Associate Professor Debra Smith (PhD) is a Principal Research Fellow at Victoria University.

Her research focuses on questions of violent political extremism, social conflict and social change. She has a particular interest in the role of emotion within violent extremism beliefs and action, the role of social media in radicalisation to violence, and in translating research for applied practitioner outcomes. Debra co-leads the Applied Security Science Partnership (ASSP) that brings together researchers and law enforcement practitioners to undertake collaborative applied research on violent extremism for translation into frontline practitioner tools.

She recently co-edited the first book on Australia’s contemporary far-right and is currently co-authoring the book, International Terrorism and Counter Terrorism in the Australian Context. In 2020 Debra was awarded the Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Research (Individual).