Online Library

VOX-Pol Lecture Series, Spring 2023

Title: Emerging Methodologies Panel: Researching the Metaverse.

Chair: Dr Suraj Lakhani (University of Sussex)

Speaker 1: Dr Rachel Kowert

Outline: “The Metaverse” is a phrase that is used often despite the fact that there is no clear consensus on how to define this space. In this short talk, we will explore the various interpretations of the metaverse and put forward a new definition of “metaverse-like spaces” and explore how these environments are not something to expect in a dystopian future, but are present here and now. We will also discuss the challenges and practicalities facing researchers who wish to study these environments.

Speaker 2: Dr Elizabeth Pearson

Outline: Online extremism and terrorism research has been going on for at least two decades now: although there was some earlier coverage (Lowe 1985), the academic sub-field had its genesis in the late 1990s and early 2000s (Arquilla, Ronfeldt, and Zanini 1999; Conway 2002; Denning 1999). Despite this, understanding its impacts on the people who collect and analyse data on online extremism and terrorism, and who publish their findings, is a relatively new concern. Lizz Pearson discusses the new VOX-Pol report from the REASSURE project, exploring how researchers are harmed, how they prevent harm and what institutions are doing to help. Based on interviews with researchers, we look at how research in the metaverse might change these findings, and how institutions need to adapt to the ever-changing research environment to protect academics.

This workshop focusses on the phenomenon of extremism and especially online extremism in the context of sub-Saharan Africa. This workshop brought together academics researching extremism and Preventing/Countering Violent Extremism (P/CVE) interventions in sub-Saharan Africa where both Islamist militant groups and far-right and alt-right groups operate. The workshop explored how extremist groups and individuals use the internet in the region, how counterterrorism/P/CVE strategies are designed to address this problem and the challenges of implementing these strategies bearing in mind global and local politics and the local governance systems in place.

Chair: Miraji H. Mohamed, Swansea University.

Panellists:

1. Prof Christi van der Westhuizen, Nelson Mandela University.

2. Prof Freedom C. Onuoha, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

3. Dr Halkano Abdi Wario, Egerton University.

4. Dr Christopher Anzalone, Marine Corps University (The views expressed here do not represent those of the U.S. Marine Corps, Department of Defense, or any part of the U.S. government)

VOX-Pol Guest Lecture Series, Autumn 2023

Name: Dr Anthony Richards

Title: Conceptualising Terrorism: Challenges and Implications

Outline: “Why is it important to generate an agreed definition of terrorism? What are the challenges that confront this and to what the extent can we view terrorism as an analytically distinctive concept?”

VOX-Pol Guest Lecture Series, Autumn 2023

Name: Dr Joe Whittaker

Title: Catch 22: Researcher Welfare and Institutional Ethics within Online Terrorism and Extremism Research

Outline: “Recent years have seen an increase in concern over the welfare of researchers who regularly engage with extremist and terrorist content online. This comprises external (such as death threats, doxing, and trolling), internal (psychological issues surrounding engagement with content), and professional issues. This lecture focuses on an important and understudied aspect of the issue of researcher welfare; the navigation of ethics committees. Drawing on interview-based research with 39 academics, Joe will discuss researchers’ experiences with the ethical application process; how and whether researcher welfare is considered; and the concern that institutions will make it more difficult to conduct research in future. These issues leave online extremism researchers in a “Catch 22” in which they either have little institutional oversight but experience harms conducting their work, or do have oversight, but with more barriers put up.”

VOX-Pol Guest Lecture Series, Autumn 2023

Name: J.M. Berger

Title: The Conceptualisation of Extremism Online

Outline: The rise of the online environment has been a game changer in enabling extremist movements to destabilize civil societies around the globe. This presentation explores the interface between extremism and the internet and presents contemporary approaches to understanding violent extremism online.

VOX-Pol Guest Lecture Series, Autumn 2023

Name: Jonathan Collins

Title: An Introduction to Netnography & Step-by-step Guide

Outline: “New immersive methodologies are needed to better understand online extremist communities. The presentation will cover one of these (Netnography), providing an essential glimpse into this multifunctional tool and the benefits it offers to the field. The lecture will also include a step-by-step guide on how to conduct a netnographic study, offering a great starting point for those looking to adopt the technique.”