Dip.Journ. (Macleay College), Dip.P.R. (Macleay College), B.A. (Macquarie), Grad.Dip.Ed.(Sec), GCRE (ACU), M.Int.Rel. (IL Hons) (Macquarie), Ph.D (CSU) Dr Peita L. Richards is an interdisciplinary academic working across international law, political science, criminology and social psychology. Her work is shaped by an ongoing interest in how people make sense of the world around them, and how those beliefs and identities play out in legal, political, and security contexts. Her research has focused on how beliefs and identities form and shift in online environments, particularly in relation to extremism and anti‑authority movements. She now draws these insights into international law, examining how underlying drivers, such as motivation, trust, loyalty, and intent, scale from individual behaviour into the actions of state and non‑state actors. This shift underpins her current work on the geopolitical dimensions of international criminal law, intelligence, and emerging domains such as space law; with a focus on research that remains grounded in real-world application. Dr Richards was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship with the Office of National Intelligence and continues to engage with the National Intelligence Community. She is also a member of the Space Law Council of Australia and New Zealand, serves on the CSU Indigenous Board of Studies, and contributes to academic communities across law and social psychology. Peita teaches into both the Bachelor of Criminology and Bachelor of Laws at Charles Sturt University. Dr Peita L. Richards is the recipient of the Office of National Intelligence, National Intelligence Postdoctoral Grant, 2023 (project 202308). Her research focused on extending methods developed in her doctoral research to the national intelligence priority area of “measuring reliable behavioural indicators of multiple social identity features in real world settings”. Peita’s research continues to advance methods of data analysis to develop objective measures of predictive psychological phenomena in an intelligence context. Her current research extends this work in new directions, focusing on how key drivers such as motivation, trust, loyalty, and intent operate across different contexts; from individuals and online communities, through to state and non-state actors. Drawing on an extensive background in international law, she is particularly interested in how these dynamics play out in questions of responsibility, security, and governance. This includes a growing focus on space law, alongside broader work at the intersection of international law and security. Peita has previously undertaken extensive research with government and industry in geo-political contexts, with a focus on the Middle East, Africa, and factors of International Law. She has presented extensively on factors pertaining to Humanitarian Intervention and Peacekeeping; Responsibility to Protect; State Sponsored Extremism and Terrorism; and Insurgency and Non-State Actors. Member, Indigenous Board of Studies, Charles Sturt University Member, Australian and New Zealand Society of International Law Member, Society of Personality and Social Psychologists Member, Society of Australasian Social Psychologists Editorial Board Member: Journal of Global Indigeneity Review Board Member: Society of Personality and Social Psychology Non-Residential Founding Fellow: Global Network on Extremism and Technology, Kings College, London
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Dr Peita L. Richards
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