Dr. Sara Thompson holds a BA (Hons.), MA, and Ph.D. in Criminology from the University of Toronto. Her research and teaching interests fall in the areas of social inequality, exclusion and marginalization, the social and spatial distribution of urban violence, community resilience, ‘pathways’ to ...
Dr. Sara Thompson holds a BA (Hons.), MA, and Ph.D. in Criminology from the University of Toronto. Her research and teaching interests fall in the areas of social inequality, exclusion and marginalization, the social and spatial distribution of urban violence, community resilience, ‘pathways’ to radicalization/violent extremism, and the negative effects that state-based policies and practices may have on those directly affected by them. She has been with the Department Criminology at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson) since 2008. In 2014, Thompson was named Associate Director of the Canadian network for research on Terrorism, Security and Society (TSAS), which engages in policy-relevant research and dissemination on issues related to terrorism/violent extremism, security and society. Thompson is currently Principal Investigator on two major research projects entitled “Community Reporting Thresholds: Sharing Information with Authorities on Violent Extremism – a Canadian Replication Study” and “Design and Performance: Developing Canadian Partnerships for Countering Violent Extremism” funded by Public Safety Canada’s Canada Centre for Community Engagement and Violence Prevention.
Thompson also currently serves as Academic Advisor to the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP) Research Foundation, the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police (OACP) Equity, Diversity and Inclusion committee, and sits on the executive of the Canadian Society of Evidence Based Policing (CAN-SEPB). She has presented on her research at a range of domestic and international academic and practitioner conference and has briefed high level government and police officials on issues related to urban violence, terrorism/violent extremism, and program evaluation. One of the key drivers of her work is the desire to inform effective, legally responsible and socially engaged violence-prevention policies and programs, both within and outside the context of terrorism and violent extremism.