Researchers’ Workshop 2021

Call for Abstracts for the 2021 Researchers’ Workshop: 

Surveillance in the Global South Research Network calls for abstracts for its first collaborative Researchers’ Workshop. The network aims to expand the scope of surveillance studies to include non-Western discourses and practices and hopes to be a place for exchange, collaboration, and activism against the undemocratic use of surveillance technologies.

We are aware that both ‘surveillance studies’ and the ‘global South’ are pretty broad categories. However, the workshop’s primary goal is to provide a discussion-oriented supportive environment to explore under-represented or neglected research areas, examine new research approaches and methodologies, and contribute to research/activist collaborations. 

The workshop will be held in September 2021 and consists of six 90-minute sessions organised around the topics mentioned in the below table. Each session is led by a more experienced researcher and has only three presenters (individuals or groups). The focus is on the discussions after the presentations, where the small group has enough time to engage meaningfully in providing others with feedback, comments, and ideas. There will be a final session with all participants, where we collectively discuss future plans and research directions.

Session LeaderAffiliationTopic
Azadeh AkbariAcademic Staff (Post-Doc), Political Geography Working Group, University of Münster Platform Surveillance
Chenai ChairSpecial Advisor for Africa Innovation at MozillaSurveillance and gender
Shyam Krishna PhD Candidate, Digital Organisation and Society Research Centre, Royal Holloway University of LondonWorkplace datafication and surveillance
Midori OgasawaraAssistant Professor, Department of Sociology, University of VictoriaSurveillance & COVID-19
Ozgun TopakAssistant Professor, Department of Social Science, York UniversitySurveillance and democracy
Keren WeitzbergLecturer (Teaching), History
Department, University College London (UCL) and independent consultant
Surveillance and humanitarian aid

Participants should send an abstract (300-400 words) to contact@surveillance-global-south.net by 30.06.2021. Please specify in which session you would like to present. Since the sessions are small and discussion-oriented, we would find a date and time in September 2021 that fits the attendees’ schedules the best.

All participants are invited to write about their research, methodology, or collaborative experience in the network’s blog. We hope that the workshop paves the way for collaborative research and academic exchange and look forward to hearing from you!

Sincerely,

Azadeh, Chenai, Shyam, Midori, Ozgun, Keren