Course Director
Maura Conway
School of Law & Government, Dublin City University, Ireland
Lisa McInerney
School of Law & Government, Dublin City University, Ireland
Course Coordinator
Eva Bognar
Center for Media and Communication Studies, Central European University, Hungary
Summary
The VOX-Pol Network of Excellence is a European Union Framework Programme 7 (FP7) funded academic research network focused on researching the prevalence, contours, functions, and impacts of violent online political extremism and responses to same.
The VOX-Pol project’s inaugural week-long Summer School is designed to provide advanced MA students, PhD students, post-doctoral researchers, policymakers, security professionals, journalists, and others with an introduction to the role of the Internet in contemporary violent political extremism(s), including the online strategies of violent jihadis, nationalist-separatists, and the extreme right; the role of the Internet in lone actor terrorism; the gender dimensions of violent online extremism; and e-research ethics.
The School will be composed of thematic sessions in the mornings, breakout sessions in the afternoons, and policy labs in the early evenings. The sessions will thus feature a mix of lectures, group discussions, and hands-on practicums. The School will also include a field trip to a Dublin-based Internet company and a public lecture by a prominent scholar/activist/policymaker in this field.
Application Process
All applicants should apply with an appropriate case study or topic treatment that they are working on at their home institution/organization or as part of their academic research. Selected participants will be required to give a 15 minute presentation about their case/topic during the course of the Summer School. Appropriate cases/topics might include, but are not limited to:
- Online radicalisation;
- The Internet and recruitment into violent political extremist groups;
- Methodologies for terrorism-related Internet research;
- Network analysis and violent online political extremism;
- The content and functioning of violent political extremist Internet forums;
- The role of video in violent online political extremism;
- Children/youth, violent extremism, and new media;
- Women/gender, violent extremism, and new media;
- Case studies of particular groups’ use of new media (e.g. al-Qaeda and related, FARC, Hamas, Hizbollah, dissident Irish Republicans, Neo-Nazis, etc.);
- Case studies of the manifestation(s) and workings of violent political extremism on specific online platforms (e.g. Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, YouTube, etc.);
- Policy/legislative responses to violent online political extremism;
- Critical responses to research on, reporting of, and governmental responses to the conjunction of violent extremism and the Internet;
- Ethical issues surrounding online extremism-related research.
There is no registration fee for the Summer School, which will have a maximum of 30 participants. VOX-Pol will supply a limited number of PhD students, early career researchers, and colleagues from the developing world with funding to cover a portion of their travel and accommodation. Those who wish to avail of the latter should supply, in addition to the application information requested below, a brief statement of need (max. 200 words) and an estimation of travel and accommodation costs.
Accommodation will be available for the duration of the Summer School on the DCU campus where a single en-suite room costs €31 per night and deluxe rooms cost €45 per night. Further information will be provided upon registration.
Applications, including name and contact details (including institutional email address), name of institution, position, 1000-word case study/topic treatment, CV, and contact details for a referee should be forwarded to Eva Bognar at summerschool@voxpol.eu by 5pm GMT on 22nd April, 2014.
Decisions on applications (and funding) will be communicated to applicants by 30 April, 2014.
Watch the public lecture by Brown Moses (Eliot Higgins) here: