VOX-Pol Newsletter 12(2) February 2025

Posted on February 11, 2025 (February 11, 2025)

Welcome to Volume 12, Issue 2 of the monthly VOX-Pol Newsletter.

EVENTS

2025 C-REX & VOX-Pol Summer School, 9 – 13 June 2025
Studying Online Extremism: Ethics, Methods and Personal Safety 

This five-day workshop is co-organized by C-REX and VOX-Pol and aims to provide PhD students with the foundation skills for studying online right-wing extremism by focusing on methodology, ethics, and personal safety.

The workshop will outline different methodological approaches to this work and provide practical skills such as digital ethnography, analyzing memes and posts, and text analysis. Recognizing that work on right-wing extremism involves specific ethical challenges, the workshop will discuss ethical guidelines for preparing ethics applications and publishing ethically, as well as researcher personal safety. Students will have the opportunity to present work-in-progress and to visit the 22 July Memorial Centre.

Confirmed lecturers include Dr. Maura Conway, Dr. Ashton Kingdon, and Dr. Cathrine Thorleifsson (with more to come!).

This workshop will be held on 9 – 13 June 2025 at the Center for Research on Extremism at University of Oslo, Norway. It is organized by Dr. Audrey Gagnon (University of Ottawa) and Dr. Nicola Mathieson (University of Liverpool). Note: This PhD Summer School has no tuition fee.

Visit the C-REX website to apply to attend. The deadline to apply is 14 March 2025.

PUBLICATIONS

Call for Papers: Researching Hate Edited Book
Editors – Luke Hubbard, Ashton Kingdon, & Lisa Sugiura 

This is a call for contributions to an edited collection focusing on issues relating to the study of hate, which seeks to understand the causes and consequences of hate, in addition to how manifestations of hatred can be prevented. Such research is important given growing concerns about the increasing levels of hate crimes, hate groups, and online hate speech targeting marginalised persons and groups. However, conducting studies in this area is both challenging and demanding. Access can be fraught with difficulties, there are a host of complex ethical issues that need to be considered and addressed, and there are potential risks to both participants’ and researchers’ safety and wellbeing. This edited collection therefore seeks to promote and facilitate research in this area by providing an overview of the processes, practices, methods, and challenges involved in undertaking hate studies research. 

Consequently, the editors would welcome abstracts that speak to this broad topic, which includes, but is not limited to:

  • Reflections on conducting specific research in the field of hate studies
  • Conceptual frameworks to inform hate studies research
  • The use of novel and innovative methods for researching hate
  • Difficulties in accessing relevant participants, groups, and/or platforms
  • Ethical dilemmas in hate studies research
  • The challenges and risks faced by researchers engaged in hate research

Those interested should submit a 300-word abstract to Luke Hubbard by Friday 28 March via email to luke.hubbard@law.ac.uk.

Islamic State, Media, and Propaganda

VOX-Pol Member Dr Moign Khawaja (IRC Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Dublin City University) and Prof Christian Kaunert (Professor of International Security, DCU) have authored a book titled, Islamic State, Media, and Propaganda: Performances of the ‘Visual Caliphate’. This is part of the Edward Elgar European Security and Justice Critiques series. The book is open access and freely available to read and share at this link.

Islamic State is undoubtedly is one of the most technologically-savvy jihadi organisations of the 21st century, and their documentation of different aspects of the Caliphate is unprecedented in many ways.  This book focuses on the Caliphate’s performances of modern stateness.

The ICCT Podcast Series: the Role of AI in (Counter-)Terrorism

The new podcast series from the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT) on the role of AI in (counter-)terrorism, begins with Episode 1: What does AI mean for the security space? An introduction, featuring VOX-Pol Member David Wells. They discuss the role of artificial intelligence in national security, explore questions about AI’s impact, challenges and opportunities, and discuss how AI might influence the threat landscape in Europe and beyond. 

Episode 2: How are terrorists exploiting AI? features VOX-Pol Leadership Team Member Stephane Baele and a discussion on the role of AI in extremism. You can find all episodes on their website.

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.

JOB OPPORTUNITY
Postdoctoral Research Officer, TAP Project, Swansea University

This Postdoctoral Research Officer role is based in the School of Social Sciences – Criminology at Swansea University and

  1. To coordinate and manage a digital-based case study examining social activism through the lens of deep equality as part of a Trans-Atlantic project.
  2. To design, create and manage the TAP project website on behalf of all countries/projects involved.
  3. To add depth to case study research conducted by partner universities on the project through analysis of relevant digital spaces identified by local teams.

Find out more and apply at this link. The closing date is 24 February 2025.

IN THE MEDIA

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