Welcome to Volume 9, Issue 2 of the VOX-Pol Newsletter.
CALL FOR INFORMATION
The Center for Societal Security at the Swedish Defence University is looking for examples of online preventing/countering violent extremism (P/CVE) initiatives for practitioners within the EU, from both government and NGOs. Please contact magnus.ranstorp@fhs.se if you have any suggestions. Thank you!
FIRST MONDAY SPECIAL ISSUE
On 2 May 2022, First Monday published a Special Issue exploring societal resilience to online polarisation and extremism, co-edited by Amy-Louise Watkin (USW and VOX-Pol), Vivian Gerrand (Deakin University), and Maura Conway (VOX-Pol and DCU).
The seven articles in this special issue were selected from those delivered at a series of workshops undertaken by the European Commission H2020-funded Building Resilience Against Violent Extremism (BRaVE) Project in 2020–2021. The subjects covered in the Special Issue include memes, gaming and conspiracy theories. The Issue also features in-depth discussions of recommender systems, social capital and polarisation. You can read all the articles in full and for free, HERE.
This work, as part of the BRaVE Project, has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement number H2020/822189/EU. VOX-Pol lead institution DCU was a BRaVE partner.
TECH AGAINST TERRORISM PODCAST
The Tech Against Terrorism Podcast featured Prof Maura Conway, VOX-Pol coordinator, in their episode Understanding Online Radicalisation (series 2, episode 4). In this episode, Maura Conway spoke to Anne Craanen about the role of the internet in the radicalisation of terrorists and violent extremists. Also on the podcast is Ryan Scrivens, Assistant Professor at the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University and VOX-Pol Research Fellow.
VOX-Pol JOINS THE RESOLVE NETWORK
VOX-Pol is please to announce that it has become a member of the RESOLVE Network.
The RESOLVE Network is a global consortium of researchers, research organizations, policymakers, and practitioners committed to empirically driven, locally defined research on the drivers of violent extremism and sources of community resilience. VOX-Pol joins as a world-leading centre for the study of online extremism and terrorism.
The first collaborative event will be the 2022 TASM Conference taking place at Swansea University on 28 and 29 June 2022. VOX-Pol is providing up to 15 travel bursaries to support the attendance at #TASMConf of PhD students and early career researchers.
#TASMConf is taking place on 28 and 29 June 2022 at Swansea University, UK. Registration for the conference is open and the schedule is available online.
IN THE MEDIA
- Will the ‘Islamic State’ benefit from the Ukraine war? Deutsche Welle, 17 May 2022.
- Mass shooting livestreamed on Twitch, Information Age, 16 May 2022.
- Jihadi John created online censorship, UnHerd, 28 April 2022.
- Israel’s Other Justice System Has Rules of Its Own, Haaretz, 25 April 2022.
- The Lawfare Podcast: All About the Oath Keepers, Lawfare, 18 March 2022.