Dear Colleagues, I am just writing to *share with you the video* <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-M9lhTm-7f0> from the panel on Managing Threats to Researchers I organized for the recent Cambridge Disinformation Summit. The panel featured the varied experiences and expertise from: - *Emma L Briant - Visiting Associate Professor at University of Notre Dame * - *Alice Marwick - Director of Research at Data and Society* - *Mutale Nkonde - PhD Student at University of Cambridge, founder of AI for the People* - *Julia Ebner - Leader of the Violent Extremism Lab at the University of Oxford's Centre for the Study of Social Cohesion and a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue* Together we examined the major surge in risks and threats faced by researchers and academics. We also took the opportunity to pre-launch *a guide published by the Association of Internet Researchers for those conducting 'Risky Research* <https://aoir.org/riskyresearchguide/>'. The guide was spearheaded by one of the esteemed panel members, Alice Marwick, and I contributed also to its writing, drawing on my own experiences. The panel and AoIR’s Risky Research Guide were also prominently featured in reporting by Bloomberg <https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2025-05-02/disinformation-experts-band-together-as-online-abuse-escalates?embedded-checkout=true>, raising the public prominence of this key issue further. Their article also highlights the experiences of some of our panellists. As it's behind a paywall, I am including a snippet here but do subscribe to Bloomberg and share their link, they are great :) Thanks, Emma "Academics often feel too unsafe to speak about the threats they face daily,” said Emma Briant, a visiting professor at the University of Notre Dame focused on information warfare. “They feel very often that more attacks will follow if they raise the alarm. That means a lot of people end up fighting this battle alone.” Instead, researchers speaking on an April 24 panel at the Cambridge Disinformation Summit in the UK advocated for a more cooperative approach in the face of such intimidation tactics. The Association of Internet Researchers, a member-based support network, posted online a guide for at-risk academics. The advice includes how to respond to doxxing and strategies to document their research in anticipation of potential lawsuits, subpoenas or Freedom of Information Act requests from hostile critics trying to obtain researchers’ emails. In some cases, scholars have been accused of copying others’ work by attackers who use artificial intelligence tools to compare their academic papers to pre-existing findings. Minor inconsistencies, like an innocuous error in a citation, can get amplified and damage the victim’s career. “I had a politically motivated plagiarism audit,” said Julia Ebner, who studies extremism at the University of Oxford. “It was really stressful because you feel like your whole credibility is at stake.” -- Dr Emma L Briant Visiting Associate Professor at Notre Dame University Fellow at Bard College, Human Rights Project Associate at University of Cambridge, Center for Financial Reporting & Accountability Speaking agent: Chartwell Speakers <https://www.chartwellspeakers.com/speaker/emma-briant/> Book agent: Inkwell Management <https://inkwellmanagement.com/> Author of: *Propaganda and Counter-Terrorism: Strategies for Global Change *from Manchester University Press Co-Author of: *Bad News for Refugees* with Prof. Greg Philo and Dr. Pauline Donald from Pluto Press. Support my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/emmalbriant Website: www.emma-briant.co.uk Sign up for my Newsletter! <https://emma-briant.co.uk/sign-up-for-important-updates/> Follow me on Mastodon @emmalbriant@mastodon.online Follow me on Twitter @emmalbriant "I thought yesterday was the first day of the rest of my life but it turns out today is." - Steve Martin “Women are like teabags . We don’t know our true strength until we are in hot water.” - Unknown