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16 Last updated 30 September 2020.
Biography
I am Professor of Youth and Policy and Associate Dean - Research for the School of Education and Professional Development at the University of Huddersfield, where I have worked since 1999.
I am a professionally qualified youth and community worker. Prior to joining the University, I worked as a regional manager for a national voluntary youth work organisation and as a regional youth policy and campaigns officer for the government’s Commission for Racial Equality. Since joining the School of Education and Professional Development, I have contributed to sociology and social policy teaching at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, to the professional development of our Youth and Community Work students, to PGR supervision and have been actively involved in research. My research focuses mainly on state policies around young people and multiculturalism, racism, community cohesion, and the prevention of extremism, and particularly on how ground-level policy-makers and practitioners mediate and enact such state policy agendas.
I have developed my research through a number of past and present funded projects created in collaboration with local government bodies in the north of England, with the research findings creating impact by influencing national and regional policy and practice. Recently, I have been Joint Principal Investigator (PI) (with Prof. Michele Grossman of Deakin University, Australia) of the CREST-funded ‘Community Reporting Thresholds’ project which investigated the barriers young adults face in sharing concerns about someone close to them becoming involved in extremism.We are now exploring replication of this work in North America. I was also recentlu a Co-Investigator (with Dr. Joel Busher, Coventry and Tufyal Choudhury, Durham) on a project investigating the implementation of the Prevent legal duty in English schools and colleges.The 2017 reports from both of these projects received significant media coverage and policy-making interest.
Previously, I was PI on an action research project around implementation of community cohesion policies in Kirklees, West Yorkshire and co-PI on a mixed methods investigation of attitudes and dispositions within mainly white, marginalised communities in both Kirklees and Calderdale. I have previously been PI on a Prevent-funded action research project into young people’s feelings about ‘identity’, cohesion and segregation in Rochdale, Greater Manchester and on an evaluation of the first year of Prevent activity in Kirklees, West Yorkshire.
Research Expertise and Interests
- Multiculturalism and state policy approaches
- Ethnic segregation, Integration and Community Cohesion
- Terrorism, political extremism and approaches to prevention, including the Prevent strategy
- Ethnicity, Identity, marginalisation and young people
- Youth Work policy and practice
- Marginalised young people
Research Expertise and Interests
- Preventing Extremism
- Ethnic Integration
- Community Cohesion
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Projects
- 1 Finished
Research output
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Britain’s Prevent Strategy: Always Changing, Always the Same?
Thomas, P., 25 Jul 2020, The Prevent Duty in Education: Impact, Enactment and Implications. Busher, J. & L. J. (eds.). 1 ed. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan UK, p. 11-31 21 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Open Access -
Community reporting on violent extremism by "intimates": emergent findings from international evidence
Thomas, P., Grossman, M., Christmann, K. & Miah, S., 1 Dec 2020, In: Critical Studies on Terrorism. 13, 4, p. 638-659 22 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open Access -
'Race,’ Space and Multiculturalism in Northern England: The (M62) Corridor of Uncertainty
Miah, S., Sanderson, P. & Thomas, P., 3 Jun 2020, 1 ed. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan UK. 291 p. (Politics of Identity and Citizenship series)Research output: Book/Report › Book › peer-review
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The Introduction of the Prevent Duty into Schools and Colleges: Stories of Continuity and Change
Busher, J., Choudhury, T. & Thomas, P., 25 Jul 2020, The Prevent Duty in Education: Impact, Enactment and Implications. Busher, J. & Jerome, L. (eds.). 1 ed. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan UK, p. 33-53 21 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Open Access -
The enactment of the counter-terrorism ‘Prevent duty’ in British schools and colleges: Beyond reluctant accommodation or straightforward policy acceptance
Busher, J., Choudhury, T. & Thomas, P., 3 Jul 2019, In: Critical Studies on Terrorism. 12, 3, p. 440-462 23 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile11 Citations (Scopus)
Activities
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Kirklees Youth Conference
Paul Thomas (Participant) & Kris Christmann (Participant)
24 May 2019Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participating in a conference, workshop, ...
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Community Reporting Thresholds: Sharing Information with Authorities Concerning Violent Extremist Activity and Involvement in Foreign Conflict - A UK Replication Study
Kris Christmann (Speaker), Paul Thomas (Speaker), Michele Grossman (Speaker) & Shamim Miah (Speaker)
15 Sep 2017Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited talk
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Opening Remarks to Leeds Salon Debate
Paul Thomas (Speaker)
5 Oct 2015Activity: Talk or presentation types › Oral presentation
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A 'Tainted Brand'? Britain's Prevent Programme
Paul Thomas (Speaker)
3 Jul 2015Activity: Talk or presentation types › Oral presentation
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What should schools do about Radicalisation?
David Thomas (Speaker)
1 Jul 2015Activity: Talk or presentation types › Invited talk
Press / Media
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Community Reporting Of Terrorist Involvement During Covid-19
8/10/20
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Expert Comment
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Book hits back at claims M62 corridor towns show multiculturalism has failed
Paul Thomas, Shamim Miah & Pete Sanderson
25/06/20
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research
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Multiculturalism in North of England… far from a failure
Paul Thomas, Shamim Miah & Pete Sanderson
25/06/20
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research