Kosta Lucas

Lecturer (Social Justice)
Masters of Peace and Conflict Studies, B. Laws, B. Arts

Email: kosta.lucas@nd.edu.au

  • Biography

    Kosta Lucas is an experienced researcher and practitioner with over 15 years of expertise social justice related-work, with 12 of them in the area of preventing and countering violent extremism, peacebuilding, and conflict resolution in Australia and internationally.

    To date, his work has included advising and developing programs for Change.org, Google, Meta, the United Nations, and various Australian government agencies, focusing on extremism, societal polarization and/or pro-social civic engagement.

    Currently, Kosta is a Lecturer at the University of Notre Dame Australia in Fremantle, where he coordinates the Social Justice Major, integrating his extensive field experience into course design and delivery. Since taking on this position in 2024, Kosta is concurrently completing his doctorate, conducting research that seeks to illuminate the “justice sensitivities” of violent extremist actors.

    Kosta also leads Counterbrace by DrawHistory, a community engagement practice dedicated to creating opportunities for meaningful conversations that explore and address pressing societal issues. As an extension of this mission, Kosta also hosts the agency’s podcast, Undesign, which serves as a platform to engage with world-class experts tackling the world’s complex challenges.

  • Teaching Areas

    • Social Justice
    • Human Rights
    • Peace and Conflict Studies
    • Terrorism and Radicalisation

  • Research Expertise and Supervision

    • Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism
    • Community Dialogue and Conflict Resolution
    • Digital Violence Reduction and Prevention
    • Alter-Counter Narrative Development

  • Books

  • Book Chapters

    • Lucas, K., & Baldino, D. (2021). White Knights, Black Armour, Digital Worlds: Exploring the Efficacy of Analyzing Online Manifestos of Terrorist Actors in the Counter Terrorism Landscape. In A. Henschke, A. Reed, S. Robbins, & S. Miller (Eds.), Counter-Terrorism, Ethics and Technology: Emerging Challenges at the Frontiers of Counter-Terrorism (pp. 199–221). Springer International Publishing.

  • Journal Articles and Proceedings

  • Conference Papers

    • Anne Aly and Kosta Lucas, “Countering Online Violent Extremism in Australia: Research and Preliminary Findings” in Countering Violent Extremism: Developing an Evidence-Base for Policy and Practice, Hedayah and Curtin University, September 2015, pp. 81 -91.

  • Recorded or Rendered Works

    • Host of DrawHistory's "Undesign" podcast (https://drawhistory.com/initiatives/undesign/), featuring conversations with guests who have dedicated themselves to tackling global social challenges and "wicked problems."

  • Curated Exhibitions or Events

    • 2024 Festival of Dangerous Ideas Panellist: "Absolutely Justifed" with Megan Phelps-Roper and Ed Coper.

  • In the Media

    • Baldino, D., & Lucas, K. (2018). This isn’t Helter Skelter: Why the internet alone can’t be blamed for radicalisation. The Conversation.
    • Lucas, K. (2017a). Peace is not the absence of conflict. It is the ability to accommodate it. The Point Magazine.

  • Professional Affiliations

    • Multicultural NSW COMPACT Alliance Affiliate (2023-Current)
    • Meta Australia's Hate Speech Advisory Group Member (2020-Current)
    • Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism's Independent Advisory Committee Member (2020-2023)

  • Community Engagement

    Provides regular advisory to various (Australian and International) non-profits and social enterprises with specialties in social cohesion and resilience building, digital harm prevention and reduction, and youth empowerment.

    Recent Signature Projects:

    • Lead Designer and Facilitator for the Hillview Intercultural Community Dialogue Series (June 2023 - June 2024), a community dialogue program aimed at bringing communities together to talk about, and problem solve, issues of common concern.
    • With DrawHistory, Kosta was the Project Strategy Lead for CONTINUUM, a fully co-designed digital storytelling platform for Australian and New Zealander survivors of terrorism and violent extremism. This platform is sponsored and hosted by Multicultural NSW.
    • APAC subject-matter expert and mentor for YouTube's "Creators for Change" Creators for Change, working with digital content creators to use their platforms to help counter xenophobia, extremism and hate with stories promoting positive change.