Dr Leonie Jackson

Leonie's research explores the intersections of discourse, identity, and political violence, with a particular focus on how racialised and gendered narratives shape understandings of terrorism, counterterrorism, and security. She is especially interested in how the gendered and racialised constructions of identities in Western political and media discourses inform policy, public perception, and lived experience.

Her work contributes to critical terrorism studies, feminist international relations, and critical security studies and she has published extensively on the representation of politically violent women, the securitisation of Muslim communities, and the ideological underpinnings of counterterrorism strategies. 

She is an editor of the journal Critical Studies on Terrorism, leads the Critical Security and Foreign Policy Research Cluster at Northumbria University and convenes the North East Critical Security Network.

• Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
• The monstrous and the vulnerable: Framing British Jihadi Brides, Jackson, L. Dec 2021
• What is Counterterrorism For?, Jackson, L. 26 Nov 2024
• 9/11 Twenty Years On: Critical Perspectives, Jackson, L., Jarvis, L., Toros, H. 22 May 2023
• Islamophobia in Britain: The Making of a Muslim Enemy, Jackson, L. 2018
• Instrumentalising Islam: The religious soft power strategies of China, Russia, and the US, Mamedov, I., Jackson, L. 22 Aug 2025, In: Review of International Studies

• Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
• Other: Guest on BBC Radio 4's Rethink programme 2025
• Invited talk: ‘Implementing intersectional feminist pedagogy to teach political violence while avoiding perpetuating harm 2025
• Invited talk: ‘Women and Gender in Islamic State' 2024
• Invited talk: ‘Saving 'vulnerable' Muslim girls: Gendered understandings of radicalisation’ 2022
• Invited talk: Teaching for the first time: Overcoming challenges and embracing innovative methods 2020
• Editorial work: Critical Studies on Terrorism (Journal) 2019
• Other: Contribution to BBC Radio Four programme The Turban Bus Dispute 2018
• Invited talk: Lessons Learned from Radicalization-Prevention Efforts 2017

• Joseph Pattison Virtual Battlefields: The Politics of Power and Dissent in Modern Military Videogames Start Date: 01/10/2022
• Joseph Pattison Virtual Battlefields: The Politics of Power and Dissent in Modern Military Videogames Start Date: 01/10/2022 End Date: 17/10/2025

International Politics PhD August 31 2015