Pedro Liberado

Chief Research Officer (CRO)

Radicalisation, Violent Extremism and Organised Crime Portfolio Coordinator

Pedro Liberado holds a degree in Sociology from the University of Coimbra, a Postgraduate degree in Strategic and Security Studies at NOVA University of Lisbon and at the Institute of National Defence of the Portuguese Ministry of National Defence, a master’s degree in Criminology from the University of Porto, and is a PhD candidate in Criminology at the University of Granada, where he is researching on the inherent job-specific risk factors that tend to increase the propensity for criminal justice practitioners to sympathise with (and adhere to) a far-right radical (and extremist) ideology.

Pedro is a former researcher of the Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Lisbon and at the Research Group for Cultural and Political Sociology (TCuPS), a part of the Research Centre for Knowledge, Science, Technology and Innovation Studies (TaSTI) of the University of Tampere, Finland.

Pedro has published articles and reports (incl. EU confidential materials) in the area of criminal justice and P/CVE, mostly focused on risk screening and assessment, exit work (incl. evaluation), staff training, and multi-agency cooperation. He is also an invited speaker at international conferences, meetings, training courses and seminars worldwide, having cooperated (among others) with the European Commission, United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, and the Council of Europe.

Pedro is a certified trainer, active Member of the European Commission’s Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN Policy Support and RAN Practitioners), Full Member of the International Corrections and Prisons Association, the American Probation and Parole Association, and of the European Society of Criminology.

At IPS, Pedro Liberado coordinates the Radicalisation, Violent Extremism and Organised Crime portfolio of projects which includes IN2PREV (Law enforcement and community cooperation and training approach to prevent radicalisation by ensuring refugees’ successful inclusion), REFUGIN (Communitarian approach for a holistic young refugee long term integration), INDEED (Evidence-Based Model for Evaluation of Radicalisation Prevention and Mitigation), R2COM (Radicalisation and Violent Extremism Prevention in the Community), MIRAD (Multi-Ideological Radicalisation Assessment towards Disengagement), EUTEx (Developing a European framework for disengagement and reintegration of extremist offenders and radicalised individuals in prison, including returning foreign terrorist fighters and their families), CEDAR (Continuing Education Against Radicalisation), HOPE (Holistic Radicalisation Prevention Initiative), R4JUST (Radicalisation Prevention Competencies’ Development Programme for Justice Professionals), WayOut (Integrated Exit Programme for Prisons and Probation), INTEGRA (Integrated Community, Probation and Prison Services Radicalisation Prevention Approach), PRACTICIES (Partnership Against Violent Radicalisation in the Cities) and R2PRIS (Radicalisation Prevention in Prisons).

Doctor of Philosophy (P.H.D.), Criminology | Candidate

University of Granada

Far-right radicalisation within criminal justice practitioners: The long-standing consequence of inherent job-specific
risk factors in Spain and Portugal. Objective: Study the increasing propensity for CJPs to sympathise with (and adhere to) a far-right radical (and extremist) ideology.

In other words, to understand if there are job-specific risk factors (e.g., authoritarianism, law legitimacy, stress, burnout, social grievances, perceived injustice, antidemocratic values, personal strains, low education on the topic) acting as catalysts of such ideological increment.

Postgraduate Diploma (PG. DIP.), Strategic and Security Studies

NOVA University of Lisbon | Institute of National Defence (Portuguese Ministry of National Defence)

Master of Science (M. SC.), Criminology

Faculty of Law, University of Porto

Bachelor of Arts (B. A.), Sociology

Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra

Certifications

Participated as trainer/speaker

Certification Course Training Event of the WayOut "Integrated Exit Programme for Prison and Probation" project

IPS_Innovative Prison Systems, Brussels (Belgium) - held online due to COVID-19 travel restrictions

Course Duration: 20 hours

Participated as trainer/speaker

3rd Short-term Joint Staff Training Event of the INTEGRA project

IPS_Innovative Prison Systems, Lisbon (Portugal) - held online due to COVID-19 travel restrictions

Course Duration: 20 hours

Certified trainer (Certificado de competências pedagógicas)

CRIAP Institute

Lecturer: Luís Graça (CRIAP Institute)

Qualitative Data Analysis with MAXQDA

Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra

Lecturer: Francisco Freitas (APEU – FEUC)

Cyber Security for Small and Medium Enterprises

Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia

Lecturer: Nick Patterson, Ph. D. (Deakin University)

Participated as trainer/speaker

2nd Short-term Joint Staff Training Event of the INTEGRA project

Center for the Study of Democracy, Sofia, Bulgaria

INTEGRA project: “Integrated community, probation andprison services radicalisation prevention approach” 

Course Duration: 40 hours

Participated as trainer/speaker

1st Short-term Joint Staff Training Event of the INTEGRA project

University of Toulouse Jean Jaurès, Toulouse, France

INTEGRA project: “Integrated community, probation and prison services radicalisation prevention approach” 

Course Duration: 40 hours

3rd Short-term Joint Staff Training Event of the R2PRIS "Radicalisation Prevention in Prisons" project

Federal Public Service of Justice, Brussels, Belgium

Course Duration: 40 hours

Gender Equality and Sexual Orientation

Peritia - Psychology and Forensic Sciences Services, Oliveira do Bairro, Portugal

Lecturer: Raquel Moreira (Psychologist specialised in occupational, organisational and social psychology;
Advanced specialisation in sexual psychology)

Course Duration: 30 hours

Human Trafficking

Peritia - Psychology and Forensic Sciences Services, Oliveira do Bairro, Portugal

Lecturer: Raquel Moreira (Psychologist specialised in occupational, organisational and social psychology;
Advanced specialisation in sexual psychology)

Course Duration: 30 hours

Terrorism and Counter-terrorism

Peritia - Psychology and Forensic Sciences Services, Oliveira do Bairro (Portugal)

Lecturer: Fátima Almeida (Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra and Peritia – Psychology and Forensic
Sciences Services)

Course Duration: 30 hours

Forensic Facial Reconstruction

University of Sheffield, Sheffield (England, United Kingdom)

Lecturer: Katherine Linehan, Ph. D. (University of Sheffield)

Course Duration: 4 hours

IELTS Academic

International English Language Testing System: Academic Version

IELTS Grade: Band Score 7 (Equivalent to CEFR C1)

Legal and Juridical Aspects of Underage Minors

Instituto de Altos Estudios Universitarios en Abierto, Barcelona, Spain

Lecturer: María García Garnica, Ph. D. (University of Granada)

Course Duration: 65 hours

Research Methodology in Neuroscience

Instituto de Altos Estudios Universitarios en Abierto, Barcelona, Spain

Lecturer(s): Emilio Fernández-Egea, Ph. D. (Cambridge University); Sonia Ruiz de Azúa , Ph. D. (University of the Basque Country)

Course Duration: 25 hours

Neuropsychology: A Life Quality Approach

Instituto de Altos Estudios Universitarios en Abierto, Barcelona, Spain

Lecturer: Sandra Vanotti (National University of Lomas de Zamora )

Course Duration: 15 hours

Introduction to Criminal Profiling Techniques

Instituto de Altos Estudios Universitarios en Abierto, Barcelona, Spain

Lecturer: Zoraida Esteve Bañón (University Miguel Hernández de Elche)

Course Duration: 8 hours

Criminal Profiling

CRIAP Institute, Porto, Portugal

Lecturer: Maria Francisca Rebocho, Ph. D. (Fernando Pessoa University)

Course Duration: 16 hours

Legal Medicine

IURIS FDUP, Faculty of Law, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

Lecturer: J. Pinto da Costa, Ph. D. (Portucalense University and CRIAP Institute)

Course Duration: 12 hours

Forensic Sexology

CRIAP Institute, Porto (Portugal)

Lecturer: J. Pinto da Costa, Ph. D. (Portucalense University and CRIAP Institute )

Course Duration: 16 hours

Chief Research Officer (CRO) & Head of Radicalisation, Violent Extremism and Organised Crime Portfolio

IPS_Innovative Prison Systems

Research, design, development, management and implementation of innovative projects in the fields of prison management, law enforcement, public safety, and capacity-building of criminal justice staff, especially regarding the research areas of radicalisation and violent extremism.

Main Developed Tasks & Duties:

  • Project manager within the security and criminal justice sector (EU/EC-funded initiatives). Multiple funding schemes - Horizon 2020; Horizon Europe; DG Justice Programme (JUST); Rights, Equality and Citizenship (REC); Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values Programme (CERV); DG Home Affairs - Internal Security Fund (ISFP); EEA and Norway Grants; Erasmus+ (KA2, KA3, Sector Skills Alliances);
  • Design of innovative projects (i.e., brand new Concept Notes' creation, partnership/consortium engagement and establishment, budget forecast design and development, project proposal development and submission);
  • Management and implementation (e.g., finalise project outputs/deliverables according to the stipulated deadline, budget control and preparation of interim/final financial & technical reports, lead consortium coordination & communication, internal team management) of ongoing projects in the fields of radicalisation and violent extremism (R2COM, MIRAD, EUTEx, INDEED, CEDAR, HoPE, R4JUST); supporting the coordination of other Portfolios within the fields of international judicial cooperation (PRE-TRIAD, PRE-RIGHTS, FAIRNESS, AWARE EAW) and criminal justice staff training (PO21) - please see section Projects for more details;
  • Projects successfully implemented: WayOut (DG JUST), INTEGRA (Erasmus+ KA2), PRACTICIES (Horizon 2020), R2PRIS (Erasmus+ KA2) and MenACE (Erasmus+ KA2) - please see section Projects for more details;
  • Coordinate the conceptualisation, development and implementation of cross-border b-learning training programmes focused on capacity-building of prison staff, probation staff, judicial (e.g., judges, magistrates, prosecutors), and community organisations practitioners in the field of P/CVE;
  • Coordinate 'Radicalisation, Violent Extremism and Organised Crime' Portfolio strategic alignment, R& D opportunities, and team & task workflow;
  • Security stakeholders' engagement at EU-level and beyond;
  • Organisation of (inter)national conferences, meetings, training courses and seminars;
  • Trainer/speaker in (inter)national conferences, meetings, training courses and seminars (Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Spain);
  • Data collector & analyst | World Prison Indicators.

Researcher

Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tampere

Researcher at the University of Tampere | TCuPS (Research Group for Cultural and Political Sociology), a part of TaSTI (Research Centre for Knowledge, Science, Technology and Innovation Studies). Responsible for analysing over 120 parliamentary debates (Portuguese, Spanish, and English speaking countries) related to the (inter)national security and internal affairs policy areas.

Researcher

Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lisbon

Researcher at the Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Lisbon, in cooperation with the City University of London. Responsible for data collection and analysis (incl. areas related to crime, security and political environment) and field team supervision (northern and central Portugal).