VOX-Pol Newsletter 12(4) April 2025

Posted on April 8, 2025 (April 7, 2025)

Welcome to Volume 12, Issue 4 of the monthly VOX-Pol Newsletter.

UPCOMING EVENTS

The Society for Terrorism Research: 17th Annual International Conference
Conference theme: The Future of Terrorism Research in a Multi-Crisis World

The Society for Terrorism Research (STR) is delighted to announce that the 17th Annual International Conference will be held on July 7 and 8, 2025, at the VOX-Pol member institution Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham Campus. This is an in-person event. 

Call for papers: All proposals for the STR 17th Annual International Conference need to be submitted at this link by 11 April 2025. If you have any questions about this event, please contact the organising team via email at STR2025@rhul.ac.uk.

The new VOX-Pol Institute (VPI) is hosting two workshops in May.

On Wednesday 7 May, VPI is hosting The Current Threat Landscape: Networks, platforms, and technologies. This half day workshop is intended for:

  • Tech Industry Trust & Safety Teams
  • Security Analysts and Researchers
  • Law Enforcement Professionals
  • Policy Makers and Regulators
  • Academia and Civil Society Organisations

On Wednesday 7 and Thursday 8 May, VPI hosts Tackling violent extremism and terrorism content online: A practical workshop. This workshop is essential for those professionally-tasked with responding to content relating to violent extremism and terrorism, and seeking to stay ahead in this ever-evolving landscape. 

The workshops have academic rates, and an early bird discount available till 9 April. They will take place in-person, in Dublin, Ireland.

PUBLICATIONS

VOX-Pol Members Stephane Baele and Lewys Brace have authored two new articles in the last month. “Socio-Semantic Network Analysis for Extremist and Terrorist Online Ecosystems” is published in Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, and looks at how to best chart and analyse extremist digital ecosystems.

“More is More: Scaling up Online Extremism and Terrorism Research with Computer Vision” published in Perspectives on Terrorism encourages terrorism and extremism analysts to use computational visual methods, mirroring for images what is now routinely done for text.

VOX-Pol Member Ashley Mattheis has published the article “Structural Failures of Care: Institutional Disregard for Researcher Safety Online” in the journal European Journal of Politics and Gender.

The article discusses the online harassment of researchers, and the harassment of marginalised scholars as a strategic practice of far-right and anti-gender metapolitics. It can be read in full at this link. 

PREVIOUS EVENTS

VOX-Pol Members Kamil Yilmaz, Maura Conway and Elizabeth Pearson spoke at the Counterterrorism – Assessment and Rehabilitation Centre (CT-ARC) Conference 2025, held on 3 April in Sheffield, UK. Dr Yilmaz was invited to give a Keynote speech on “Disengaging from Terrorism: Lessons from the Turkish Penitents”. Dr Pearson spoke about Gender and Misogyny in Extreme Offending, and Prof Conway presented on Violence Fixated Individuals, Terrorism, and the Internet.

VOX-Pol Member Dr Suraj Lakhani was recently appointed to the Christchurch Call Advisory Network (CCAN) which was set up by the New Zealand government in the wake of the Christchurch Attack in 2019. The CCAN exists to provide expert advice on implementing the commitments in the Call in a manner consistent with a free, open, and secure internet and with international human rights law.

RECENTLY ON THE VOX-Pol BLOG

We’ve featured Early Career Researchers for Next Gen Network month on the VOX-Pol Blog. Posts included:

Click here for instructions on how to submit an article.

IN THE MEDIA

A spotlight on recent news items featuring VOX-Pol Members and their research: