VOX-Pol Newsletter 12(6) June 2025

Posted on June 10, 2025 (June 10, 2025)

Welcome to Volume 12, Issue 6 of the monthly VOX-Pol Newsletter.

UPCOMING EVENTS

You are invited to a VOX-Pol webinar taking place on Wednesday 18 June 2025, starting at 15:00 (UK time). Register to attend by emailing info@voxpol.eu.

This webinar accompanies the recently published United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) and VOX-Pol joint report: Right- and left-wing violent extremist abuse of digital technologies in South America, Africa and Asia.

Report authors Arthur Bradley and Ottavia Galuzzi will discuss the new publication and its recommendations, with a specific focus on one of the case studies. The webinar will be chaired by Suraj Lakhani, Associate Professor in the School of Law, Politics and Sociology at the University of Sussex. Suraj will lead the discussion and question and answer session.

Gore and Violent Extremism

Coming soon: a new VOX-Pol report titled: ‘Gore and Violent Extremism: An explorative analysis of the use of gore websites for hosting and sharing extremist and terrorist content’. We will be launching the report on 9 July 2025 at 17:00 (UK time). 

Dozens of gore websites are hosting 1,000s of terrorist videos, uploaded alongside videos showing violent misogyny, bloody war footage, torture and death. This webinar presents key findings into the scale and access of these websites, presents a data-led view on the role gore plays in extremist ideology and discusses what can be done to reduce the exposure of this content to children and people online.

The research was carried out by UK-based research and data company Human Digital, at a time when violence fixation is of growing concern to governments, law enforcement and to those working in online child safety.

VOX-Pol Next Generation Network Conference

We are pleased to announce the VOX-Pol Next Generation Network Conference, a community of early-career researchers (ECRs) working on issues related to violent online extremism in its many forms. The conference will be held 25 to 26 September 2025  at Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic. The call for papers is HERE.

This event is organised under VOX-Pol and the VOX-Pol Next Generation Network, a community dedicated to supporting early-career researchers working on issues related to online extremism. As part of the wider VOX-Pol research network, the conference will also feature the participation of senior scholars in the field, who will provide commentary and constructive feedback on ECR presentations, helping to foster dialogue across career stages and disciplines.

VOX-Pol member Stephane Baele will give a talk on Tuesday 10 June, at the workshop ‘Researching Forms of Mixed and Mutable Extremism: Risks, Challenges and Best Practices’ organised by the University of Liverpool’s International Criminological Research Unit (ICRU). This is the first of three workshops being organised as part of the Conceptualising, Understanding, and Preventing Mixed Forms of Extremism initiative. More about the project can be seen at this link, and you can register to attend any of the workshops by emailing CUPMFE@liverpool.ac.uk.

RECENT EVENTS

Canadian Network for Research on Security, Extremism, and Society (CANSES)

VOX-Pol is pleased to partner with the group, the Canadian Network for Research on Security, Extremism and Society (CANSES). CANSES fosters communication, collaboration, and knowledge sharing between a diverse array of stakeholders. Supported by the Canada Centre for Community Engagement and the Prevention of Violence’s Community Resiliency Fund (CRF) under Public Safety Canada, CANSES replaces TSAS as Canada’s extremism research hub, connecting researchers, practitioners, law enforcement, national security, government staff, and policy makers. CANSES also connects Canada with international partners working in security, extremism, and society spaces. CANSES is dedicated to creating, supporting, and disseminating applied, policy-relevant research. They also provide support and opportunities specific to early career researchers.

VOX-Pol Member Katy Vaughan attended the “European Rights and Risks: Stakeholder Engagement Forum” at the Google Offices in Brussels in June, organised by the Digital Trust and Safety Partnership and the Global Network Initiative. The forum brought together representatives from tech companies, civil society, and academia to provide input into approaches to risk assessments under the EU’s Digital Services Act.  Dr Vaughan contributed to the discussion around the assessment and mitigation of risks of terrorist and violent extremist content in relation to product design.

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Michael Loadenthal and colleagues have published the article, The Base: An analysis of recruiting, vetting, and motivations of potential members, in the journal, Dynamics of Asymmetric Conflict. The team have previously published a five-part VOX-Pol Blog post on this topic, which can be read here:

VOX-Pol Members Suraj Lakhani and Amarnath Amarasingam have edited a new book, The Sociology of Violent Extremism: Theoretical and Sociological Approaches, published this summer by OUP. This book is an essential collection addressing key challenges in studying violent extremism, with a significant focus on the online aspects of extremism. 

The book aims to provide researchers with a theoretical “toolbox” that can be deployed in their own work, encouraging the use of sociological theories to improve the understanding of violent extremism and develop effective countermeasures.

RECENTLY ON THE VOX-Pol BLOG

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