Dr Laura G. E. Smith is a Professor in Social Psychology and Deputy Head of Department at the Department of Psychology, University of Bath.

As a social and organizational psychologist, her expertise lies in the behavioural science aspects of cybersecurity. She was PI on the ‘Predicting Online Radicalisation’ project, funded by the UKRI Partnership for Conflict, Crime and Security Research. She has an established program of research examining how polarized groups emerge and evolve through intra- and intergroup interactions (both online and offline), and the implications of these processes for behaviour.

Dr Smith’s research on polarization and radicalization has been funded by three major UK-based research councils and in 2016 she won a mid-career Fellowship from the British Academy. She is a co-investigator within the online behaviour stream of CREST, and is Chief Editor of the British Journal of Social Psychology. She has published widely over the past 10 years on the psychology underlying social movements, collective action, and socialization.