When I first heard about the Europe-Central Asia Monitoring (EUCAM) Fellowship,* I immediately contacted the organisers and volunteered my time to valorise the knowledge that I gained at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
Now, for the fifth time and third year in a row, I had the pleasure to conduct the "Media in Security", or as I like to call it "Media Insecurity" workshop. Unfortunately, security-focused programmes often neglect the media aspect, which is a crucial mistake. In my opinion, some of the greatest challenges and threats in modern security are originating in the media domain. Among these are influence operations, dis- and misinformation, 'fake news', social media weaponisation, digital divide, cyber threats, privacy, surveillance technology, algorithms, the Internet of Things, Big Data - the spectrum is wide.
Having been working side-by-side the leading academics in Media and Communication who produce state-of-the-art research, I felt the responsibility to share what I have learnt. Furthermore, I felt the urge to share my research findings on digital vigilantism in the context of Russia and Central Asia. Most importantly, my goal was to excite the fellows about media studies and to inspire them to focus on the field and produce Central Asia focused research that is greatly missing in the literature.
This time around, we had to do the workshop online, which in itself goes hand in hand with the discussed themes - privacy, digital divides and the future of education.
Working with the EUCAM fellows has been a great experience and always a nice opportunity to say connected with the region dear to my heart and to give back.
* "The EUCAM fellowship programme hosts groups of three research fellows for periods of three months each spring and autumn. The fellowship takes place at the Centre for European Security Studies in Groningen, the Netherlands.
EUCAM fellows are young professionals from civil society or academia in Central Asia with an interest in policy-oriented research and Europe-Central Asia relations. The fellowship includes the opportunity to implement a personal research project and publish at EUCAM; visit EU institutions and interact with policy and academic communities in Belgium and the Netherlands, and participate in trainings and conferences."
Watch the promo video here: