Prof Vian Bakir
Professor in Journalism and Political Communications
Additional Contact Information
Position: Professor of Journalism & Political Communication
Email: v.bakir@bangor.ac.uk
Phone: +44 (0) 1248 382751
Location: Main Arts
Personal website: Academia.edu ResearchGate
Project Websites: DATA-PSST! Intelligence Elites Emotional AI
Current Administrative Responsibilities:
Co-Director of Network for Study of Media and Persuasive Communication.
School of History, Law & Social Science Research Committee (grant leadership)
Teaching and Supervision
Teaching and Supervision
Undergraduate modules taught:
- Issues in Media & Journalism
- Journalism and Risk Society
- Media, Politics & Society
- Digital Journalism & Society
- Dissertation in Journalism & Media Studies
PhD and MRes students:
I am interested in supervising students in a wide range of areas including contemporary political communication, journalism, disinformation, deception, digital media, intelligence elites, discourse, accountability and power.
Current (1st supervisor)
- Aliah Nur Mansor: PhD: Online Fan Communities and Information Marketing Strategy of Japanese Popular Music: A Case of Johnny’s & Associates.
- Gehad Ibrahim. PhD. Journalistic Documentary in Post-Truth Dictatorships
Research Interests
I research the interplay between journalism and political and risk communication across 4 areas:
- Disinformation, propaganda and Emotional AI
- Issues of trust, accuracy and credibility in journalism;
- Media agenda-building struggles;
- The security state and public accountability.
Keywords
Emotional AI, strategic political communication, journalism, TV, social media, civil society, surveillance, sousveillance, social resistance, agenda-building, trust, intelligence agencies, risk communication, propaganda, persuasion, fake news, disinformation, emotion
Research Monographs:
Bakir, V. and A. McStay, 2022. Optimising Emotions, Incubating Falsehoods. Palgrave-Macmillan/Springer. [open access]
Bakir, V. 2018.Intelligence Elites and Public Accountability: Relationships of Influence with Civil Society. London: Routledge.
Bakir, V. 2013. Torture, Intelligence and Sousveillance in the War on Terror: Agenda–Building Struggles. Routledge.
Bakir, V. 2010. Sousveillance, Media and Strategic Political Communication: Iraq, USA, UK. New York: Continuum.
Bakir, V. & D.Barlow, (eds.) 2007. Communication in the Age of Suspicion: Trust and the Media. Basingstoke: Palgrave-Macmillan.
Research awards:
As an inter-disciplinary scholar, I have won awards from diverse funding bodies including AHRC, ESRC, EPSRC. A list of my funded projects are at: 0000-0002-6828-8384
Current grants comprise:
2020 – 2023: £710,000 (comprising £497,710 FEC from ESRC, & 29,645,000 Yen from Japan Science & Technology funds). Part of UKRI-JST Joint Call on Artificial Intelligence and Society, our project is on Emotional AI in Cities: Cross Cultural Lessons from UK and Japan on Designing for An Ethical Life. PI Andrew McStay. Co-I Vian Bakir. Other Investigators: Lachlan Urquhart (Edinburgh Univ.), Diana Miranda (Northumbria Univ.), Peter Mantello (Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific Univ.), Hiromi Tanaka (Meiji Univ.), Nader Ghotbi (Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific Univ.), Hiroshi Miyashita (Chuo Univ.). Grant ref. ES/T00696X/1.
2022: £7,000 from Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). Discipline hopping grant - Achieving Net Zero: A Feasibility Study into the Technical and Communicative Challenges to using Waste Heat from Nuclear Power to Heat Greenhouses (PI Anita Crompton, Co-I Vian Bakir).
2022: £44,239.25 from Bangor University Impact Accelerator Account. ‘Artificial Intelligence (AI), Ethics & Policing in North Wales: Establishing Citizens’ Perspectives’ (Bethan Loftus (PI), Andrew McStay (Co-I), Martina Feilzer (Co-I), Vian Bakir, (Co-I)).
Postgraduate Project Opportunities
Publications
2023
- PublishedOptimising Emotions, Incubating Falsehoods: How to Protect the Global Civic Body from Disinformation and Misinformation
Bakir, V. & McStay, A., 17 Jan 2023, Palgrave Macmillan. 280 p.
Research output: Book/Report › Book
2022
- PublishedMisinformation and trusted voices: Addressing false information online via provision of authoritative information: Why dialling down emotion is part of the answer
Bakir, V. & McStay, A., 12 Oct 2022, 7 p. UK Parliament.
Research output: Other contribution
2021
- PublishedFreedom or Security? Mass Surveillance of Citizens
Bakir, V., 3 Sep 2021, Handbook of Global Media Ethics. Ward, S. J. A. (ed.). Switzerland: Springer, p. 939-959 21 p.
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
2020
- PublishedCULTURE CHANGE: Incentivise political campaigners to run civil and informative election campaigns.
Bakir, V. & McStay, A., 21 Jan 2020, UK Parliament, (APPG on Electoral Campaigning Transparency).
Research output: Working paper - PublishedEmpathic Media, Emotional AI, and the Optimization of Disinformation
McStay, A. & Bakir, V., 3 Sep 2020, Affective Politics of Digital Media: Propaganda by Other Means. Boler, M. & Davis, E. (eds.). Routledge, p. 263-279
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review - PublishedPsychological Operations in Digital Political Campaigns: Assessing Cambridge Analytica's Psychographic Profiling and Targeting
Bakir, V., 3 Sep 2020, In: Frontiers in Communication. 2020, 67.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
2019
- PublishedAgainst Opacity, Outrage & Deception: Towards an ethical code of conduct for transparent, explainable, civil & informative digital political campaigns.
Bakir, V. & McStay, A., 1 Dec 2019, UK Parliament.
Research output: Working paper - PublishedDatafied Bearbaiting and Emotional AI: Anticipating the Quantified Jeremy Kyle Show Submission to DCMS Committee Inquiry into Reality TV
Bakir, V. & McStay, A., 2019, UK Parliament, (DCMS).
Research output: Working paper - PublishedOrganized Persuasive Communication: A new conceptual framework for research on public relations, propaganda and promotional culture: A New Conceptual Framework for Public Relations and Propaganda Research
Bakir, V., Herring, E., Miller, D. & Robinson, P., 1 May 2019, In: Critical Sociology. 45, 3, p. 311-328
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
2018
- PublishedChanging the Conversation: Beware of Psy-Ops in #USSstrike
Bakir, V., 25 Mar 2018, Bangor University.
Research output: Other contribution - PublishedFake News and the Economy of Emotions: Problems, Causes, Solutions
Bakir, V. & McStay, A., 2018, In: Digital Journalism. 6, 2, p. 154-175
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review - PublishedIntelligence Elites and Public Accountability: Relationships of Influence with Civil Society
Bakir, V., 16 Apr 2018, Routledge. 288 p. (Studies in Intelligence)
Research output: Book/Report › Book › peer-review - PublishedLying and politics
Robinson, P., Miller, D., Herring, E. & Bakir, V., 22 Nov 2018, The Oxford Handbook of Lying. Meibauer, J. (ed.). Oxford University Press, (Oxford Handbooks).
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review - PublishedSousveillance
Bakir, V., 30 Mar 2018, The SAGE Encyclopedia of Surveillance, Security, and Privacy. Arrigo, B. A. (ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage, p. 943-946 4 p.
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Entry for encyclopedia/dictionary › peer-review - PublishedThe Sorry Tale of British Journalism and our Right to Privacy
Bakir, V. & McStay, A., 22 Mar 2018, 9 p. London : UK Parliament.
Research output: Other contribution
2017
- PublishedCombatting fake news: analysis of submissions to the fake news inquiry
Bakir, V. & McStay, A., 1 May 2017, 3 p.
Research output: Other contribution - PublishedIntroduction to Special Theme Veillance and transparency: A critical examination of mutual watching in the post-Snowden, Big Data era
Bakir, V., Feilzer, M. & McStay, A., 15 Mar 2017, In: Big Data and Society. 4, 1, p. 1-5
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review - Published‘Was it ‘AI wot won it’? Hyper-targeting and profiling emotions online’:
Bakir, V. & McStay, A., 1 Jun 2017, Political Studies Association.
Research output: Book/Report › Other report
2016
- PublishedAbu Ghraib
Bakir, V., 21 Dec 2016, The SAGE Encyclopedia of War: Social Science Perspectives. Joseph, P. (ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage, 5 p.
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review - PublishedDisinformation
Bakir, V., 21 Dec 2016, The SAGE Encyclopedia of War : Social Science Perspectives. Joseph, P. (ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage, p. 504-506
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review - PublishedEmbedded Reporters
Bakir, V., 21 Dec 2016, The SAGE Encyclopedia of War: Social Science Perspectives. Joseph, P. (ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage, p. 547-549
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review - PublishedNews, Media and the Intelligence Community
Bakir, V., 8 Nov 2016, Routledge Handbook of Media, Conflict and Security. Robinson, P., Seib, P. & Frolich, R. (eds.). Routledge, p. 243-254
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review - PublishedPolitical-intelligence elites, Strategic Political Communication and the press: the need for, and utility of, a benchmark of public accountability demands
Bakir, V., 16 Sep 2016, In: Intelligence and National Security. p. 1-22 22 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review - PublishedPropaganda and Persuasion in Contemporary Conflict
Miller, D., Robinson, P. & Bakir, V., 8 Nov 2016, Routledge Handbook of Media, Conflict and Security. Robinson, P., Seib, P. & Frolich, R. (eds.). Routledge, p. 308-320
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review - PublishedTorture
Bakir, V., 21 Dec 2016, The SAGE Encyclopedia of War: Social Science Perspectives. Joseph, P. (ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage, p. 1704-1708
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
2015
- PublishedAssessing interdisciplinary academic and mult-istakeholder positions on transparency in the post-Snowden leak era
Bakir, V. & McStay, A., 1 Dec 2015, In: Ethical Space: The International Journal of Communication Ethics. 12, 3/4, p. 25-38
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review - PublishedAssessing interdisciplinary academic and multi-stakeholder positions on transparency in the post-Snowden leak era
Bakir, V. & McStay, A., 2015, In: Ethical Space: The International Journal of Communication Ethics. 12, 3/4, p. 25-38
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review - PublishedDebating and Assessing Transparency Arrangements: Privacy, Security, Surveillance, Trust: Evaluating Perspectives on Surveillance in the Post-Snowden Leak Era
Bakir, V. & McStay, A., 18 Jun 2015.
Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper - PublishedDebating the Technical & Ethical Limits of Secrecy & Privacy
Bakir, V., 24 Mar 2015, Bangor University.
Research output: Book/Report › Book - PublishedDeceptive Organised Persuasive Communication: From Misdirection to Secretly Altering Reality to Fit the Lie you want to Telll
Bakir, V., 15 May 2015.
Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper - PublishedForced Transparency or Equivellant Transparency, post-Snowden (or who is challenging the state’s surveillance agenda of radical transparency?)
Bakir, V. & McStay, A., 4 Jul 2015.
Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper - PublishedIn a Veillance Society, can we resist dataveillance of our selves?
Bakir, V., 6 Jan 2015.
Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper - PublishedIntelligence Agencies, Public Oversight Mechanisms and Accountability Demands: The Torture-intelligence Policy and the Senate Intelligence Committee’s Executive Summary (2014).
Bakir, V., 8 Jun 2015.
Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper - PublishedInternational Journal of Press/Politics. Special Issue title: News, Agenda-Building & Intelligence Agencies: Understanding Manipulation and Methodologies
Bakir, V. (ed.), 1 Apr 2015, Sage.
Research output: Other contribution › peer-review - PublishedMedia Agenda-Building, National Security, Trust & Forced Transparency
Bakir, V., 8 Jul 2015, Bangor University.
Research output: Book/Report › Book - PublishedNews, Agenda Building, and Intelligence Agencies: A Systematic Review of the Field from the Discipline of Journalism, Media, and Communications
Bakir, V., 30 Jan 2015, In: International Journal of Press/politics. 20, 2, p. 131-144
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review - PublishedThe Ubiquity and Invisibility of Organised Persuasive Communication
Bakir, V., Miller, D. & Robinson, P., 8 Jun 2015.
Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper - PublishedThe Veillant Panoptic Assemblage: Critically interrogating power, resistance and intelligence accountability through a case sstudy of the Snowdon Leaks
Bakir, V., 22 Jul 2015.
Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper - PublishedToo much secrecy and lies ... again
Bakir, V., 24 Mar 2015.
Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper - PublishedTransparency Today: Exploring the Adequacy of Sur/Sous/Veillance Theory and Practice
Bakir, V., 6 Jan 2015, Bangor University.
Research output: Book/Report › Book - PublishedVeillant Panoptic Assemblage: Mutual Watching and Resistance to Mass Surveillance after Snowden
Bakir, V., 8 Oct 2015, In: Media and Communication. 3, 3, p. 12-25
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
2014
- PublishedAgenda-building struggles in the War on Terror: Secrecy, Silences and Persuasive Misdirection
Bakir, V., 4 Apr 2014.
Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper - PublishedMisdirection as Propaganda
Bakir, V., 10 Nov 2014.
Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper - PublishedPrivacy, Surveillance and Governance in the Digital Society
Bakir, V., 1 Jul 2014.
Research output: Contribution to conference › Other
2013
- PublishedAgenda-building struggles in the War on Terror: Strategies and Enunciative Modalities regarding Secrecy, SIlences and Persuasive Misdirection
Bakir, V., 13 Nov 2013.
Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper - PublishedBook Review: Jaques Ranciere, The Emancipated Spectator and Rod Stoneman, Chavez.
Bakir, V., 14 Nov 2013, In: Working USA: The Journal of Labor and Society. 16, 4, p. 543-551
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review - PublishedPSST! Privacy, Security, Surveillance and Trust: developing an inter-disciplinary response to forced transparency
Bakir, V., McStay, A. & Feilzer, M. Y., 1 Nov 2013.
Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper - PublishedResearching secretive agenda-building on national security issues: some reflections from studying the torture-intelligence nexus (2001-12)
Bakir, V., 1 Oct 2013.
Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper - PublishedSousveillance and Agenda-Building: The end of Privacy, the end of Secrecy?
Bakir, V., 14 May 2013.
Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper - PublishedTorture for Intelligence in the War on Terror
Bakir, V., 12 Apr 2013.
Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper - PublishedTorture, Intelligence and Sousveillance in the War on Terror: Agenda-Building Struggles
Bakir, V., 28 Sep 2013, Ashgate.
Research output: Book/Report › Book › peer-review
2012
- PublishedBook Review: Tarik Sabry, Cultural Encounters in the Arab World: On the Media, the Modern and the Everyday
Bakir, V., 1 Apr 2012, In: European Journal of Cultural Studies. 15, 4, p. 547-548
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review - PublishedMedia Studies
Long, P., Wall, T., Bakir, V. & McStay, A., 26 Jul 2012, Pearson Education.
Research output: Book/Report › Book
2011
- PublishedTorture and intelligence in the War on Terror: The struggle over strategic political communication.
Bakir, V., 1 Dec 2011, In: Global Media and Communication. 7, 3, p. 239-243
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
2010
- PublishedMedia and risk: old and new research directions.
Bakir, V., 1 Jan 2010, In: Journal of Risk Research. 13, 1, p. 5-18
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review - PublishedSousveillance, media and strategic political communication: Iraq, USA, UK.
Bakir, V., 1 Jan 2010, Continuum.
Research output: Book/Report › Book › peer-review
2009
- PublishedTele-technologies, control, and sousveillance: Saddam Hussein - de-deification and the beast.
Bakir, V., 1 Jan 2009, In: Popular Communication. 7, 1, p. 7-16
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
2008
- PublishedWhen the script runs out,…what happens to the polarized war body? Deconstructing western 24/7 news coverage of operation Iraqi freedom 2003.
Bakir, V., McStay, A., Randell, K. (ed.) & Redmond, S. (ed.), 1 Jan 2008, The War Body on Screen. 2008 ed. Continuum, p. 165-181
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Activities
2023
- New media and society (Journal)
9 Mar 2023
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - Palgrave macmillan - Springer (Publisher)
reviewed book proposal
27 Jan 2023
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - Online Media Literacy Strategy Stakeholder meeting
Held by LSE on behalf of DCMS.
26 Jan 2023
Activity: Other (Contributor) - OFCOM meeting - Making Sense of Media Group
attended OFCOM meeting and presented on media literacy research from Emotional AI Lab
25 Jan 2023
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Membership of peer review panel or committee (Contributor) - Social Media + Society (Journal)
23 Jan 2023
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer)
2022
- Reviewer for Leverhulme
Reviewer for Leverhulme fellowship
11 Nov 2022
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Membership of peer review panel or committee (Contributor) - Interviewed for The National on disinformation, Twitter, and Scottish independence
SPECIAL REPORT: Anti-independence disinformation fears amid Elon Musk's blue tick plan
8 Nov 2022
Links:
Activity: Other (Contributor) - Journal of Cyber Policy (Journal)
8 Nov 2022
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - Provided advice to journalist on political communication and Twitter
Advised a reporter from the National.
7 Nov 2022
Activity: Other (Contributor) - International Journal of Communication (Journal)
24 Oct 2022
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - Surveillance and Society (Journal)
21 Oct 2022
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - Talk with TiiQu
Discussion about the potential market and viability of an organisation offering truth validated on the blockchain.
19 Oct 2022
Links:
- https://www.tiiqu.com/
- https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2017/10/19/the-future-of-truth-and-misinformation-online/
- Expert reviewer for European Research Agency for evaluations of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships (MSCA-PF) 2022
7 Oct 2022 – 20 Jan 2023
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Membership of peer review panel or committee (Reviewer) - ESRC Peer Review College member
Continued membership of ESRC Peer Review College, as it refreshes its structures
28 Sep 2022 – 28 Sep 2028
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Membership of peer review panel or committee (Member) - Keynote: ‘The Role of the Humanities and Social Sciences in AI Policymaking: A Personal Journey of Twists and Turns in the Service of Solving ‘Wicked Problems’. Alan Turing Institute Networking Event - AI, Public Policy and Social Sciences and Humanities
Invited Keynote - approx 45 participants
23 Sep 2022
Activity: Participation in conference (Keynote/plenary speaker) - 'Addressing false information online via provision of authoritative information: Why dialling down emotion is part of the answer', Submission to UK Parliament Online Harms and Disinformation Sub-Committee Inquiry into Misinformation and Trusted Voices, September 2022
False information proliferates online, despite years of multi-stakeholder efforts to quell it. In September 2022, Vian Bakir (Prof. of Journalism & PolComms, SHiLSS) and Andrew McStay (Prof. of Digital Life, SHiLSS) were invited by the UK Parliament’s Online Harms and Disinformation Sub-Committee to provide evidence to their Inquiry into Misinformation and Trusted Voices. They addressed one of the Inquiry’s questions: namely: Is the provision of authoritative information responsive enough to meet the challenge of misinformation that is spread on social media? Now published, one of their conclusions is that rather than having to make difficult content moderation decisions about what is true and false on the fly and at scale, it may be better to ensure that digital platforms’ algorithms optimise emotions for social good rather than just for the platform and its advertisers’ profit. What this social good optimisation would look like is worthy of further study, but they posit that this would likely involve dialling down the platform’s emotional contagion, and engagement, of users.
14 Sep 2022 – 14 Oct 2022
Links:
Activity: Other (Contributor) - WORKING GROUP MEMBER: OFCOM Making Sense of Media Research Working Group
This Working Group has two primary aims.
1) to inform Ofcom's media literacy and wider online safety research activity; and
2) to improve the sector-wide research evidence base in these areas.
The Working Group will share and evaluate methodologies and metrics from a wide range of relevant research, and will report regularly to the MSOM Advisory Panel.
1 Sep 2022 – 1 Sep 2023
Activity: Other (Member) - Advisory Board member for European Research Council Starting Grants project, TRUE
Advisory Board member for European Research Council Starting Grants project, TRUE: Trust in User-generated Evidence: Analysing the Impact of Deepfakes on Accountability Processes for Human Rights Violations. (PI Yvonne McDermott, Swansea Univ.)
1 Aug 2022 – 1 Aug 2027
Links:
Activity: Other (Contributor) - Frontiers in Communication (Journal)
reviewed paper
1 Aug 2022 – 11 Aug 2022
Activity: Publication peer-review (Editorial board member) - Peter Lang (Publisher)
book proposal review
22 May 2022
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - Expert reviewer, Rapporteur and Final Panel member for Horizon Europe Framework Programme (HORIZON). Reshaping democracies (HORIZON-CL2-2022-DEMOCRACY-01)
5 grants reviewed, and consensus reports written
14 May 2022 – 20 Jul 2022
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Membership of peer review panel or committee (Contributor) - Big Data and Society (Journal)
6 May 2022
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - FAKE NEWS: INTERVIEW WITH PROFESSOR VIAN BAKIR
Blog post - interview with project team for EU-funded citizen science and data project, CSI-COP (that investigates GDPR compliance to better understand how far we are being tracked-by-default as we use the Internet visiting websites and apps on our mobile devices).
6 May 2022
Links:
Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Public lecture/debate/seminar (Contributor) - ESRC National Capability in Behavioural Research Workshop
Participated in the ESRC’s National Capability in Behavioural Research consultation. It informs the ESRC’s models for funding social science research into behavioural research, an area of increasing interest to government and diverse disciplines
28 Apr 2022
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Membership of peer review panel or committee (Contributor) - SSRC/ESRC International workshops on Trust in Democratic Institutions
Across March, Prof Vian Bakir (School of History, Law & Social Science) participated in a series of high-level workshops by US-based Social Science Research Council and the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council, who are working together to better understand and further explore theoretical, analytical, methodological, and empirical challenges surrounding trust in democratic institutions. These organisations brought together experts from both sides of the Atlantic to share ideas, knowledge and experience. This will inform a joint call from the US and UK research councils that will fund a series of international and interdisciplinary projects that can better inform policy, improve public trust, and have positive societal impact. Bakir contributed ideas on Understanding Trust from her edited book with David Barlow, Communication in the Age of Suspicion: Trust and the Media (2007). She contributed ideas on Manipulating Trust from her forthcoming book with Andrew McStay, Optimising Emotions, Incubating Falsehood (in press 2022).
24 Mar 2022 – 31 Mar 2022
Activity: Other (Contributor) - Chilean Journal in Communication (Perspectivas de la Comunicación) (Journal)
14 Mar 2022
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly (Journal)
23 Feb 2022
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - Provided info on research data creation and use for European Commission's Directorate-General for Research and Innovation
Completed invited survey by research institute Visionary Analytics in partnership with EFIS, DCC, and DANS is conducting a study on the European research data landscape commissioned by the European Commission's Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (DG RTD).
8 Feb 2022
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Membership of peer review panel or committee (Contributor) - Consultation with APPG on Extraordinary Rendition
Arising from a recent conference paper on intelligence oversight, I provided advice and discussed own published work with APPG on how to improve intelligence accountability on the issue of extraordinary rendition, to ensure that such activities could never happen again in the UK.
1 Feb 2022
Activity: Other (Contributor) - GUARDINT EU Project. Intelligence, surveillance, and oversight: tracing connections and contestations
Panel discussant: ‘Public Accountability of Intelligence Agencies and the Sousveillance Generation’. GUARDINT EU Project Conference. Intelligence, surveillance, and oversight: tracing connections and contestations. Kings College, University of London.
26 Jan 2022 – 27 Jan 2022
Activity: Participation in conference (Speaker)
2021
- Routledge Taylor & Francis (Publisher)
Reviewed book proposal
3 Dec 2021
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - New media and society (Journal)
reviewer
28 Nov 2021
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - Article in Hamodia on Fake News
Interviewed for this New York-based Jewish newspaper
23 Nov 2021
Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Public lecture/debate/seminar (Interviewee) - Peer reviewer for AHRC
6 Nov 2021
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Membership of peer review panel or committee (Contributor) - Interview with Prof Vian Bakir - Solutions to Global Misinformation
Interview for EU Horizon 2020 project newsletter on Citizen Science (Citizen Scientists Investigating Cookies and App GDPR compliance:)
1 Oct 2021
Links:
Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Public lecture/debate/seminar (Contributor) - Big Data and Society (Journal)
28 Sep 2021
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - Media, War & Conflict (Journal)
16 Sep 2021 – 1 Jan 2022
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - Polish Political Science Yearbook (Journal)
23 Aug 2021
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - Surveillance and Society (Journal)
2 Aug 2021 – 10 Oct 2022
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - White Paper - GOVERNING PHILOSOPHIES IN TECHNOLOGY POLICY: PERMISSIONLESS INNOVATION VS. THE PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE
ROSNER, G. & BAKIR, V. (2021). GOVERNING PHILOSOPHIES IN TECHNOLOGY POLICY: PERMISSIONLESS INNOVATION VS. THE PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE. WORKING PAPER, JULY. FUNDED BY EPSRC HUMAN-DATA INTERACTION NETWORK
1 Aug 2021
Links:
Activity: Types of Business and Community - Consultancy (in kind) (Contributor) - The Journal of Sociotechnical Critique (Journal)
2 Jul 2021
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - AI & Society (Journal)
25 Jun 2021
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - Nature Human Behaviour (Journal)
25 Jun 2021 – 19 Dec 2021
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - A humanities-led intervention into responsible and ethical AI
- Took part in workshop to advise AHRC on what would constitute a humanities-led intervention into responsible and ethical AI (workshop organised by Ada Lovelace Institute and the Institute for Ethics in AI).
28 May 2021
Activity: Other (Participant) - Emotional AI and Empathic Technologies: Implications of an Ontology of Mediated Emotion, Data Justice Conference 2021
14 May 2021
Links:
Activity: Participation in conference (Speaker) - Reviewer for German Research Foundation (DFG)
Reviewed for collaborative AHRC-DFG proposal
3 May 2021
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Membership of peer review panel or committee (Contributor) - Emotional AI Lab: cross-cultural conversations
Emotional AI & Civic Discourse: interim insights and next steps. Emotional AI Lab, University of Bangor and Ritsumeikan APU, April 2021.
28 Apr 2021
Activity: Participation in conference (Speaker) - Empathic Media, Emotional AI, and the Optimization of Disinformation
Book launch and panel discussion
23 Apr 2021 – 28 Apr 2021
Links:
Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Public lecture/debate/seminar (Speaker) - Panel Reviewer Norwegian Research Council
Panel reviewer (19 grants)
20 Apr 2021 – 4 May 2022
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Membership of peer review panel or committee (Contributor) - Frontiers in Communication (Journal)
29 Mar 2021
Activity: Publication peer-review (Editorial board member) - theory, culture and society (Journal)
29 Mar 2021 →
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - Reviewer - Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies - EU Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions - H2020 programme
15 Mar 2021 – 15 Apr 2021
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Membership of peer review panel or committee (Reviewer) - International Journal of Communication (Journal)
22 Feb 2021
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - Frontiers in Communication (Journal)
1 Feb 2021
Activity: Publication peer-review (Editorial board member) - Globalizations (Journal)
Review of journal paper
25 Jan 2021
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - Taking Back Control of Our Personal Data: An ethical impact assessment of personal data storage apps
40 page Interim Report on progress on Innovate UK research project and insights for Cufflink to feed into design of their app.
21 Jan 2021
Activity: Types of Business and Community - Consultancy (in kind) (Contributor) - Reviewer, National Science Centre, Poland
Reviewer for large grants - MAESTRO-12, Panel: HS6 (Human nature and human society)
6 Jan 2021
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Membership of peer review panel or committee (Reviewer) - Frontiers in Communication (Journal)
2 Jan 2021
Activity: Publication peer-review (Editorial board member) - Editorial Board Member
1 Jan 2021 – 1 Jan 2023
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Membership of peer review panel or committee (Member)
2020
- Swiss National Science Foundation
reviewer
22 Dec 2020
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Membership of peer review panel or committee (Reviewer) - Frontiers in Communication (Journal)
peer reviewer
1 Nov 2020 – 6 Jan 2021
Activity: Publication peer-review (Editorial board member) - COVID-19: How can we communicate risk in a post-truth world?
XXXII Meeting of Philosophy & Theory of Human Sciences, Philosophy Department, Unesp, Brazil
26 Oct 2020
Links:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moAcU0LEkg0
- https://www.slideshare.net/VianBakir/bakir-talk-brazil-26-oct2020
- Submission to Inquiry on Impact of Social Media on Elections and Electoral Administration - Victoria Parliament, Australia - plus resulting influence
Invited written submission (Aug 2020) to the Victoria Parliament (Australia) Electoral Matters Committee’s Inquiry into the Impact of Social Media on Elections and Electoral Administration. Informed the Inquiry's Final Report's findings and recommendations (Sep 2021).
24 Aug 2020 – 20 Sep 2021
Links:
- https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/images/EMC/21._Vian_Bakir_and_Andrew_McStay_Redacted.pdf
- https://parliament.vic.gov.au/images/stories/committees/emc/Social_Media_Inquiry/EMC_Final_Report.pdf
- Big Data and Society (Journal)
6 Aug 2020
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - Emotional AI and Civil Rights: The Salutary Case of Facebook
Blog piece
4 Aug 2020
Links:
Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Public lecture/debate/seminar (Contributor) - reviewer AHRC COVID-19 call
1 Aug 2020 – 31 Aug 2020
Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Public lecture/debate/seminar (Reviewer) - Virtual Mind the PR Gap 2020: AI, creativity and fake news in a post Covid-19 world.
keynote
9 Jul 2020 – 10 Jul 2020
Links:
- https://pracademy.co.uk/insights/sign-up-for-mind-the-pr-gap/
- https://pracademy.co.uk/insights/fake-news-how-to-solve-a-really-wicked-problem/
- Reviewing grant applications
Reviewer ESRC-COVID-19
1 Jul 2020 – 31 Jul 2020
Activity: Participation in conference (Speaker) - AGAINST OPACITY, OUTRAGE & DECEPTION: Towards an ethical code of conduct for transparent, explainable, civil & informative digital political campaigns. Evidence submitted to House of Lords Select Committee on Democracy and Digital Technologies.
Evidence and recommendations published in the report, Digital Technology and the Resurrection of Trust, published by the House of Lords Select Committee on Democracy and Digital Technologies.
To prevent further harm, our evidence recommends greater transparency of digital campaigns, better media literacy for voters, and self-reflection by political campaigners on things like the informativeness and civility of their own campaign.
Building on such evidence, the House of Lords’ report makes an urgent case for reform of electoral law as well as our overwhelming need to become a digitally literate society.
29 Jun 2020
Links:
- https://committees.parliament.uk/download/file/?url=%2Fwrittenevidence%2F352%2Fdocuments%2F383%3Fconvertiblefileformat%3Dhtml&slug=dad0019-network-for-media-and-persuasive-communicaiton-bangor-universityhtml
- https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld5801/ldselect/lddemdigi/77/7702.htm
- https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/1634/documents/17731/default/
- UKRI -AHRC COVID-19 expert peer group reviewer
25 Jun 2020 →
Activity: Other (Contributor) - ESRC reviewer - New Investigator Programme
16 Jun 2020
Activity: Other (Reviewer) - Frontiers: Political Communication (Publisher)
10 Jun 2020 – 10 Aug 2020
Activity: Publication peer-review (Editorial board member) - Digital Journalism (Journal)
3 Jun 2020
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - EPSRC Research Centre Panel Reviewer - Protecting Citizens Online
Panel reviewer for EPSRC Research Centre Competition (£7million) - Protecting Ciizens Online
1 Jun 2020 – 22 Jun 2020
Activity: Other (Reviewer) - Advisory Board Member for EU Horizon2020 CSI-COP project
1 May 2020 – 30 Apr 2023
Links:
Activity: Other (Contributor) - Centre for Information Governance Research Annual Conference, Univ. of Sussex,
30 Apr 2020 – 1 May 2020
Activity: Participation in conference (Speaker) - International workshop and seminar on (Mediated) Emotion in the Age of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Co-organised a two-hour workshop and seminar on (Mediated) Emotion in the Age of the COVID-19 Pandemic, run with Deakin University, Australia and Bangor University, UK. Presented a paper on Managing public emotions & behaviour in a risk issue.
28 Apr 2020
Activity: Participation in conference (Speaker) - Profiling & Targeting Emotion in Digital Political Campaigns.
Briefing Paper for All Party Parliamentary Group on Electoral Campaigning Transparency.
20 Apr 2020
Activity: Other (Contributor) - Older People & Digital Literacy
Briefing Paper for All Party Parliamentary Group on Electoral Campaigning Transparency.
10 Apr 2020
Activity: Other (Contributor) - Reviewer for Aarhus Institute for Advanced Studies, Jens Christian Skou Fellowship
6 Apr 2020 – 16 Apr 2020
Activity: Other (Reviewer) - Reviewer for Norwegian Research Council. COVID-19 Emergency Call
reviewed 10 applications
6 Apr 2020 – 15 Apr 2020
Activity: Other (Reviewer) - Reviewer: Univ. of Aarhus EU Union Horizon 2020 Research & Innovation Programme -Marie Skłodowska-Curie
Reviewed 6 applications for Univ. of Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies COFUND fellowships for junior & senior researchers in 2020/2021 funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions.
29 Mar 2020 – 20 Apr 2020
Activity: Other (Reviewer) - Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly (Journal)
reviewed article
17 Feb 2020
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - Media and Communication (Journal)
reviewed paper
17 Feb 2020
Activity: Publication peer-review (Editorial board member) - Journalism Practice (Journal)
reviewed journal article
16 Feb 2020
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - Routledge Taylor & Francis (Publisher)
reviewed book proposal
14 Feb 2020
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - Critical Sociology (Journal)
15 Jan 2020
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly (Journal)
5 Jan 2020
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - Digital Journalism (Journal)
3 Jan 2020
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer)
2019
- Policy and Internet (Journal)
Policy & Internet
17 Dec 2019
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - Tackling Grand Challenges in Society - AI & Democracy
Fellowship talk to Law Schools of KU Leuven & University of Edinburgh KU Leuven University
17 Dec 2019 – 18 Dec 2019
Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Public lecture/debate/seminar (Contributor) - External assessor. Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Canada
Reviewed grant proposals
6 Dec 2019
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Membership of peer review panel or committee (Contributor) - SVT national radio
interviewed on Swedish radio about fake news
25 Nov 2019
Links:
Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Media article or participation (Contributor) - AHRC reviewer -
Reviewed grant for UK-China connections
11 Nov 2019
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Membership of peer review panel or committee (Reviewer) - peer reviewer for AHRC
Peer reviewed large grants
5 Nov 2019
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Membership of peer review panel or committee (Reviewer) - Final Report - Emotional AI - Japan and UK. Final Report on a Conversation between cultures
Funded by Economic & Social Research Council - Arts & Humanities Research Council - UK-Japan Social Sciences & Humanities Connections grant
1 Nov 2019
Links:
- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GglzWFCPmNnROuCJf3EvuNG_uDo9b1xL/view
- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hwc8TBGcmXqsh6tDSEUWdy8Nt9w1-chf/view
- Media and Communication (Journal)
reviewed article
20 Oct 2019
Activity: Publication peer-review (Editorial board member) - Reviewer for Austrian Research Council
reviewed grant
29 Sep 2019
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Membership of peer review panel or committee (Reviewer) - Reviewer for Responsible Innovation Programme, the Netherlands
Reviewed large inter-disciplinary grant
12 Sep 2019
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Membership of peer review panel or committee (Reviewer) - Workshop on emotional AI
Multi-Stakeholder (government, NGO, company, regulator), multi-disciplinary (media, journalism, law, criminology, Ai ethics, robotics, big data) workshop to discuss UK-Japan elements of emotional AI
9 Sep 2019
Links:
Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Public lecture/debate/seminar (Contributor) - CULTURE CHANGE: Incentivise political campaigners to run civil and informative election campaigns
Based on our synthesis of research from academia, investigative journalism and regulatory and political inquiries, we find:
- Extensive use of deception and emotion in campaigning for the 2016 ‘Brexit’ referendum.
- Techniques for targeting citizens with emotive and deceptive information have intensified in terms of granularity of targeting; and remain hidden from the view of the wider community or nation.
- False messages prompt reactions of fear, disgust and surprise, and have a propensity towards recirculation online.
To address this, we recommend:
- That there be incentives for digital political campaigners to act ethically, and for their behaviour to be critically and regularly reflected upon by society.
- Specifically, we recommend the institution of publicly available self-evaluations by all political campaign groups post-elections to: Summarise which audiences were targeted, and with what success; Reflect upon which aspects of the campaign most succeeded in mobilising voters (e.g. specific adverts, messages, themes, memes); Reflect upon whether the campaign gave voters enough information with which to make an informed choice on which to base their electoral decision (i.e. was information true, complete, undistorted and relevant?); Reflect upon to what extent the campaign was civil.
- We further recommend that this self-reporting be incentivised via: An independent panel (of diverse stakeholders, including fact-checkers, academics, and campaigners from opposing sides) to verify, and critically comment upon, the self-evaluations; A kite-mark system to brand the veracity and civility of the campaigning; Ensuring that this is covered by the media, post-election, and that the analysis is available online in a public archive.
2 Aug 2019
Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Media article or participation (Contributor) - International Journal of Press/politics (Journal)
23 Jul 2019 – 1 Oct 2019
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - Mass Communication and Society (Journal)
23 Jul 2019
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - Emotional AI & disinformation.
Public talk in Beppu, Japan
16 Jul 2019
Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Public lecture/debate/seminar (Speaker) - Weaponisation of Politics & Civic Discourse
8 Jul 2019 – 12 Jul 2019
Links:
Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Public lecture/debate/seminar (Speaker) - Panel reviewer
Reviewer and panel member for 23 large grants on risk and technology
1 Jul 2019 – 1 Oct 2019
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Membership of peer review panel or committee (Reviewer) - External Examiner for MA Digital Media & Society
External Examiner for MA Digital Media & Society
1 Jun 2019 – 1 Jun 2022
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Membership of peer review panel or committee (Examiner) - Journalism post-Snowden: a simple guide to protecting your information & contacts
This 50-page guide is designed to help journalists in the UK and Ireland protect their sources and data in the current era of surveillance and hacking of data. Such protection is vital in order to enable whistle-blowing and investigative reporting, but is increasingly under threat given the UK’s Investigatory Powers Act [2016] and surveillance by the police. Our full guide is hosted on the NUJ’s website (members only).
1 Jun 2019
Links:
Activity: Other (Contributor) - Parliamentary submission: Datafied Bearbaiting and Emotional AI: Anticipating the Quantified Jeremy Kyle Show. Submission to DCMS Committee Inquiry into Reality TV
The UK Parliament's Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee launched the Reality TV inquiry in May 2019 following events leading up to the decision to axe The Jeremy Kyle Show. It is considering the duty of care offered by broadcasters and programme makers to participants of reality TV shows.
The Network for Media & Persuasive Communication submitted written evidence focusing on DCMS' question: What is the future for reality TV of this kind? How does it accord with our understanding of, and evolving attitudes to, mental health?
The submission offers a cautionary note on a likely future of reality media - where the media industry makes use of data about emotions to add new layers of engagement through “emotional AI”. This emotional AI entails affective computing and AI techniques that read and react to emotions through text, voice, computer vision and biometric sensing. While usage of emotional AI has scope to enhance experience of media, there is scope for abuse when competing for audience attention, engagement and advertising revenue.
The submission recommends that:
- Regulators and policymakers are suitably aware of media and technological trends described in this document: namely, the potential dangers of a media environment in which emotion is quantified and utilised by the media industry.
- Media companies and home technology providers understand that regulators and policymakers are aware of these developments and are willing to regulate if there is misuse,or if individual, collective or technological vulnerabilities (such as lack of awareness of “consent” to domestic profiling) are exploited.
- There is further engagement with academics and other specialists on these questions.
1 Jun 2019 – 1 Sep 2019
Links:
Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Media article or participation (Contributor) - Sociology Compass (Journal)
10 May 2019
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - Mass Communication and Society (Journal)
29 Apr 2019
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - Critical Sociology (Journal)
29 Mar 2019
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - What if we knew when people were lying?
BBC news article. Bakir cited within.
25 Mar 2019
Links:
Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Media article or participation (Contributor) - Journalism (Journal)
Journalism
8 Mar 2019
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - Policy and Politics (Journal)
25 Feb 2019
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - Journalism Practice (Journal)
Reviewed article on disinformation and journalism
7 Feb 2019 →
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer)
2018
- I am not worried about Russia. I'm concerned about the misuse of people's feelings. Vecer
Interviewed for long article in Slovenian naitonal newspaper, Vecer, following my talk at Grounded Festival, Slovenia.
Vian Bakir, a British professor of political communication and journalism, and a researcher on the dangers of political manipulation through social networks and the media, on the supervision in the name of national security, and on whether all this can strengthen democracy.
22 Dec 2018
Links:
Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Media article or participation (Contributor) - Information, Communication & Society (Journal)
19 Dec 2018
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly (Journal)
11 Dec 2018
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - Information, Communication & Society (Journal)
9 Dec 2018
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - Regulating Digital Campaigning: What is to be Done?
Invited to a conference on Regulating Digital Campaigning: What is to be Done? in Portcullis House, Lodnon. The conference programme has been devised in collaboration with the Cabinet Office, Electoral Commission, and Information Commissioner’s Office, and the conference is hosted by the DCMS Select Committee.
29 Nov 2018
Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Public lecture/debate/seminar (Participant) - Telltale signs of deceitful public relations campaign
28 Nov 2018
Links:
Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Media article or participation (Contributor) - SURVEILLING THE ACCOUNTABILITY OF SUPERVISORS: DEMOCRATIC PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS.
Invited talk on digital surveillance, public accountability of intelligence agencies; and follow-on discussion and media interviews on fake news and disinformation.
21 Nov 2018 – 23 Nov 2018
Links:
- https://www.grounded.si/speakers/vian-bakir/
- https://twitter.com/BRajgelj/status/1076808427098255360
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1576&v=WotCeN6Gyqg
- Political Communication (Journal)
16 Nov 2018
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - United International College Beijing Normal University-Hong Kong Baptist University
Grant reviewer.
16 Nov 2018
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Membership of peer review panel or committee (Reviewer) - Oxford University Press (Publisher)
publication
1 Nov 2018
Links:
Activity: Other (Contributor) - International Journal of Advanced Media and Communication (Journal)
25 Oct 2018
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - Norway Research Council - Panel member for SAMRISK
Evaluating numerous large grants on risk. Panel member.
25 Oct 2018 – 14 Nov 2018
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Membership of peer review panel or committee (Reviewer) - Reviewer for European Commission H2020-MSCA-IF-2018
5 Oct 2018 – 2 Nov 2018
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Membership of peer review panel or committee (Reviewer) - Big Data and Society (Journal)
18 Sep 2018
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - journalism studies (Journal)
18 Sep 2018
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - Routledge (Publisher)
Reviewed book proposal
14 Sep 2018
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - external consultant for Promotion to Reader
14 Sep 2018
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Membership of peer review panel or committee (Reviewer) - UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship reviewer
UKRI Future Leaders Fellowships July 2018
13 Sep 2018
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Membership of peer review panel or committee (Reviewer) - ‘Fake news’ to get worse says Bangor University media expert. Daily Post, 5 Sep 2018
Bakir comments on Fake News Inquiry interim report on disinformation
5 Sep 2018
Links:
Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Media article or participation (Contributor) - International Journal of Communication (Journal)
Reviewed for International Journal of Communication
2 Sep 2018
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - ESRC reviewer for TRUST AND GLOBAL GOVERNANCE large grants call
30 Aug 2018
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Membership of peer review panel or committee (Reviewer) - Routledge (Publisher)
Reviewed book proposal on journalism
13 Aug 2018
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - ESRC reviewer for TRUST AND GLOBAL GOVERNANCE large grants call
Reviewed grant for £2.1m
9 Aug 2018
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Membership of peer review panel or committee (Reviewer) - ESRC reviewer for for TRUST AND GLOBAL GOVERNANCE large grants call
Reviewed grant for £800k
9 Aug 2018
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Membership of peer review panel or committee (Reviewer) - Frontiers in Communication (Journal)
Frontiers in Communication publishes rigorously peer-reviewed research in areas including Political, Health, and Science and Environmental Communication. Led by an outstanding Editorial Board of international experts, this multidisciplinary open-access journal is at the forefront of disseminating and communicating knowledge and impactful discoveries to researchers, academics, policy makers and the public worldwide.
1 Aug 2018 →
Links:
Activity: Publication peer-review (Editorial board member) - Disinformation and ‘fake news’: Interim Report.
Cited in DCMS. 2018. Disinformation and ‘fake news’: Interim Report. 24 July. Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, House of Commons 363.
30 Jul 2018
Links:
Activity: Consultancy (Consultant) - Body & Society (Journal)
Reviewed article on human enhancement
26 Jul 2018
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - Journalism Practice (Journal)
reviewed article on fake news
26 Jul 2018
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - Has our democracy become the wild west?
I was invited to attend this event - which was attended by approx. 45 people, including Amber Rudd MP, mainstream journalists, law lords, regulators and NGOs. I advanced its agenda and discussion with a critical question on what Theresa May, the cabinet and UK intelligence agencies knew during the Brexit campaign about dark money and dark data being used by the Leave campaign. The event concluded that our democracy was under grave attack by dark money, dark data and deception, and that urgent reform was needed of our Electoral Law.
17 Jul 2018
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Membership of external research organisation (Participant) - Facebook’s Data Analytics and Problems for Democracy: Fake News, Dark Ads and a Disinformation Media Ecosystem
Invited presentation to CRISP (Centre for Research into Information, Surveillance and Privacy) 2-day workshop on New Lines of Insight: Big Data and the Analytically Driven Organization. Stirling, Scotland, UK
4 Jun 2018
Activity: Invited talk (Speaker) - Annals of International Communication Association (Journal)
3 May 2018
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - Routledge (Publisher)
Reviewed book proposal for Routledge on fake news
1 May 2018
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - Journal of International Affairs (Journal)
20 Apr 2018
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - International Journal of Press/politics (Journal)
Reviewed journal article
6 Apr 2018
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - Impartiality, Accuracy & Truthfulness in a Fake News Era: issues for public accountability of the judiciary
Invited presentation to British Academy conference
8 Mar 2018 – 9 Mar 2018
Links:
Activity: Invited talk (Speaker) - Interviewed for article evaluating fake news research
1 Mar 2018
Links:
Activity: Consultancy (Consultant) - Opinion Forming in the Digital Age: Fake News, Echo Chambers and Populism - Key Themes, Concerns & Recommendations for European Research and Innovation
Invited to co-produce a white paper to shape the European Commission’s (EC) research agenda on the Internet's Impact on Echo Chambers, Fake News and Populism. This will assist the EC to define a future work programme of research within the H2020 framework and FP9. hTrough regular consultation across 2018, this generated a report on sociotechnical implications of the Internet related to the impact of closed communities and misinformation and makes recommendations to address specific challenges.
Edited by Steve Taylor, Brian Pickering, Paul Grace, Michael Boniface -University of Southampton IT Innovation Centre, UK
1 Feb 2018 – 25 Oct 2018
Links:
- https://www.ngi.eu/download/opinion-forming-in-the-digital-age/?wpdmdl=26472&masterkey=5bd16b3695380
- oral evidence on user targeting to House of Commons Fake News Inquiry
By invitation, I presented oral evidence to House of Commons Fake News Inquiry on user targeting: For 1.5 hours, I answered questions on user targeting, misinformation and journalism (alongside 2 other expert academics).
The session is televised and available online.
23 Jan 2018
Links:
Activity: Types of Business and Community - Membership of public/government advisory/policy group or panel (Contributor)
2017
- Journal of Communication (Journal)
reviewed journal article
1 Nov 2017 – 15 Nov 2017
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - Routledge (Publisher)
Reviewed book proposal for Routledge - dataveillance
1 Oct 2017
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - Routledge (Publisher)
Reviewed book proposal for Routledge (Sociology): War on Terror
1 Oct 2017
Activity: Editorial activity (Peer reviewer) - Journalism (Journal)
Reviewed article for Journalism - Fake news
1 Sep 2017
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - Routledge (Publisher)
Reviewed book proposal for Routledge on Immigration discourse
1 Sep 2017
Activity: Editorial activity (Peer reviewer) - Digital Journalism (Journal)
Reviewed journal article for Digital Journalism
1 Jun 2017
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - Media and Communication (Journal)
Reviewed article for Media & Communication on Digital Images
1 Jun 2017
Activity: Publication peer-review (Editorial board member) - Routledge (Publisher)
Reviewed book proposal for Routledge - Journalism
1 Jun 2017
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - DATA-PSST findings
Presented on DATA-PSST findings at Security Research Group, Aberystwyth University
1 May 2017
Activity: Invited talk (Speaker) - ESRC reviewer
For ESRC: Assessed grant application
1 May 2017
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Membership of peer review panel or committee (Reviewer) - Fake News & Digital Advertising
Invited Speaker: House of Commons, London. Fake News & Digital Advertising. Branded Content Network (AHRC-funded). (Public Talk – approx. 30 people)
We presented on the fake news phenomenon as part of an invited panel.
It received media coverage from trade press.
25 Apr 2017
Links:
- http://www.thebcma.info/branded-content-regulation-bcma-invited-to-uk-parliament-2/
- http://www.thedrum.com/news/2017/04/26/branded-content-regulation-recommended-parliamentary-review-advertiser-pressure
- Written MPC submissions to UK Fake News Parliamentary Inquiry and wider public discourse
3 x 3000 words reports - Bakir and McStay (MPC), and Bakir et al
1 report for MECCSA
1 blog for PSA Political Insight
2 talks to COmmsCymru
1 Apr 2017 – 29 Nov 2017
Links:
- http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/digital-culture-media-and-sport-committee/fake-news/written/71533.html
- http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/culture-media-and-sport-committee/fake-news/written/48101.html
- http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/culture-media-and-sport-committee/fake-news/written/48255.html
- https://www.psa.ac.uk/insight-plus/blog/what-drives-fake-news
- http://www.meccsa.org.uk/news/three-d-issue-28-combatting-fake-news-analysis-of-submissions-to-the-fake-news-inquiry/
- https://www.slideshare.net/VianBakir/fake-news-talk-comms-cymru-2017/1
- Big Data and Society (Journal)
Editorial for Veillance & Transparancy
17 Mar 2017
Links:
Activity: Publication peer-review (Guest editor) - International Journal of Press/politics (Journal)
Reviewed paper on soft power for International Journal of Press/Politics
1 Mar 2017
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - Veillance
Gillian Jein hosted the round table discussion which launched the interactive, generative exhibition, Veillance. The roundtable included project team members. Artist Ronan Devlin, Academics Prof. Vian Bakir and Prof. Andy McStay, Technician Carwyn Edwards.
24 Feb 2017
Links:
Activity: Oral presentation (Speaker) - Veillance
Generative Exhibition - White Box, Pontio
24 Feb 2017 – 12 Mar 2017
Links:
Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Festival/Exhibition (Member) - ESRC reviewer
Reviewed grant proposal for ESRC
7 Jan 2017
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Membership of external research organisation (Contributor)
2016
- Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management (Journal)
reviewed article on Risk Amplification
17 Dec 2016
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - Journalism (Journal)
reviewed article on Mass Surveillance:
17 Dec 2016
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - Quoted in al-Jazeera article: Mendhai, Shafik. 2016 "Snooping, data leaks and the threat to online privacy". AL-Jazeera English, December 1.
Interviewed for, and quoted in, al-Jazeera article on Snooping, data leaks and the threat to online privacy
1 Dec 2016
Links:
Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Media article or participation (Interviewee) - Media and Communication (Journal)
Revieed paper on journalism and dataveillance post-Snowden
14 Nov 2016
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - Mass Communication and Society (Journal)
Reviewed paper
4 Nov 2016
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - Politics (Journal)
23 Oct 2016
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - BA/Leverhulme Small Research Grants application - referee
Provided reference to British Academy on propaganda in Iraq
12 Oct 2016
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Membership of peer review panel or committee (Reviewer) - From torture to de-radicalisation: towards public accountability of secret policies designed to prevent terrorism
I wrote a piece for Open Democracy about the problems with secret research that informs policy, drawing parallels between ERG22+ and the Bush era detention and interrogation programme. I also signed the open letter to the Guardian calling for the secret research base behind ERG22+ to be made public.
4 Oct 2016
Links:
Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Media article or participation (Contributor) - Mass Communication and Society (Journal)
1 Aug 2016
Activity: Editorial activity (Peer reviewer) - Media, War & Conflict (Journal)
1 Aug 2016
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - External Examiner PhD viva; Heather Brooke
8 Jun 2016
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Membership of peer review panel or committee (Examiner) - Funded by ESRC Seminar Series (2014-16) DATA-PSST! Debating and Assessing Transparency Arrangements - Privacy, Security, Surveillance and Trust, this one-day conference attracted 13 participants: academics and 3 end users (artist/designer, journalist, NGO)
Grant PI and lead organiser
20 May 2016
Links:
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Hosting an academic visitor (Host) - Irish Journal of Sociology (Journal)
1 May 2016
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - Funded by ESRC Seminar Series (2014-16) DATA-PSST! Debating and Assessing Transparency Arrangements - Privacy, Security, Surveillance and Trust, this one-day conference attracted 30 participants, some international (Japan, Germany, Estonia, Spain): 25 academics and 5 end users (artist, company, think tank, NGO, Information Commissioners Office)
Grant PI and conference lead organiser
31 Mar 2016
Links:
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Hosting an academic visitor (Chair) - Veillant Media: the ‘Veillant Panoptic Assemblage’ and ‘Emotiveillance’
to Dept. of Computing and Engineering
24 Mar 2016
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Invited talk (Member) - International Journal of Cultural Studies (Journal)
1 Mar 2016
Activity: Editorial activity (Peer reviewer) - Journalism Practice (Journal)
1 Mar 2016
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - Reviewed funding applications
1 Mar 2016
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Membership of peer review panel or committee (Member) - Big Data and Society (Journal)
1 Jan 2016 – 1 Jan 2017
Activity: Editorial activity (Guest editor)
2015
- Policy and Internet (Journal)
1 Dec 2015
Activity: Editorial activity (Peer reviewer) - Intelligence agencies, media, secrecy, propaganda and surveillance
1 Nov 2015
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Invited talk (Member) - Journal of Communication (Journal)
1 Nov 2015
Activity: Editorial activity (Peer reviewer) - Media, War & Conflict (Journal)
1 Nov 2015
Activity: Publication peer-review (Peer reviewer) - 10th News Assembly: Panel on Journalism post-Snowden
Presented as part of a panel on Journalism post-Snowden to European Broadcast Union, Berlin. This 1 hour panel was televised, and has a potential audience of 1.2 bn. I wrote an accompanying blog piece on 3 things European heads of broadcasting need to know about journalism post-Snowden, which ahs received many views.
26 Oct 2015 – 27 Oct 2015
Links:
Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Public lecture/debate/seminar (Interviewee) - DATA-PSST seminar 4 - Visible Mediations of Transparency: Changing Norms & Practices. Funded by ESRC Seminar Series (2014-16) DATA-PSST! Debating and Assessing TransparencyArrangements - Privacy, Security, Surveillance and Trust, this one-day conference attracted 33 participants, some international (Spain, the Netherlands): 25 academics and 8 end users (artists, NGOs, Information Commissioners Office)
Grant PI and lead organiser of conference
10 Sep 2015
Links:
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Hosting an academic visitor (Chair) - Consultant for Univ.of Liverpool. Revalidation of MA Political Communication degree.
1 Sep 2015
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Membership of peer review panel or committee (Member) - Media and Communication (Journal)
1 Sep 2015
Activity: Editorial activity (Peer reviewer) - external consultant for CAGE
Arising from my work in intelligence agencies, the press, and politics, I act as external consultant for CAGE – a UK advocacy group for the rights of Bush-era torture-intelligence detainees in the War on Terror. To date this has involved consultation on: a) public and political engagement (eg formulating petitions, signing open letters); b) participating in focus group to provide knowledge of intelligence agencies’ media and PR strategies to counter negative press coverage and pressure from the security state (eg regarding CAGE’s public comments on ‘Jihadi John’ having been turned violent by MI5). I am the un-named academic in the Emwazi External Review document (2015) c) advising on reports and research that informs critique of public policy regarding Prevent and Channel ( am named as a reviewer in The Science of Pre-Crime (2016).) Cage contacted me to explain that they needed independent academic evaluation of a report they had written on the secret research base underpinning Channel’s ERG22+ (extremist risk guidelines). I evaluated their report, and associated academic articles on which it was based, and wrote a piece for Open Democracy about the problems with secret research that informs policy, drawing parallels with the Bush era detention and interrogation programme. I also signed the open letter to the Guardian calling for the secret research base to be made public.
1 Aug 2015 – 1 Dec 2016
Links:
- http://cage.ngo/publication/the-science-of-pre-crime/
- https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/sep/29/anti-radicalisation-strategy-lacks-evidence-base-in-science
- Funded by ESRC Seminar Series (2014-16) DATA-PSST! Debating and Assessing Transparency Arrangements - Privacy, Security, Surveillance and Trust, this one-day conference attracted 44 participants: 35 academics, 8 end users (journalism, documentary-making, NGOs, Information Commissioners Office, ethical hacking)
PI of grant and lead conference organiser
8 Jul 2015
Links:
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Hosting an academic visitor (Chair) - Delivered policy report on Public Feeling on Privacy, Security and Surveillance
I lead the writing of this docuemnt, along with Andrew McStay and colleagues from Cardiff University
1 Jun 2015 – 1 Nov 2015
Activity: Types of Business and Community - Consultancy (in kind) (Advisor) - External Examiner BA Journalism
1 Jun 2015 – 1 Jun 2020
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Membership of external research organisation (Member) - Information Rights research network
By invitation, I joined the newly-established Information Rights research network coordinated by The Policy Delivery department at the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The network is privy to consultations, research tenders and general advice-seeking from the ICO, and is also a forum for the exchange of ideas and the posting of relevant content. So far, I have contributed to formulating this network’s remit and scope, and (with Andrew MMcStay) interviewed a number of ICO staff concerning data issues around wearable media.
1 Jun 2015 – 1 Jan 2020
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Contribution to the work of national or international committees and working groups (Member) - International Journal of Press/politics (Journal)
Special Issue on Intelligence Agencies & Agenda-Building
1 Apr 2015
Activity: Editorial activity (Guest editor) - Peer Review Panel
1 Apr 2015 – 1 Jan 2025
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Membership of peer review panel or committee (Member) - Funded by ESRC Seminar Series (2014-16) DATA-PSST! Debating and Assessing Transparency Arrangements - Privacy, Security, Surveillance and Trust. This full-day seminar attracted 40 participants (several international eg Iceland, Belgium): 35 academics, 5 end users (politician, NGO, defence consultant, Information Commissioners Office, privacy-oriented technology company).
PI of grant and lead organiser of conference
24 Mar 2015
Links:
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Hosting an academic visitor (Chair) - External Examining of Roy Revie’s PhD thesis (University of Bath): Controlling the “information environment”: Developments in U.S. military intelligence and communication in the age of Web 2.0
1 Mar 2015
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Membership of peer review panel or committee (Examiner) - Talk on CitizenFour
With Andrew McStay, at Caernarfon Arts Gallery we presented CitizenFour, Laura Poitras’ (2014) documentary on national security whistle-blower Edward Snowden. This involved a pre-screening talk on the national security whistle-blower and media representations, followed by Q&A afterwards.
10 Jan 2015
Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Public lecture/debate/seminar (Interviewee) - Funded by ESRC Seminar Series grant (2014-16): DATA-PSST! Debating and Assessing Transparency Arrangements - Privacy, Security, Surveillance and Trust. This first full-day conference had 30 participants (several interantional eg Canada, USA): 27 academics (from a wide range of disciplines), 3 end users (digital designer, US satellite company, NGO).
PI and lead organiser of the day
6 Jan 2015
Links:
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Hosting an academic visitor (Host)
2014
- 'Strategic political communication': the Bush administration torture-intelligence policy and the US Senate Intelligence Committee report
Analysis fo experts' response to Senate Intelligence Committe Report on CIA's Detention & Interrogation programme. Amalysis of strategic Political Communicaiton therein.
17 Dec 2014
Links:
Activity: Types of Public engagement and outreach - Media article or participation (Contributor) - ICA (Publisher)
multiple conference abstracts
1 Dec 2014
Activity: Editorial activity (Peer reviewer) - Bangor University's network for Media & Persuasive Communication (MPC) hosted the Political Studies Association Media and Politics GroupAnnual Conference themed on Media, Persuasion and Human Rights.
Our 2-day conference was attended by 44 delegates from across academia internationally (Australasia, Europe) and the UK, encompassing diverse disciplines (Media, Communications, Politics, Sociology, Law, Business, Linguistics), and from all career stages. As well as explorations of human rights from the perspectives of security, privacy, freedom of speech, gender, race, class, labour and religion, we saw papers on propaganda, persuasion and spin across all media forms – from music to new media, and across a range of institutional sites beyond media, such as governments, legislatures and the judiciary.We were sponsored by BBC Montoring and Peter Lang. The James Thomas Memorial prizes (£100 cheque) for the best postgraduate paper was awarded to Mr Khin-Wee Chen (University of Canterbury, New Zealand) for his paper on Malaysian Kangkung Politics: harvesting Internet visual memes for rhetorical acts. Two travel bursaries (£100 each) were awarded to delegates for the best abstract from a postgraduate student:Ruth Garland (LSE) for Beyond the Narrative of Political Spin: an empirical analysis of the workings and purposes of UK government media relations; and Mark Shaw (Durham University) for Discourses on European integration and Institutions in the UK press: political entrepreneurialism at work. The conference organising team were: Dr Vian Bakir (SCSM), Dr Martina Feilzer (Social Sciences), Dyfrig Jones (SCSM), Dr. Yvonne McDermott (Law), Dr. Andrew McStay (SCSM) and Dr Kate Taylor Jones (SCSM).
10 Nov 2014 – 11 Nov 2014
Links:
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Hosting an academic visitor (Host) - External Examining of Mark Pope’s PhD thesis (Royal Holloway University): Risk-cosmopolitanism:
How
the
UK
Government
and
news
media
structure
the
order
of
security
discourse
to
impede
challenges
on
torture
and
abuse
1 Nov 2014
Activity: Types of External academic engagement - Membership of peer review panel or committee (Examiner) - International Journal of Press/politics (Journal)
peer reviewed multiple articles
1 Jun 2014 – 1 Feb 2015
Activity: Editorial activity (Peer reviewer)
2013
- Media, War & Conflict (Journal)
1 Jan 2013 – 1 Jan 2017
Activity: Editorial activity (Editorial board member) - Mediterranean e-journal of Communication and Media. (Journal)
1 Jan 2013 – 1 Jan 2017
Activity: Editorial activity (Editorial board member)
Projects
-
01/07/2020 – 14/09/2021 (Finished)
-
DATA - PSST! Debating and Assessing Transparency Arrangements
01/12/2014 – 19/12/2017 (Finished)
Description
Our 2-year Seminar Series will explore, from multi-disciplinary/end user perspectives, how different aspects of transparency (whether voluntarily entered into, or state/commercially/peer-imposed) affect questions of privacy, security, sur/sous/veillance and trust. These areas have been chosen, as transparency violates privacy; is argued as necessary for security; indiscriminately mass surveills; and both demands and compromises trust.
To explore these topics, we will draw on perspectives from Journalism, Media, Sociology, Criminology, Law, Politics, International Relations, Intelligence, Business, History, Computer Science and Philosophy, and on end users from media, journalism, law, governing bodies, regulators, NGOs, business and security.
Links: