Dr Christina Schori Liang

Dr. Christina Schori Liang is Head of Counterterrorism and Preventing Violent Extremism at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP) in Geneva, Switzerland. In this capacity, she leads the Geneva Security Debates and designs and directs courses on Preventing Violent Extremism, and Transnational Organised Crime and Security.

Dr. Liang is the editor of Europe for the Europeans: The Foreign and Security Policy of the Populist Radical Right and a long-standing contributor to the Global Terrorism Index, with contributions spanning the 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022, 2023, and 2025 editions. She recently co-edited the Handbook on Security Science, published by Springer Verlag, and is currently editing a book for the NATO Centre of Excellence Defence Against Terrorism entitled Terrorism in 2040: How to Counter Asymmetric Warfare in a Hyperconnected World.

Dr. Liang provides academic and policy guidance to global security actors worldwide and has delivered expert briefings and presentations in 35 countries. Her engagements include the European Commission, the European Forum for Urban Security, the Doha Forum, The Munich Security Conference, the U.S. National Intelligence Council, the U.S. Department of State, the NATO Maritime Interdiction Operational Training Centre in Souda Bay, the NATO Defense College in Rome, and the OSCE Secretariat in Vienna.

Dr. Liang has taught university-level courses since 2002. She previously served as Adjunct Faculty at Boston University from 2008 to 2013 and, since 2016, has been an Adjunct Faculty Member at the Paris School of International Affairs, Sciences Po, where she teaches in the Global Risks and Intelligence Studies programs. She also serves as an expert for the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime.

Dr. Liang holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Hope College, as well as a Master of Arts in History and International Politics and a PhD in International Relations from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland.

Select Publications

• Liang, Christina Schori, Ten Lessons Terrorists are Learning from the Russia-Ukraine War”, Institute for Economics and Peace, 2025 Global Terrorism Index, pp. 81-85.
• Liang, Christina Schori,  Influence – Vorsprung durch Wissen on Der Perfekte Ort für Friedensgespräche for Eva Novak on 24 January 2024.
• Liang, Christina Schori and Rickli, Jean-Marc, book chapter “New and Emerging Technologies for Terrorists in The Routledge Companion to Terrorism Studies – New Perspectives and Topics edited by Max Abrahms –Taylor & Francis, 299 pages.
• Liang, Christina Schori, book chapter for NATO (NATO Centre of Excellence Defence Against Terrorism, 2024) on The Effects of Russia-Ukraine War on Countering Terrorism, chapter is entitled Emerging Threats: “Will the Use of New Technologies in the Russia-Ukraine War Transform the Capabilities of Terrorists?”
• Liang, Christina Schori, Building Resilience Against Uncrewed Aerial Systems, GCSP Policy Brief, April 2023.
• Liang, Christina Schori, Growing Nexus of Terrorism and Organized Crime in Masys, Anthony, Handbook of Security Science, Springer Verlag, 2022.
• Liang, Christina Schori, Technology and Terror: The New Arsenal of Anarchy, in Masys, Anthony, Handbook of Security Science, Springer Verlag, 2022.
• Liang, Christina Schori, Far-Right Contagion: The Global Challenge of Transnational Extremist Networks, Masys, Anthony, Handbook of Security Science, Springer Verlag, 2022.
• Liang, Christina Schori, "Terrorist Digitalis: Preventing Terrorists from Using Emerging Technologies", Institute for Economics and Peace, in the Global Terrorism Index 2023.
• Liang, Christina Schori, "The Technology of Terror: From Dynamite to the Metaverse", Institute for Economics and Peace, in the Global Terrorism Index 2022, Institute for Economics and Peace, March 2022.
• Liang, Christina Schori and Matthew John Cross, White-Crusade: How to Prevent Right-Wing Extremists from Exploiting the Internet, Strategic Security Analysis, July 2020.
• Liang, Christina Schori, “Hydra: The Evolving Anatomy of Extremism”, in the “2019 Global Terrorism Index: Measuring and Understanding the Impact of Terrorism.” Institute for Economics and Peace. 2019 p. 82-85.
• Bak, Mathias, Kristoffer Nilaus Tarp and Christina Schori Liang, Defining the Concept of ‘Violent Extremism’: Delineating the attributes and phenomenon of violent extremism, Geneva Paper 24/19, Geneva Centre for Security Policy, August 2019.
• Liang, Christina Schori, “Unveiling the “United Cyber Caliphate” and the Birth of the E-Terrorist” in Georgetown Journal of International Affairs International Engagement on Cyber VII, Fall 2017, Volume 18, No. 3. p. 11-20.
• Liang, Christina Schori, “Leaderless Jihad in a Leaderless World: The Future of Terrorism”, in the “2017 Global Terrorism Index: Measuring and Understanding the Impact of Terrorism.” Institute for Economics and Peace. 2017 p. 88-91.
• Liang, Christina Schori, “Mapping the New Global Criminal-Terrorist Networks,” in the “2016 Global Terrorism Index: Measuring and Understanding the Impact of Terrorism.” Institute for Economics and Peace. 2016 p. 84-88.
• Liang, Christina Schori, “The Criminal-Jihadist: Insights into Modern Terrorist Financing,” Strategic Security Analysis – 2016 n°10, August 2016.
• Liang, Christina Schori, “ISIL Inc: A Portrait of a Modern Terrorist Enterprise,” in the “2015 Global Terrorism Index: Measuring and Understanding the Impact of Terrorism.” Institute for Economics and Peace. 2015 p. 76-80
• Liang, Christina Schori, “Cyber Jihad: Understanding and Countering Islamic State Propaganda.” GCSP Policy Paper 2015/2
• Liang, Christina Schori, “Shadow Networks: The Growing Nexus of Terrorism and Organised Crime.” GCSP Policy Paper 20, November, 2011.
• Liang, Christina Schori, “Schattennetzwerke: Der Wachsende Nexus von Terrorismus und Organisierter Kriminalität, GCSP Policy Paper 20, November, 2011. GCSP Policy Paper 20 – Deutsch.pdf (952.2 kB)
• Liang, Christina Schori (ed.) Europe for the Europeans: The Foreign and Security Policy of the Populist Radical Right (London: Ashgate Publishing, 2007), 318 p.