Principal Consultant 

Peta Lowe

Peta Lowe is the Principal Consultant with Phronesis Consulting and Training. She is the former Director, Countering Violent Extremism for Juvenile Justice in the NSW Department of Justice. Peta graduated from Newcastle University in 2005 with a Bachelor of Social Work (Honours Class I), from Charles Sturt University in 2010 with a Masters of Social Work (Advanced Practice/Couples and Family Therapy Specialisation), from Queensland University of Technology in 2016 with a Graduate Certificate in Business (Public Sector Management) and most recently in 2018 from Charles Sturt University with a Masters in Terrorism and Security Studies (Postgraduate University Medal). Peta led the Juvenile Justice NSW responses to countering violent extremism and counter terrorism including the assessment, intervention and management of young people charged with terrorism related offences in both community and custody and agency responses to manage the risk of radicalisation to violent extremism within custodial settings. Peta is trained and experienced in the use of a number of violent extremist risk assessment tools and provides expert risk assessments for a variety of legal matters pertaining to violent extremist risk and assessments for sentencing hearings, bail applications, HRTO proceedings and Parole matters across Australian jurisdictions. She has also provided training to a range of professionals to use the VERA-2R risk assessment tool within Australia on behalf of Department of Home Affairs, and continues to provide VERA-2R training internationally, most recently in Georgia. Peta now consults and advises to a range of international, national and state organisations on violent extremism, terrorism and young people. She is an expert consultant with the International Institute for Justice and the Rule of Law (IIJ), and an International Expert with UNODC and UNDP in CVE/PVE.  She is a former Specialist Consultant for The Commonwealth Secretariat where she co-authored The Commonwealth Secretariat ‘Guidelines for Managing the Reintegration of Violent Extremists and their Families: A Guide to Proactive Reintegration’ for Commonwealth member countries. Additionally she co-authored the 1st New Allied Expeditionary Force (NAEF) Whitepaper ‘Preventative and Counter Violent Extremism: Using a Full Spectrum Approach to Address Critical Gaps in Fighting Violent Extremist and Terrorist Threats’ considering violent extremist risk and threat presented to the Canadian Parliament and has written for the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s, Counter terrorism Yearbook 2020 and 2021. Peta provides case management and intervention consultancy to range of organisations providing support and intervention to individuals at risk of violent extremism. She continues to provide training to various organisations in identifying and responding to violent extremism in all forms and presents nationally and internationally on a range of conferences, podcasts, roundtables, panel discussions and seminars, including as an international expert panelist at the 14th United Nations Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in 2021 to discuss the Rule of Law and Juvenile Justice principles for children in a counter-terrorism context.