Welcome to Volume 11, Issue 4 of the monthly VOX-Pol Newsletter.
NEW VOX-Pol WEBINAR
VOX-Pol is pleased to share a new webinar on YouTube: The Next Gen Academic Survival Workshop Series: Early Career Researcher Safety, Wellbeing and Ethics. This is a new webinar series designed specifically for early career researchers to explore the complexities, challenges, and dangers of studying online extremism. This webinar includes three presentations covering key topics: researcher safety and security, mental health and well-being, and ethical considerations. The speakers are:
- Ashton Kingdon, Lecturer In Criminology, University of Southampton
- Ashley Mattheis, Postdoctoral Researcher, Dublin City University
- Joe Whittaker, Lecturer in Cyber Threats, Criminology, Sociology and Social Policy, Swansea University
The Next Gen Conference is coming up on 17 June 2024. More information on how to attend is here.
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
VOX-Pol Members contributed to two new reports, published by Hedayah, that received funding from the 2022 Terrorism and Social Media Sandpit.
- A Guide for Creators Making Content to Counter-Extremism
- Strategic Communications for Countering Extremism in the Digital Age
The first, titled “Unleashing the Potential of Short-Form Video: A Guide for Creators Making Content to Counter Extremism”, is a short guidance framework focusing on audio-visual content to help creators construct messages that promote digital skills, counter extremist narratives, and foster positive attitudes. The second, titled “Unleashing the Potential of Short-Form Video: Strategic Communications for Countering Extremism in Digital Age” is a longer publication outlining literature and good practices on the topic of content development.
RECENT EVENTS
The fifth annual ECTC Advisory Network Conference took place at Europol headquarters in The Hague, Netherlands, on 26 and 27 March.
The conference, which attracted c.150 attendees including from law enforcement, policy, and academia, was organised by Europol colleagues together with VOX-Pol’s Stuart Macdonald (Swansea University), Maura Conway (Dublin City University and Swansea University) and Lisa Kaati (Stockholm University), in their capacity as members of the ECTC Advisory Network Steering Committee.
The theme of this year’s conference was ‘Gen Z and (Counter-)Terrorism,’ with presentations on trends in teenage terrorism offenders, extremism-related media literacy among adolescents, hate content on Telegram and TikTok, the gamification of Hamas’ al-Qassam Brigades’ propaganda, and more.
VOX-Pol presenters included Leeds University’s Nick Robinson on ‘Militarism, Online Gaming and Extremism Made Playful’ and UC Louvain’s Stephane Baele on ‘A Quantitative Analysis of the Incel Online Ecosystem: Structure, Behaviours and Content.’ DCU’s Maura Conway also chaired a roundtable discussion with Gen Z young people, from Dublin City University and Swansea University, on their experiences of online hate, extremism, and terrorism.
CALLS CLOSING SOON
The Society for Terrorism Research (STR) 8th Annual Postgraduate Conference has announced its call for papers, the closing date is 12 April 2024. The conference will be hosted at Dublin City University in May.
The STR 16th Annual International Conference ‘Learning Lessons from the Past and Considerations for the Future’ is on 4 and 5 September 2024 at the University of Central Oklahoma. More info is HERE.
NEW FROM THE VOX-Pol BLOG
Articles from the last month on the VOX-Pol Blog:
- Reflecting on Hizb ut-Tahrir’s 2024 ban in the UK: exploring the group’s ideology and tactics, 3 April 2024, by Elisa Orofino.
- Seeing Eye to Eye: The Delphi Method & Potential Benefits to Mulistakeholderism in the P/CVE Space, 28 March 2024, by Ninian Frenguelli.
- Extremism (Re)defined: Online and Wider implications, 21 March 2024, by Lee Jarvis and Stuart Macdonald.
- Understanding Incels’ Psychology, Ideology, and Networking, 20 March 2024, by Joe Whittaker, William Costello, and Andrew Thomas.
- Using AI to monitor the internet for terror content is inescapable – but also fraught with pitfalls, 13 March 2024, by Stuart Macdonald, Ashley A. Mattheis and David Wells.
IN THE MEDIA
News and analysis by and featuring VOX-Pol Members:
- Islamic State terror attack in Moscow a grim acknowledgement of global power status Russia seeks, The Interpreter, 25 March 2024.
- The Five Types of Dystopian Narrative, Middlebury Institute of International Studies, 22 March 2024.
- Conversations: Digital threats to democracy, The Interpreter, 13 March 2024.