A Charles Sturt University (CSU) researcher based in The Netherlands has secured a major European Commission grant to examine the ethical dimension of terrorism and counterterrorism.

Professor Seumas Miller (pictured), who holds joint appointments at CSU's Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics (CAPPE) in Canberra and the Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands, has been awarded a €2.5 million (approx AU$3.73 million) grant by the European Research Council to examine key practical and ethical issues of counterterrorism in an innovative approach to the interface of philosophy and security studies.

Professor Miller's project is titled GlobalTerrorism and Collective Moral Responsibility: Redesigning Military, Police and Intelligence Institutions in Liberal Democracies. He said his research will examine the basic question of 'How to fight terrorism and not to turn evil?'.

"From the 9/11 attacks in the United States in 2001 to the Charlie Hebdo murders in Paris this year, international terrorism shocks public opinion and has profound political, military, and economic consequences," Professor Miller said.

"However, dealing with the terrorist threat is both technically and morally challenging. Not only does counterterrorism involve numerous institutions and tactics, but it also puts the core values of democratic society to the test: the right to life, freedom and privacy."

Professor Miller and his team will seek answers to several crucial questions; what is international terrorism? What is our collective moral responsibility in the context of counterterrorism? How effective and moral are targeted killings, mass personal data collection, and other tactics?

"The main research question is what a morally permissible and efficacious structure of counterterrorist institutions and tactics should be in a contemporary liberal democracy," Professor Miller said.

The project also seeks to achieve major impact through sustained engagement with security agencies and other relevant organisations.