Leading article: Terror research

It is understandable that academics are concerned about being compromised by the war on terror (see page 7). Any research programme called "New Security Challenges: Radicalisation and Violence" suggests that researchers are wading into controversial – and possibly dangerous – territory. Anthropologists interested in finding out how, for example, different groups of Iraqi Muslims are being radicalised by the Iraq war would do well to be careful of taking government money. But the Economic and Social Research Council has done everything it can to reassure researchers that the research it is commissioning is genuine and will be published. It is difficult to see what more it can do.