CRIS Director Appointed Member of the Order of Australia
The Centre for Inclusive and Resilient Societies is proud to announce that our director Professor Michele Grossman has been appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the King’s Birthday 2023 Honours List for significant service to tertiary education, particularly to research, and to social welfare initiatives.
Professor Grossman says she is grateful for the award’s recognition of the importance of research to efforts to address the challenge of violent extremism and the need to build community resilience to social harms.
“The opportunity to work closely with communities and government, to learn from different groups of people about how they cope with challenges, and seeing how my research can make a real difference to the social health and wellbeing of Australia as a nation are chief rewards in and of themselves, and I feel very fortunate to receive additional recognition for these activities”.
Professor Shahram Akbarzadeh, CRIS Deputy Director, said:
“This is a well-deserved award for Michele, celebrating her distinguished contribution to advance Australia in three distinct areas: pioneering innovative scholarship, empowering community organisations and engaging with and shaping public policy for the betterment of all”.
About Professor Michele Grossman
Professor Michele Grossman, is the Director of the Centre for Resilient and Inclusive Societies (CRIS)as well as the Research Chair in Diversity and Community Resilience at Deakin University’s Burwood campus, she is also the founder and Co-Convenor of the Addressing Violent Extremism and Radicalisation to Terrorism (AVERT) Research Network. The research she leads informs both domestic and international policy-setting on countering terrorism and violent extremism.
Read more about Michele and her research interests.
Early intervention a key measure for success
Professor Grossman has conducted world-first research in identifying the thresholds for when people would share information or concerns about violent extremism with authorities about someone close, such as a spouse, sibling, parent, child or close friend, whom they are worried may be moving towards extremist violence. “Understanding the barriers and enablers for community reporting and sharing such information as early as possible has led to innovative policy and program initiatives in Australia and the UK. These include the Step Together program in NSW and the United Kingdom’s national Act Early support and advice service.
“Additional research conducted in Canada and the USA is now leading to consideration of new policy initiatives on community reporting frameworks in those countries,” she says.
Following an evolving pathway
Professor Grossman, whose work has always focused on dimensions of cultural diversity in society, says her entry into terrorism and violent extremism studies initially came through a focus on policing and resettlement challenges in refugee and asylum seeker communities. “At the time, these communities were experiencing a lot of discrimination in the post-9/11 environment,” she says, “and my focus gradually developed into trying to better understand how to strengthen social cohesion in the context of concerns about pathways to terrorism and violent extremism”.
“The chance to make a real difference to society”
In spite of the widespread impacts of terrorism around the world, Professor Grossman finds enormous satisfaction in her work to help prevent and mitigate the harms of violent extremism and provide knowledge and tools that can help intervene with or divert someone on a pathway to grievance-based violence. “It is the chance to make a real difference to society that motivates me every day”, she says.
About the Order of Australia Awards
The Order of Australia recognises Australians who have demonstrated outstanding service or exceptional achievement. These honours are all nominated by peers and are an opportunity to recognise their hard work, service and dedication to their chosen field.
