School of Religion, Theology, and Peace Studies

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Dr. Maja Halilovic-Pastuovic

Dr. Maja Halilovic-Pastuovic

Research Assistant Professor, School of Religion


Biography

Maja is Assistant Research Professor at the School of Religion, Theology and Peace studies in Trinity College Dublin and radicalisation expert for Western Balkans as part of Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN). She is the coordinator of GEMS (Games as Multi-layered Security Threat) project. GEMS is a Horizon Europe funded project that commenced in September 2023. Prior to GEMS project Maja was a partner and WP leader (WP covering theory, methodology and ethics) on PAVE project. PAVE (Preventing and Addressing Violent Extremism through Community Resilience in the Western Balkans and the MENA, 2020-2023) was Horizon 2020 funded project which tackled the global issue of radicalisation by examining community vulnerability and resilience. PAVE was based on a comparative assessment of local communities across seven case study countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Tunisia, Lebanon and Iraq). Prior to this Maja was a partner in PERICLES project. The PERICLES (Policy recommendation and improved communication tools for law enforcement and security agencies preventing violent radicalisation, 2017-2020) project"s overall aim was to develop a comprehensive approach to prevent and counter violent radicalisation and extremism via five practical tools. Prior to that Maja was PI on GATED project (GATED: Segregated education in post-conflict Bosnia and the possibilities of future conflicts in Europe), MSCA Global Fellowship where she spent two years at Sie Centre for International Security and Diplomacy at the University of Denver. Maja joined the School of Religion, Theology and Peace Studies in 2015 as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow after three years of working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology, Trinity College. She completed her PhD in 2013 in Trinity College Dublin in Department of Sociology. At present Maja's research focuses on radicalisation and violent extremism (ethnic, religious and far-right) in Europe and Western Balkans and segregated education in Bosnia and Herzegovina and youth radicalisation in the country. Maja teaches in the areas of sociology of peace and conflict, radicalisation and violent extremism, sociology of race and ethnicity and sociology of identity.

Publications and Further Research Outputs

  • Bosnian post-refugee transnationalism: a grey zone of 'potentiality' in, editor(s)Frederiksen, Martin and Harboe, Ida , Exploring the Grey Zones: Borders, Relations and Invisibilities in Eastern Europe, London , Anthem Press , 2015, [Maja Halilovic-Pastuovic]Book Chapter, 2015
  • Maja Halilovic-Pastuovic, ''Settled in mobility' as a 'space of possibility': Bosnian post-refugee transnationalism as a response to the bio-politics of Irish interculturalism',, Translocations: Migration and Social Change, Special Issue on Integration, 6, (2), 2010Journal Article, 2010
  • Maja Halilovic-Pastuovic , Review of The Bosnian Diaspora: Integration in Transnational Communities, by Valenta Marko and Sabrina P. Ramet , Slavonica, 18, (2), 2012Review, 2012
  • "Not like it used to be Bosnia" - Grounding Bosnian post-refugee transnationalism: the politicisation of nationalism, ethnic reification and religiosity in post-Dayton Bosnia' in, editor(s)Eleftherakis, G., Hannam, S., Kalyva, E. and Psychogios, A. , Infusing Research and Knowledge in South-East Europe, Thessaloniki, South East European Research Centre, 2009, [Maja Halilovic-Pastuovic]Book Chapter, 2009
  • 'The "Bosnian project" in Ireland: A "vision of divisions"' in, editor(s)Fanning, Bryan , Immigration and Social Change in Republic of Ireland, Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2007, [Maja Halilovic-Pastuovic]Book Chapter, 2007
  • 'Diaspora or State-Sponsored Interculturalism?: The Zena Project and Bosnian Migrant Women in Ireland' in, editor(s)Ni Eigeartaigh, Aoileann, Howard, Kevin and Getty, David , Rethinking Diasporas: Hidden Narratives and Imagined Borders, Cambridge, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007, [Maja Halilovic-Pastuovic]Book Chapter, 2007
  • Halilovic Pastuovic Maja , After the Dayton Peace Agreement: Bosnian Post-Refugee Transnationalism , Palgrave MacmillanBook
  • Maja Halilovic-Pastuovic, 'Segregated education in the racial state of Bosnia 20 years after the Dayton Agreement', NDLP2015 Conference, University of Lodz, Poland, 12-14 April 2015Conference Paper
  • Maja Halilovic-Pastuovic, 'Bosnian Post-Refugee Diasporic Experiences: A Grey Zone of Potentiality', Strangers, Aliens and Foreigners, 6th Global Conference, Prague, Czech Republic, 1 - 3 November 2014Conference Paper
  • Maja Halilovic-Pastuovic, 'Bosnian post-refugee transnationalism: a grey zone of 'potentiality'', Exploring the 'Grey Zones': Governance, conflict and (In)Security in Eastern Europe, Aarhus University, Denmark, 1-2 November 2013Conference Paper
  • Maja Halilovic-Pastuovic, "The ethno-racial state of Bosnia: politicitisation of nationalism and ethnic reification as consequences of Dayton Agreement", 1st International Balkan Congress: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow and the Change, Suleyman Sah University, Istanbul, Turkey, 24-26 September 2012Conference Paper
  • Maja Halilovic-Pastuovic, "'The diaspora is coming back': the Bosnian response to Bosnian annual summer migrations home", Diasporas and Cosmopolitanism in Central and Eastern Europe: From theory to practice, Centre for East European Language Based Area Studies, UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies London, UK, 18-19 September 2010Conference Paper
  • Maja Halilovic-Pastuovic, '"Not like it used to be Bosnia" - Grounding Bosnian post-refugee transnationalism: the politicisation of nationalism, ethnic reification and religiosity in post-Dayton Bosnia', 4th South East European Doctoral Student Conference, Thessaloniki, Greece, 6-7 July 2009Conference Paper
  • Maja Halilovic-Pastuovic, 'Survival of the (un)fittest: Bosnian post-refugee transnationalism as a resistance strategy to Irish interculturalism and post-Dayton Bosnia', 1st Global Conference: Diaspora - Exploring Critical Issues, Mansfield College, Oxford, UK, 04-07 July 2008Conference Paper
  • Maja Halilovic-Pastuovic, 'From Forced Migration to Forced Transnationalism: Bosnian Migrant Women and their Post-Refugee Experiences', Aliens and Nations: Citizenship, Sovereignty and Global Politics in the 21st Century, University of Keele, UK, 19-21 April 2007Conference Paper
  • Maja Halilovic-Pastuovic, Between Irish interculturalism and post-Dayton Bosnia: Bosnian refugee transnationalism, Politics of Exclusion and Return: The phenomena of diaspora formations, 9th EUROFOR Marie-Curie Conference within the series : "From Immigration Politics to Migration Management - Changes in Migration Governance, Budapest Hungary, 27June-1 July 2007Conference Paper
  • Halilovic-Pastuovic Maja , 'Bosnia and Herzegovina - Two Decades After Dayton', Denver Dialogues, Political Violence @ A Glance , University of Denver, 2017, -Broadcast
  • Dominic Kudlacek, Laura Treskow, Brendan Marsh, Stephanie Fleischer, Matthew Phelps & Maja Halilovic Pastuovic, Gap analysis on counterradicalisation measures, PERICLES Project, 2017Report
  • Dominic Kudlacek, Matthew Phelps, Stephanie Fleischer, Laura Treskow, Ehiaze Ehimen, Dianne van Hemert, Tom Hueting, Benjamin Kraus, Kamila Labuda, Fernando Miró Llinares, Gaëlle Lortal, Brendan Marsh, Rebeca Bautista Ortuño, Stephen Purcell, Maja Halilovic Pastuovic, Magda Rooze, Francisco Javier Castro Toledo, Daniel Wagner & Thomas Görgen, Prevention of radicalisation in selected European countries A comprehensive report of the state of the art in counter-radicalisation, PERICLES Project, 2017Report

Research Expertise

  • Title
    GATED: Segregated education in post-conflict Bosnia and the possibilities of future conflicts in Europe
    Summary
    The specific aim of the project is to investigate if segregated education in post-conflict societies causes the radicalisation of youth and increases the possibilities of future conflicts. GATED project presents an interdisciplinary investigation of segregated education in Bosnia with particular focus on the phenomenon of 'two schools under one roof' (TSUOR) that currently operates in the country. TSUOR describes schools in Bosnia that are organised around the ethnic segregation of children. Children from different ethnic groups, namely Bosnian Muslims, Croats and Serbs, attend classes in the same building but are physically separated into different classrooms and are taught different curricula by teachers from their own ethnic and religious group. TSUOR is not just a practice of separate education but a policy of segregation which was introduced to Bosnia two decades ago via the Dayton Peace Agreement that ended the conflict in Bosnia. The long term peace building aim of the Dayton Agreement was to keep warring sides apart by giving ethnic groups in conflict institutional and constitutional recognition and rights to separate identities. 2015 marked twenty years since the signing of the Dayton Agreement and over the last twenty years the legacy of the right to separate identities has penetrated all areas of Bosnian social and political life, including the field of education. Currently Bosnia is a divided society and segregated education in this divided society is an urgent issue.
    Funding Agency
    European Commission (REA)
    Date From
    October 2016
    Date To
    September 2019
  • Title
    PERICLES
    Summary
    PERICLES (Policy recommendation and improved communication tools for law enforcement and security agencies preventing violent radicalisation). The overall aim of the project is to develop a comprehensive approach to prevent and counter violent radicalisation and extremism.To meet its aims, PERICLES will consider violent left-wing and right-wing as well as religious ideologies. A special focus will be set on the risks connected with digital violent propaganda. The PERICLES project will deliver advanced and validated counter-propaganda techniques that are target-group-specific. Furthermore, the cooperation between relevant authorities who have due regard against violent radicalisation or support the process of de-radicalisation will be enhanced through the use of the project outputs.
    Funding Agency
    Horizon 2020
    Date From
    May 2017
    Date To
    June 2020

Sociology and related studies, Education, Politics,

Recognition

  • WP lead in Horizon 2020 consortium - PAVE project 2020-2023
  • WP lead in Horizon 2020 consortium - PERICLES project 2017-2020
  • Marie Curie Fellowship - GATED project 2016-2019
  • Irish Research Council Postgraduate Fellowship PhD
  • ESA European Sociological Association SAI Sociological Association of Ireland Trinity Centre for Post-Conflict Justice The Conflict Research Society (ENIEDA)European Network for Intercultural Education Activities, (RAN) Radicalisation Awareness Network, (ECPR) The European Consortium for Political Research, International Studies Association (ISA), European Society of Criminology (ESC)