University of Plymouth

11/11/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 11/11/2025 11:11

University provides evidence to major national review of UK counter-terrorism law

11 November 2025

Research by the University of Plymouth has helped inform the Independent Commission on UK Counter-Terrorism Law, Policy and Practice, whose final report was published today.
The Commission's wide-ranging review draws on evidence from across academia, law, policing, civil society, and affected communities to make recommendations for the future of UK counter-terrorism policy.
Among the expert contributions was evidence from Dr Paul Simpson , Associate Professor of Human Geography from the University of Plymouth, and Dr Sara Fregonese, Associate Professor of Political Geography at the University of Birmingham.
Their research, part of the international project Atmospheres of (Counter)Terrorism in European Cities (ATmoCT), was cited in several sections of the report addressing public attitudes toward terrorism and counter-terrorism measures.
The AtmoCT project surveyed 15,000 people across the UK, France and Germany to explore how they perceived terrorist threats and experience counter-terrorism measures in public spaces.
Based on a representative sample of more than 5,000 people in the UK, it found that terrorism is closely associated with fatalities in the public understanding, evidence cited by the Commission in its call for a more focused definition of terrorism.
The research also found noticeable differences in people's experiences and considerations of counter-terrorism measures by gender, religion, ethnicity, and age. Based on this evidence, the report calls for equality impact assessment in relation to the different impacts that counterterrorism measures have on people.
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