies and MENA development programming. She holds an Honours Bachelor of Social Sciences in International Development and Globalisation with a Minor in Political Science from the University of Ottawa.

Jacob Davey is a Research Manager at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue where he leads on research into the far-right. His research focuses on the role of digital communications in inter-communal conflict, internet culture, online hate speech and the international far-right. In addition to this he has led a number of projects piloting novel models for identifying extremist conversation online as well as interventions to counter this phenomenon. He has advised national and local policymakers on right-wing extremism, including the Home Affairs Select Committee, and has lead trainings with frontline practitioners on the mobilisation strategies of extremist groups. He has provided commentary on extremism-related issues in a number of platforms including The Guardian, The Independent, and The BBC, and also sits as a Senior Fellow at the Centre for Analysis of the Radical Right.

Joe is a Project Coordinator for the Strong Cities Network at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue. With a background in graphic design, Joe recently graduated with distinction from the University of Sussex with an MA in Conflict, Security and Development. He specialised in Middle Eastern Politics, Post-Conflict Reconstruction and Peace-building, focusing primarily on the geopolitics of the Syrian Civil War. He wrote his dissertation on the resilience of the Syrian regime in light of the civil war, which explored the structural conditions that enabled the regime to survive where other dictators fell during the Arab Spring. Prior to joining ISD, he was a Research and Communications Assistant for Children on the Edge, with voluntary experience with NGOs in the UK, Lebanon and Turkey.

Simeon Dukic joined ISD as a Programme Manager for the Balkans and Central Asia on the Strong Cities Network (SCN). His main responsibilities will be to increase SCN membership and engagement in post-Soviet Central Asian states. Moreover, he will work on strengthening central-local coordination and cooperation in preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) in the Western Balkans. Namely, Simeon will work on setting up a multi-stakeholder and multidisciplinary Local Prevention Network in one of the SCN members, whose primary role will draft a tailored Local P/CVE Action Plan. Prior to his role at ISD, Simeon was a Project Associate at the National Committee for Countering Violent Extremism and Counter-Terrorism (NCCVECT) of the Republic of North Macedonia. He supported the coordination of 22 Line Ministries and Institutions which are involved in the work of the NCCVECT, CSO groups, the international donor community and regional counterparts. Additionally, he was involved in the drafting of the first National CVE Strategy. Simeon holds an MA (Distinction) in Intelligence and International Security from King’s College London and a BA (Magna Cum Laude) in Global Challenges from Leiden University College The Hague.

Cooper is a Manager within ISD’s Digital Research Unit, focussing on quantitative research into the spread of hateful and polarising narratives online, and how they are leveraged by extremist actors. Cooper also develops monitoring and evaluation frameworks to measure the impact of a number of ISD’s intervention projects. Cooper is currently contributing to ISD’s research on disinformation campaigns, particularly those aimed to influence and disrupt election processes. He also manages on the Online Civil Courage Initiative in France, coordinating activities to support civil society’s response to hate and extremism online. In addition, Cooper conducts ongoing evaluation of a number of ISD’s programmes, including Be Internet Citizens and Young Digital Leaders. Prior to joining ISD, Cooper worked at Portland, where he advised clients from the non-profit and government sectors on their media engagement and social media strategies. Cooper holds a Masters of International Affairs from Columbia University and a Masters of International Security from Sciences Po. He has a background in quantitative research and data visualisation. He also speaks fluent Spanish and French, as well as proficient Japanese.

Cécile Guerin is a Coordinator at ISD, supporting the organisation’s European development and analysis work. She works on the Online Civil Courage Initiative (OCCI), a Facebook-funded project which aims to upscale civil society efforts against hate speech and extremism online. Cécile also contributes to ISD’s research and policy work, with a focus on social media analysis and network mapping related to hate speech, extremism and disinformation online. She has written for a range of publications, including The Guardian, Prospect and The Independent. Prior to joining ISD, Cécile spent two years working in publishing. Cécile holds an MSc in International History from the London School of Economics and an MA in English from the École Normale Supérieure in France.

Jakob Guhl is a Coordinator at the ISD, where he mainly works with the digital research team. Jakob has co-authored research reports on the alternative online-ecosystem of the far-right, reciprocal radicalisation between far-right extremists and Islamists, coordinated trolling campaigns, hate speech and disinformation campaigns targeting elections. He is a frequent commentator on German radio and broadcast, including Deutschlandfunk, Tagesthemen and Radio Eins. Jakob has been invited to present his research about online hate to the German Ministry of the Justice and provided evidence to the German Minister of the Interior and the German Family Minister on how to strengthen prevention against right-wing extremism and antisemitism. His research has been cited in the New Republic, Die Welt, Die Zeit and The Guardian, among others. Additionally, he has published articles in the “Journal for Deradicalisation”, “Demokratie gegen Menschenfeindlichkeit”, Taz and co-authored an essay for an edited volume of the Munich Residence Theatre about the origins of contemporary political anger. Jakob holds an MA in Terrorism, Security and Society from King’s College London. His dissertation focused on the radicalisation processes of converts to Islam who became violent extremists.”

Mackenzie is an Associate at ISD, working across various projects in the research and policy division. MacKenzie focuses on hate, disinformation, and the far-right and has also been involved with ISD’s election analysis units, mapping and analysing online information operations, as well as the activities of extremist groups. Before coming to ISD, Mackenzie completed her MA in Terrorism, Security and Society at King’s College London, where she also worked as an intern at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR) and as a research assistant in the War Studies department. Her dissertation analysed the manifesto of Identitarian group, Generation Identity. From December 2015 to March 2016, Mackenzie lived in Sierra Leone, volunteering for a grassroots NGO supporting youth-led, community development projects and education. Originally from Canada, Mackenzie obtained her BA from Simon Fraser University with a double major in International Studies and History.

Anisa Harrasy is a Manager at ISD, where she works across ISD’s youth empowerment projects, including the Youth Civil Activism Network (YouthCAN) and Young Cities. Through these projects, Anisa delivers capacity-building workshops, oversees youth-led campaigns and initiatives and facilitates dialogue between youth and policymakers. Anisa also helps lead ISD’s strategic development in Sub Saharan Africa and specializes in promoting peace in East Africa specifically. Anisa has conducted significant research on the influence and effect of non-state actors in global affairs and politics. Anisa holds an MA in International Security from the University of Sussex and a BA in International relations with Arabic. She is bilingual Swahili and English, with basic Arabic proficiency.

Daniel Hooton is Deputy Head of ISD’s Strong Cities Network (SCN), with responsibility for strategy and delivery of international cities programmes. This includes current projects to develop institutional approaches to long-term governance, human security and social policy challenges in cities across Africa, Asia, the Balkans and the Middle East. He has advised and worked with numerous international governments, UN agencies and mayors on international counterterrorism and counter-extremism strategy, briefing senior ministers and leaders and shaping multilateral cooperation on grassroots practice in cities around the world. Daniel previously served as policy advisor to the Shadow Minister for Communities in the UK Parliament, developing opposition policy and scrutiny on community cohesion, social exclusion and public services reform. He holds a Master’s degree with Distinction from the London School of Economics, a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Bristol, and has a longstanding interest in devolution, borders and port cities.

Tim is a Coordinator at ISD, working predominately on the Strong Cities Network (SCN) and Google Innovation Fund. His role consists of developing monitoring and evaluation systems for a range ISD programmes in order to demonstrate the impact that the Institute has in preventing and countering violent extremism. As part of this role Tim also supports a number of ISD partners in demonstrating the sustainable impact of their projects. Tim has previously been engaged in research for a number of UK charities and NGOs focusing on extremism, Middle Eastern politics and refugee issues among other topics. He holds a Masters in Intelligence and International Security from King’s College London and a Bachelors in the Study of Religions from the School of Oriental and African Studies.

Emma Jones is a Finance Coordinator at ISD, responsible for the day to day running of the office finances. She has 10 years' experience working within finance across various sectors including finance advisory, commercial cleaning, and property. Emma is a fully qualified member of the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT).

Sarah Kennedy is Deputy Director of ISD, with responsibility for operations and finance. She oversees the operational management of the organisation to ensure all financial, operations, governance, HR and legal responsibilities are delivered to the highest possible standard. Sarah has over a decade of experience in the UK and international charity sectors. Previous roles include UK Director of Kenyan NGO S.A.F.E and Head of Partnerships & Events at the UK think tank Demos. Having worked in a range of NGO functions - particularly communications, programme delivery, fundraising and partnerships - Sarah now specialises in operations and management, with a particular focus on financial management, strategic development, change management, HR and governance. Sarah holds a First Class degree in Economic and Social History from the University of Bristol and an MA in Legal and Political Theory from UCL. She additionally holds an Art & Design Foundation Diploma from Kingston University; a Certificate in International Business Practice and International Diploma in Management from University of Cambridge International Exams; and a Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) Certificate in Business Accounting.

Duaa is Senior Grants Manager at ISD, responsible for all grants management including reporting and compliance for all the projects at the organization. Duaa has experience working with non-profit organizations and international charities managing international programs and donor relationships with DFID, EU and USAID to name a few. She has previously worked with Save the Children UK and Marie Stopes International. Duaa holds a BSc Hons in Economics from Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) and an MSc in Development Studies from the London School of Economics and Political Sciences (LSE).

Jennie King is a Senor Policy Manager, supporting programme design, policy outreach and strategy across the organisation. Before joining ISD, Jennie served as MENA Regional Director Arts, Assistant Country Director Egypt and Co-Director Hungary for the British Council, the UK’s international body for cultural relations. In Egypt she coordinated a system reform programme with the Ministries of Education and Higher Education, including the most extensive policy dialogues in recent decades, and organised the country’s first ever Social Enterprise Week with 400+ stakeholders from the public, private and third sectors. In Europe she spearheaded the People-to-People Central Europe programme, an initiative to foster cohesion in the most deprived and marginalised regions of Hungary, Slovakia and Czech Republic, designing activities to promote inclusive economic growth and youth-based social action. Jennie read Arabic and Spanish at Pembroke College, Cambridge, receiving a Foundation Scholarship and the Marie Shamma’a Frost Prize for Oriental Studies. She was awarded the Idle Scholarship on graduation, joining Occidental College’s Oxy-at-the-UN Programme in New York. At UNHQ she completed courses in Conflict Resolution and Human Development and led a task force for the Assistant Secretary-General for Climate Change. She also served as an Attaché for the Guatemalan Diplomatic Mission, covering modalities for the Post-2015 Development Agenda, COP 20, and resolutions passing through the Security Council on ISIL.

Martina Lappo is a Young Cities Coordinator at ISD, focusing in the West Africa region. Prior to joining ISD, Martina worked with NGOs and UN agencies in the Caribbean, and Central and West Africa. She has experience in project Monitoring and Evaluation, and in the implementation of sexual and reproductive health development programmes. She holds a Masters in Humanitarian Action from University College Dublin and a Bachelors’ Degree in Interpreting and Translation Studies from the University of Salford.

Marta is a Manager at ISD, working on the Strong Cities Network (SCN). She supports local authorities in developing and implementing programmes and models in the SCN’s regions to ensure tailored bottom-up responses to local challenges posed by violent extremist movements. Prior to joining ISD in July 2018, Marta completed a traineeship at the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs in the Human Security Division. In previous positions she had the opportunity to work in several countries across Asia, in the US and in South Africa. Marta holds an MA in Conflict, Governance and International Development from the University of East Anglia. Her dissertation focused on local challenges and legitimacy issues in the peace-building process in Colombia, studying the interplay between state, civil society and local populations in the department of Chocó. Marta is bilingual French and Portuguese, and is also comfortable working in Spanish and German.

Josh is a Manager working on the ISD’s Education Programme, where he supports the development, delivery and evaluation of key digital citizenship projects, Be Internet Citizens and Young Digital Leaders. Through these projects, he has written unique, accredited curricula, which have been used to teach thousands of students across the UK and Europe, as well as to train hundreds of teachers. Josh has also supported the Education team’s policy engagement, including having briefed the UK Home Secretary on ISD’s digital citizenship programming. He has co-authored and published impact reports, as well as a toolkit for NGOs to design their own digital citizenship projects. Previously, he developed his research and project management skills on Chatham House’s US and Americas Programme. A former teacher holding a PGCE, Josh also has an MSc in International Politics from SOAS University of London, and a BA in English Literature from Leeds University.

Jasmeet Sahotay is a Coordinator working jointly on YouthCAN and Young Cities projects, including supporting the delivery of the Youth Innovation Labs, managing the YouthCAN communication strategy, and developing new project activities and strategies. Jasmeet was previously a programme coordinator at PATRIR, an internationally recognised peacebuilding think tank which is based in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. There he developed and managed a series of projects focussed on countering violent extremism, hate speech and polarisation. He also has extensive experience in training and implementing campaigns centred around youth empowerment. He holds a Masters in International Law, Security and Terrorism from the University of Nottingham, and a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy & Politics from the University of Leeds.

Rebecca Skellett is Head of Strong Cities Network (SCN). Rebecca also supports ISD’s Education and Prevention activities regularly representing ISD at international events and in the media. Rebecca spearheads the Strong Cities Network (SCN), advocating for cities to have a central seat at the table in preventing and countering violent extremism in all its forms. The SCN is the first ever global city network devoted to uniting cities around the world to build social cohesion and community resilience to counter violent extremism in all its forms. The network comprises 114 cities from across 40 countries. Rebecca oversees the SCN’s activities ranging from advising cities directly, arranging global and regional training and capacity building activities engaging with mayors, municipal-level policymakers and practitioners to its long term strategies such as designing regional models for P/CVE. Previously, Rebecca worked on the front-line of the UK’s Prevent CVE Programme across several London boroughs and has extensive experience in overseeing individual casework, conducting community engagement, developing local CVE programming, training and policy frameworks for local government and the education sector. Rebecca also advises national level policy-makers in the UK as a member of the UK Department for Education's Expert Advisory Panel for Extremism.

Henry Tuck is Head of Policy & Research at ISD, responsible for the overall management of the Institute’s research programme, including oversight of all publications, research methods, and ethics across a variety of topics, from disinformation to the far-right and extremism online. Henry also leads ISD’s policy-focused work to counter online harms in collaboration with a range of key stakeholders, advising leading governments, international organisations and major private sector tech companies. Since starting at ISD in 2013, Henry has previously driven fundraising, strategy and the development of new projects and partnerships, led a series of ISD’s education and counter-narrative projects (including Extreme Dialogue and Be Internet Citizens), designed the Institute’s Monitoring and Evaluation frameworks, and conducted research on foreign fighters, deradicalisation and the far-right. He holds a Masters (with distinction) in International Conflict Studies from Kings College London, and a BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Durham University.

Huberta von Voss joined ISD Global in autumn 2019 to lead the expansion of the German office as its Executive Director. She has previously been part of the leadership team of the New York based NGO Seeds of Peace. Her efforts as Director for Public Affairs and Communications led to steep digital growth, new media engagement, a Podcast series as well as a series of high level events in New York and Washington, D.C. Born in Germany, she started her career as a political correspondent in the early 1990s after earning a master’s in political science at the Ludwig-Maximilian-University, Munich. She then became the spokesperson for Professor Dr. Rita Süssmuth, the progressive President of the German Bundestag, and was soon promoted deputy head of the parliamentary press office. As of 1996 she started to follow her husband on various diplomatic appointments to the Middle East, Europe and the United States. Huberta published a number of books, among them "Portraits of Hope. The Armenians in the contemporary world" (Berghahn Books) as well as "Arme Kinder, reiches Land" (Rowohlt) on child poverty in post-reunification Germany. Both publications sparked an intense public debate and broad media coverage. While living in New York, Huberta drafted a petition to the wife of Syrian Bashar al Assad "Letter to Asma" which went viral. She has appeared on various German and international TV shows and is fluent in English and French. She serves on several boards, among them United Ways Germany, to foster social cohesion. Huberta was awarded the Leo Baeck Medal (2018) and the BGA Medal of Honor by the British-German Association. She member of the Young Leader network of the BMW Foundation and an alumni of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung.