COUNTER-terrorism expert Professor Anne Aly won the Charity and Community category at the InStyle and Audi Women of Style Awards.
Wilson resident Prof Aly heads up a research team at Edith Cowan University, looking at ways to counter online violent extremism.
Put simply, she is learning how to stop the radicalisation of young people by sitting down with extremists.
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READ NOW“The ones who aren’t yet radicalised and are still talking to me,” she said.
Last year Prof Aly was the only Australian speaker invited by US President Barack Obama to address his Countering Violent Extremism summit at the White House.
She said the invitation came after long, unpaid hours for People against Violent Extremism, an independent group she founded in 2011.
Prof Aly is also on the board of the Council for Australian-Arab Relations.
“I am pushing the envelope in terms of driving the direction of research into terrorism,” she said.
“I have worked with young men who have been on the brink of radicalisation and who have been targeted for recruitment. I have seen how they have transformed when they’ve been given an opportunity to do something positive. It makes all the sleepless nights, the haters and the crazy stalkers worth it.”
InStyle editor Emily Taylor said Professor Aly was an incredibly powerful and well-respected Australian woman.