The Centre for the Prevention of Radicalization Leading to Violence (CPRLV) is committed to ensuring scientific monitoring of incidents of radicalization leading to violence in order to document them, explain them, and propose suitable approaches and interventions. The CPRLV‘s research unit employs a multidisciplinary approach, emphasizing action research and focusing on the following three key areas.

The Development of Scientific Expertise

The research unit’s principal mandate is to develop scientific expertise and knowledge concerning radicalization leading to violence, taking current prevention strategies into account. Its commitments in this area are as follows:

• Documenting the various forms of violent radicalization observed in the province of Quebec
• Ensuring the development of Quebec expertise in the field of hate crime and incident research
• Identifying violent radicalization trends in Quebec, in Canada, and internationally and how they are evolving, and to monitor the production of scientific knowledge on the topic.
• Making research reports and dossiers on issues pertaining to radicalization leading to violence available to the public

• Engaging in scientific collaboration with universities and research centres to carry out action research projects

Developing practical tools, training content, and prevention strategies

The research team collaborates with the CPRLV‘s other units on the development of practical tools, training content, and prevention strategies. Its involvement takes a variety of forms:

• Identifying good practices at the international level in the prevention of radicalization leading to violence as well as of hate crimes and incidents.
• Creating practical prevention tools for front-line actors and the different groups affected by this issue (schools, community organizations, private institutions, etc.)
• Developing prevention strategies and programs
• Determining the content of CPRLV training courses
• Drawing on international scientific knowledge to foster the development of intervention practices and psychosocial counselling
• Assessing the effectiveness of implemented prevention strategies regarding radicalization leading to violence and the fight against hate crimes and incidents.

Knowledge Dissemination and Sharing

It is imperative that the body of scientific knowledge assembled by the research unit be accessible to the community and be enriched through reciprocal knowledge sharing. The unit has four specific aims in this regard:

• To ensure the transfer of acquired knowledge to practice environments, front-line workers, and partners directly involved in the prevention of radicalization leading to violence or of hate crimes and incidents in Quebec, in Canada and internationally
• To develop insitutional partnerships designed to allow for the training of young researchers interested in radicalization leading to violence and prevention issues
• To establish ties with researchers working in the same areas and fields of interest as the CPRLV
• To participate in knowledge sharing and dissemination among the scientific community, public stakeholders and prevention practitioners (concerned with radicalization leading to violence and hate crimes and incidents)—in Quebec, in Canada, and internationally—by taking part in a variety of scientific activities (university and scientific conferences, etc.) and by organizing such events