Jaclyn Fox is a doctoral candidate in the School of International Service at American University, specializing in the fields of political violence and security. Her doctoral research explores the growth and changing dynamics of the far-right movement in the US and across the globe. Specifically, she investigates the roles of psychological motivation (social dominance orientation and right-wing authoritarianism), identity formation, and group dynamics within online and offline far-right communities to understand why some groups within the far-right ecosystem are decreasing in influence while others are gaining strength during this moment of global far-right surge.

Jaclyn holds an MSc with Distinction in Investigative and Forensic Psychology from the University of Liverpool as well as a BA in Psychology from New York University. She was previously a research fellow at the Home Team Behavioral Sciences Centre in Singapore where she investigated the role of the bystander effect on individuals’ willingness to report suspected violent extremists.

Specialist research areas:

Right-wing extremism in the US; psychology and extremism; gender and extremism.