Dr. Brian Hughes
Founding Co-Director, (PERIL)
2022, 2024
Brian Hughes is a Research Assistant Professor in the program of Justice, Law, and Criminology at American University in Washington, DC. He is the founding co-director of the Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab (PERIL), where he develops studies and interventions to reduce the impact of disinformation and the risk of radicalization to extremism. His academic work explores the impact of communication technology on political and religious extremism, terrorism, and fringe culture. This work seeks to identify the social and emotional connections between extremist ideologies, cultures, times, and places. His writing has appeared in the CTC Sentinel at West Point, the International Journal of Communication, Lawfare, and New Media & Society.
The catalytic power of this Summit in bringing together those who are devoting their lives to pushing back and working to confront, understand and work towards solutions around hate in our society is a noble and difficult task. The Summit not only energized those who attended but led to connecting the dots in a global network of those doing this work. The stories of the victims of hate were painful to witness but their courage in coming forward was inspirational. Those who attended left energized with the hope that by working together solutions can be forged.
