online research
Researching the Far Right Safely in Academia: Current Practices and Constraints
October 9, 2025Researchers of risky topics have benefitted from a burgeoning literature on researcher safety, including that specifically focused on researching the far right. Much of this literature has focused on tackling urgent concerns and providing practical advice, targeting the individual and the institution. Drawing on 21 interviews with researchers of the far right and manosphere, this report complements these efforts by detailing ...
‘questions about dawlah. dm me, plz.’ the sock puppet problem in online terrorism research
April 29, 2025This paper explores the problem of deception in online terrorism research. While conducting research into the growing phenomenon of female migration to Islamic State-held territory by Western females, we began following a Twitter account exhibiting suspicious activity. The account owner–believed to be a Canadian teenage female–indicated interest in learning more about joining the IS. We ...
“Catch 22”: Navigating Institutional Ethics and Researcher Welfare in Online Extremism and Terrorism Research
April 29, 2025VOX-Pol Blog post. ...
Vicarious Trauma via the Observation of Extremist Atrocities: A Rapid Evidence Assessment
January 23, 2025Researchers are increasingly conducting research using primary source data involving observation of, and exposure to, violent extremist individuals, their acts, their online content, and the ideologies that they act in support of. Of concern is that this increased use of primary source material has not occurred alongside a serious investigation of the traumatic outcomes that ...
Principle versus practice: the Institutionalisation of ethics and research on the far right
December 3, 2024Institutional ethics review procedures aim – in principle – to minimise harm and evaluate risks, providing an important space to consider the safety of participants and researchers. However, literature has questioned the effectiveness of the process, particularly for reviewing ‘risky’ topics in a risk-averse environment. This article reports the findings of interviews with 21 researchers ...
Ethics is Method, Method is Ethics: What Terrorism Researchers Should Know
August 21, 2024VOX-Pol Blog post. ...
Islamic State’s Virtually Planned Terror Plots: A Note on Current and Future Research
August 21, 2024VOX-Pol Blog post. ...
Where to Publish Academic Research on Online Extremism and Terrorism?: What We Can Learn from Journal Article Entries in VOX-Pol’s Online Library
August 20, 2024VOX-Pol Blog post. ...