Mr Jacob Astley
Faculty of Social Science, Humanities and the Arts for People and the Economy (BN)
Current positions
Lecturer in Criminology
Biography
Jacob Astley is Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Salford, where his teaching and research are situated at the intersection of criminology, sociology, and social policy. His research expertise covers contemporary forms of extremism, hate, and radicalisation, with particular attention to radicalisation processes that are fluid, ambiguous, and ideologically unstable.
In seeking to develop impactful research with real-world relevance, Jacob is particularly interested in the processes and practices through which young people encounter, engage with, and make sense of increasingly normalised radical(ising) content within their everyday lives. His research connects questions of contemporary extremism and radicalisation with wider debates around youth socialisation, identity, belonging, and meaning-making, and how digital environments interact with the social and material circumstances of young people's everyday lives.
Across his work, Jacob is motivated by an interest in how risks, threats, and harms are socially, culturally, and contextually produced and managed. Adopting a critical perspective, he challenges dominant approaches to understanding and responding to contemporary extremism and radicalisation, examining how risk-based logics operate across domains including security, education, welfare, and everyday life, and how they shape experiences of harm, belonging, and insecurity. This work is underpinned by the development of innovative qualitative methodological approaches to examine how risk is discursively constructed, embedded in policy, and enacted in practice across contexts such as safeguarding, counter-terrorism, and counter-radicalisation.
Building on this work, Jacob has developed an international research profile, delivering invited presentations and conference papers across Europe. His research has been published in a range of high-impact journals, including British Journal of Educational Studies, Crime Media Culture, Critical Social Policy, and the Journal of Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism.
Areas of Research
Contemporary forms of extremism and hate
Contemporary radicalisation processes across online and offline contexts
Fluid and ideologically unstable forms of extremism and radicalisation
Youth socialisation, identity, belonging, and meaning-making
Lived experiences of risk, harm, and insecurity
Risk-based governance across public and security policy
Risk, resilience, and vulnerability in counter-terrorism and counter-radicalisation policy
Qualifications
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Criminology
2022 - 2026 -
Higher Education
2021 - 2022 -
Criminology
2019 - 2020 -
Ancient History
2016 - 2019