Dr Sajjan M. Gohel research interests includes looking at the ideology and doctrine that feeds international terrorism, the varying tactics and strategies of trans-national terrorist groups, border security challenges, and the role new media plays for strategic communications.
In addition to being a guest teacher at the LSE, Dr Gohel is the International Security Director for the London-based Asia-Pacific Foundation, a policy assessment think-tank monitoring emerging geopolitical threats. He acts in a consultancy role for law enforcement agencies, foreign ministry and defence departments, and the international media. Dr Gohel has also provided in-depth reports on security issues to multilateral organizations such as the European Union, UNHCR, NATO, OSCE and INTERPOL.
Dr Gohel’s research is case-study driven having conducted fieldwork in 23 countries. Dr Gohel has also provided expert witness testimony to the House of Common’s Foreign Affairs Committee on the evolving challenges and threats in Afghanistan-Pakistan, North Africa and the Middle East.
In his role as Senior Advisor to the Partnership for Peace Consortium’s Combating Terrorism Working Group (CTWG), Dr Gohel heads its programme development on countering violent extremism. The CTWG is collaborative research project investigating current trans-national security threats and comprises of members from over 40 countries and multilateral organizations. Dr Gohel also serves as Course Director for the Defence Against Terrorism course at the NATO School in Germany; as well as visiting lecturer for the NATO Centre of Excellence Defence Against Terrorism in Turkey and the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies.
Dr Gohel received his BA (Hons) in Politics from Queen Mary, University of London. He also holds both a Master’s degree in Comparative Politics and a PhD in International History from the London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE). His thesis is entitled, ‘Insurrection of the Ideologues: The Evolution of Egyptian Islamist Radical Ideological Thought from Hasan al-Banna to Ayman al-Zawahiri’.