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The call for papers for the 2024 Annual Terrorism and Extremism Colloquium

Lisa Sugiura

3 min read

Cyber Security School of Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Criminology Centre for Cybercrime and Economic Crime

The European Society of Criminology Working Group on Radicalization, Extremism, and Terrorism (WG-Extreme) and the University of Portsmouth’s Centre for Cybercrime and Economic Crime are pleased to announce the call for papers for the 2024 Annual Terrorism and Extremism Colloquium. The theme for our 2024 meeting will be: 

Researching Online Extremism

We are keen to see submissions for papers and pre-arranged panels that speak to this overarching topic, but will consider abstracts that address all areas of the study of radicalization, extremism, or terrorism. 

For extremism researchers the online sphere is an especially appealing environment to conduct studies in given the unprecedented opportunities to observe and monitor how extremists network, radicalise, communicate and mobilise. However, although such research may, on the surface, appear easy to undertake, there are many challenges involved - methodologically, conceptually, ethically, as well as potential security and personal implications for researchers themselves. Researchers often struggle with what is valid online user data, whether direct interaction with members of extremist groups is more rigorous than naturalistic online observations, the issue of having too little or too much online data simultaneously, the displacement of extremist groups between different platforms, having agreed definitions and concepts about extremism to work with, too rigid or too complacent ethical considerations, criticisms about bias and impartiality when researching particular extremist groups, and impacts on researchers’ safety and wellbeing whilst studying emotionally taxing topics.

Therefore, potential (but not limited to) themes for abstracts could involve:

  • Novel methods used in online extremism research
  • Direct interaction with extremist groups vs naturalistic online observations 
  • Data issues and implications in online extremism research
  • Challenges in accessing different platforms
  • Reflections on researching specific online extremist groups
  • Ethical issues 
  • Security issues
  • Managing criticisms of researcher impartiality, identity, and positionality 
  • Researcher safety and wellbeing

To submit an abstract for a paper or panel, please use the QR code below or visit: https://forms.gle/wQntNy1giswjjcW28.

QR code for general papers or abstracts

Postgraduate and Early Career Researchers

Hosted as part of the 2024 Annual Terrorism and Extremism Colloquium, the organising committee are keen to receive submissions for short (3 minute) presentations based on original research.

To submit an abstract for a PGR/ECR short presentation, please use the QR code below  or visit: https://forms.gle/S2SSDJynap5fuEz48.

QR code for PGR / EC researcher short presentation abstracts

The colloquium and symposium will take place virtually on Friday 2nd February 2024 and will be free to attend. 

The deadline for submission of 250 word abstracts is 13:00 (UTC+1) December 8th 2023.

Notification of acceptance will be provided via email by 17:00 (UTC+1) December 14th 2023. 

Registration for the event will open at 09:00 (UTC+1) December 15th 2023. Please contact us at CCEC@port.ac.uk to receive updates via our mailing list.

Further Information

For further information about the conference, please contact the chair of the organising committee, Dr Lisa Sugiura (lisa.sugiura@port.ac.uk).

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