I monitor developments in the Democratic Republic of Congo, often involving the war in the eastern provinces and mineral and resource exploitation, as well as movements and activities of non-state and state actors. I've been fortunate to interview Congolese civilians about their experiences and discuss open source practices with human rights lawyers.
I am greatly interested in responsible open-source research practices around identifying gender-based violence, in conflict and otherwise.
I also help researchers who have interesting data points to build them into compelling stories by adding extensive sourcing, future-proofing them by archiving material, and pitching those stories to various news outlets.
M23 Rebels Consolidate Control over Key City in DR Congo , with Riccardo Giannardi, Manon McGuigan, Dave Brookes, and Rob Cecilio
Bellingchat Premium podcast, hosted by Lucy Swinnen
Retracing the Congolese March Where Dido Kakisingi was Killed , with Riccardo Giannardi and Manon McGuigan
A research project dedicated to examining events in the Democratic Republic of Congo through open-source methodologies.
The death of Dido Kakisingi , with Manon McGuigan, Riccardo Giannardi, and Rob Cecilio
I'm proud to donate my time to Bellingcat, one of the foremost organizations analyzing open-source information in the world. Besides publishing their own investigations, Bellingcat teaches their methodology to journalists and human rights advocates (as well as the general public). This methodology explains how freely available data and imagery can confirm — or dispute — statements of governments, media, and civil society groups.
Bellingcat's research includes discovering responsible parties for incidents such as the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, the murder of journalist Shireen Abu Aklah, and the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal. Additionally, they have created a framework for best practices in preserving digital evidence for use in human rights court cases and track incidents of civilian harm in Ukraine.
I was recruited to help moderate and grow Bellingcat's 40,000+ member Discord server, which requires monitoring content posted by users, helping new members onboard, enforcing the rules, answering user questions about both Bellingcat and their own research, and assisting in the direction and information architecture of the server. I have launched initiatives within the community to monitor gender-based violence and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and also assist members with preparing their research for publication.
I was honored to be invited to their Bellingfest conference in 2024.
With Chris Osieck, I have published the following articles:
Geolocating conflicts in Fall 2022 with various methods, and a preview of the new tool Atlos
Analysis of the whitewashing of human rights violations in Xinjiang, China
With Chris, I assisted in the research and investigation, and organized the material to form a readable narrative. I edited the material using the AP style and in American English. I suggested improvements, proposed additional research to make our findings airtight, and ensured that people mentioned are given the right of reply. Additionally, I optimized images, ensured information is archived, and verified that what we say can be proven.
We are flattered and fortunate to have our work shared by journalists from the New York Times and the BBC, and researchers at Bellingcat. Additionally, our work on Xinjiang was included in the Uyghur Human Rights Project's bibliography and adapted for a Dutch audience by De Groene Amsterdammer.