Zsófia Baumann MA

Profile

Zsófi Baumann is a junior researcher at the research strand ‘In the public interest: accountability of the state and the prosecution of crimes’, where she works on counterterrorism (CT) and preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) within the context of projects related to the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF). Projects she has been involved in range from a wide-range of topics, incluing border security management and terrorist travel, racially and ethnically motivated violent extremism, as well as the use of new and emerging technologies by terrorist actors, as well as by states in CT. She previously worked on and co-authored the report entitled The First Decade of the Global Counterterrorism Forum: Monitoring, Evaluating and Looking Forward and was one of the main developers of the Foreign Terrorist Fighters Knowledge Hub, an interactive database on those who joined terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq.

In parallel, Zsófi is pursuing her PhD at the Department of Political Science at the University of Amsterdam, where her research focuses on the reintegration and rehabilitation of both Islamist and right-wing violent extremists and former terrorist offenders in Western European societies and the role of communities in the process.

Prior to joining the Asser Instituut, Zsófi worked for the Global Counterterrorism Forum (GCTF) as a liaison and communications officer. Previously, as a journalist in Hungary she covered violent conflicts in Europe and the Middle East, radicalization and homegrown terrorism. A former consultant in Brussels, she also worked at the European Parliament, NATO and at the United Nations.

Zsófi holds a Master's degree in International Relations from Corvinus University of Budapest, and a second Master's degree in Nonproliferation and Terrorism Studies from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, CA. Zsófi speaks Hungarian and English fluently, has a good understanding of French and Arabic (and a lesser understanding of Dutch and Spanish).

Publications

How the Global Counterterrorism Forum Can Become More Human Rights Compliant (Part II), OpinioJuris, 26 September 2022 

How the Global Counterterrorism Forum Can Become More Human Rights Compliant (Part I), OpinioJuris, 26 September 2022

Biden’s National Security Strategy: Domestic Threats Take Centre Stage, ICCT Perspectives, 8 April 2021