📖 Join SPIN to celebrate Dr Jeff Whyte’s most recent book The Birth of Psychological War, exploring propaganda and military violence from WWII to Vietnam. Chaired by Prof Brian Rappert. 19 Nov | 15:00 (GMT) | Online 🔗 buff.ly/h7tsjcJ #SPINevents #PsychologicalWar

How does art reveal hidden complicity? This week, Vera Zurbrügg presents her Articulated Absences Archive on gold, myth, and WWII secrecy. Join us on Wednesday. Details at buff.ly/JtVme6U. 🗓️ 05 Nov | 15:00 (UK time) | Online | Chair: Dr. Elspeth Van Veeren #SPINevents #CounterArchives

We are delighted to share two additions to our A-Z Secrecy and Ignorance series from the brilliant @kindynis.bsky.social 🕵️D is for Deep Politics: bit.ly/42Ua8AI 🕵️P is for Parapolitics: bit.ly/43AGOiR #SPINBlog #DeepPolitics #Parapolitics #Secrecy

🪙 SPIN welcomes Vera Zurbrügg to discuss counter-archival work challenging Switzerland’s WWII neutrality myth. Join us online next Wednesday! See link for details or message us for an invite. 5 Nov | 15:00 (GMT)| Online Chair: Dr. Elspeth Van Veeren 🔗 wp.me/pb19Tu-1aI #SPINtalk #CounterArchives

🪙 SPIN welcomes Vera Zurbrügg to discuss counter-archival work challenging Switzerland’s WWII neutrality myth. Join us online next Wednesday! See link for details or message us for an invite. 5 Nov | 15:00 (GMT)| Online Chair: Dr. Elspeth Van Veeren 🔗 wp.me/pb19Tu-1aI #SPINtalk #CounterArchives

We are delighted to share two additions to our A-Z Secrecy and Ignorance series from the brilliant @kindynis.bsky.social 🕵️D is for Deep Politics: bit.ly/42Ua8AI 🕵️P is for Parapolitics: bit.ly/43AGOiR #SPINBlog #DeepPolitics #Parapolitics #Secrecy

Our next SPIN TALK is coming up! November 5th, 3pm (UK time) join us online for a talk by Basel and London-based artist, Vera Zurbrügg on her latest project, 'Articulated Absences Archive', on gold and Switzerland's wartime neutrality. More info at: wp.me/pb19Tu-1aI Email/DM us for a zoom link.

Very excited to be attending this talk by Patricia Owens about Erased: a history of international thought without men. Thanks so much @researchspin.bsky.social for organising!

SPIN is hoping to head to #BISA2026 in Brighton in June. If you would like to contribute a paper to a panel on secrecy and/or ignorance in international politics, please send a quick expression of interest thsi week followed by abstracts and titles by 27 Oct. conference.bisa.ac.uk

We're very excited to welcome Patricia to SPIN tomorrow, chaired by @zaranosaur.bsky.social All welcome!

Re-upping the link to an online book talk tomorrow at 3pm hosted by SPIN.👇 Please email [email protected] for an invite link.

Our latest SPIN Newsletter is now out! Visit our blog to catch up on all our latest publications, events, and new members including a Call for Papers and our list of upcoming SPIN talks. wp.me/pb19Tu-1d7

Next week! Join us for Prof. Patricia Owens' (Oxford) book talk: Erased: A History of International Thought Without Men, chaired by Dr. Zara Bain (Bristol) @zaranosaur.bsky.social 1 Oct 3pm (UK Time), Zoom (to register to attend please email [email protected] All welcome! wp.me/pb19Tu-1ap

And the linked journal article coauthored with @doccstevens.bsky.social and Amaha Senu that also includes a discussion of mazes: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Delighted to have my chapter on the security politics of mazes included in this forthcoming volume, shepherded with a lot of patience by Faye and Tillman. Links to prepublication version below.

Delighted to be participating in this! One for the diary for sure

Very pleased to appear in this stellar lineup!

More dates for your diaries! Our line-up of talks this term include: 1 Oct, 3pm (UK time) – Erased - Patricia Owens 22 Oct, 3pm – Articulated Absences Archive - Vera Zurbrügg 19 Nov, 3pm – The Birth of Psychological War - Jeff Whyte For news, follow us on BlueSky, LInkedIn or secrecyresearch.com

Save the date! First event of the academic year. Book Talk: Prof Patricia Owens (Oxford) discussing her latest book: Erased: A History of International Thought Without Men, chair @zaranosaur.bsky.social 1 Oct 3pm (UK Time), Zoom All welcome! wp.me/pb19Tu-1ap #SPINEvents #InternationalRelations

🌍 SPIN is delighted to welcome Dr Tim Aistrope to the network! Tim is a Senior Lecturer in International Relations at the University of Kent, exploring how conspiracy theories and popular culture shape understandings of global politics. Read about his latest project: buff.ly/Y676Ll6 #SPINNetwork

📺 Missed our recent FOIA research methods workshop? You can now stream the full recording, including contributions from Aiden Clarkson, Kevin Walby & Hannah Richards. Stream here: buff.ly/aX3VI3r #SPINEvents #FOIA #OpenAccess

🕵️‍♀️ F is for Five Eyes – the latest post in our A–Z of Secrecy series by Dr Lydia Morgan (University of Birmingham). Learn about the historically important intelligence cooperation alliance of the UK, US, AUS, CAN & NZ. Read here: buff.ly/fBLEGOK #SPINBlog #FiveEyes #Secrecy

👋 Please give a warm SPIN welcome to Susannah Lee, a 2025 SPIN Fellow this summer working with SPIN and the Gender Research Centre to explore gender, power, and secrecy in the context of the current challenges in UK and US politics. Meet the network: buff.ly/clcQe2t #SPINNetwork #SecrecyResearch

Stimulating and interesting essay, esp. how secrecy informs the narrative reconstitution and replenishment of American exceptionalism across time; a 20C redux of manifest destiny is (re)produced via secrecy. Well worth reading!

📝 SPIN is delighted to share an essay by Politics & IR student Shae Miles: The Age of Innocence and Ignorance: Exploring the ‘silencing of the past’ in US foreign policy. This was written as part of Shae's excellent work on the University of Bristol's US Foreign Policy unit. Read: buff.ly/lXhvUsp

🎤 SPIN is at BISA this week! Catch our panel on Thursday. Find more details on our papers: buff.ly/bvqdFhE and search for us on the conference programme: buff.ly/cV4581b #SPINatBISA #BISA2025 #AcademicEvents

⏳ Just one week to go until SPIN is at BISA 2025 in Belfast! Please join us for our panel exploring the interconnections of secrecy and international politics. See details of SPIN's panel: buff.ly/bvqdFhE #SPINatBISA #SecrecyResearch #BISA2025

🗂️ Final reminder to register for our FOIA Research Methods Masterclass—this Wednesday, 12 June, 2–4pm BST, online! Register here: buff.ly/eDwsPBB #SPINEvents #FOIA #ResearchMethods

🔍 Missed Dr Shereen Fernandez’s talk on secrecy, redaction and the War on Terror? Now available on YouTube. Chaired by Dr Jeffrey Whyte, this talk explores secrecy and race in policing and surveillance. Watch here: buff.ly/J6BY8gk #SecrecyStudies #SPINEvents #Surveillance

Join our free SPIN Research Methods Masterclass: Navigating the Challenges of FOIA—aimed at PhD and Early Career Researchers but open to all. Wed 11 June | 2–4pm BST | 📍Online Register now: buff.ly/Vt60p2v #FOIA #ResearchMethods #SPINEvents

🎧 Season 2 of the SPIN Podcast is now complete! Catch all episodes including Peter Finn on the 'Official Record', Lewis Bush on his latest project 'Trading Secrets' and @evanveeren.bsky.social‬ on 'secrecy games'. Listen here: buff.ly/tDSEeMP #SPINPodcast #SecrecyResearch

Register now for our free SPIN Methods Masterclass: Navigating the Challenges of Freedom of Information Access (FOIA). Open to all, but especially aimed at PhD and early career researchers. Wed, 11th June, 2-4pm (GMT+1) Online Further details and to register: buff.ly/Vt60p2v

We did a thing. We analyse the ‘red pill’ discourse and its use of The Matrix to help produce and circulate popular anti-feminist manosphere conspiracy theories. Principally annoyed that they’ve messed with one of the greatest sci-fi texts ever.

🧠 New article by SPIN member @evanveeren.bsky.social‬, Elisabeth Moerking & Harvey Dryer explores conspiracy theories, gender and the ‘elusive epistemologies’ of the manosphere. Pre-pub version of Taking the Red Pill is now avail: buff.ly/TvaMZxN #SPINNetwork #FeministPolitics #ConspiracyTheories

🗓️ Less than a month to go! We’re seeking contributions for an edited volume on secrecy in an era of polycrisis. Call for Chapter Proposals for edited volume: Secrecy Studies: Enduring Themes, New Directions Details at: buff.ly/bSnIaw6 Deadline: 1st June

📝 New publication from SPIN-ster @drowendthomas.bsky.social, with @victoriambasham.bsky.social and @rhyscrilley.bsky.social, Death and denial in the city: Making sense of London Bridge and Grenfell, is out now in Politics & Space. Access here:

This is an exciting time for secrecy research and an important time to understand how central it is to our current crises. Do consider contributing a chapter to what we hope will be a new definitive volume.

This should be of interest to several colleagues and followers.

Really enjoying this so far! Some really interesting food for thought on redaction and spatiality

🎉 Give a warm welcome to Yi Wang, who is joining the network as a 2025 SPIN Fellow. Yi is a PhD researcher in Sociology at Bristol, exploring gender, resistance, and feminist counterpublics in China. Details of Yi's PhD Prject: buff.ly/eURLmqF #SPINNetwork #SecrecyResearch

📚 The SPIN Spring 2025 newsletter is here! Catch up on our latest events, new publications, and welcome recent additions to the network. Read here: buff.ly/Fj5Yn2X #SPINNetwork #SecrecyResearch

🚨 This week! Join SPIN for a talk by Dr Shereen Fernandez (LSE) on secrecy and redaction in the War on Terror, exploring the role of secrecy in surveillance and policing. Chaired by Dr Jeffrey Whyte. Open to all. Wed, 14 May 2025, 1pm GMT+1, Online More details:

🗓️ Less than a month to go! We’re seeking contributions for an edited volume on secrecy in an era of polycrisis. Call for Chapter Proposals for edited volume: Secrecy Studies: Enduring Themes, New Directions Details at: buff.ly/bSnIaw6 Deadline: 1st June

Two weeks until Race, Secrecy and Mobilities Working Lunch! Join us at SPIN 19 May, 1pm at the University of Bristol or online for a working lunch to discuss how secrecy shapes movement and survival through the lens of race.

Join us at SPIN 19 May, 1pm at the University of Bristol or online for a working lunch to discuss how secrecy shapes movement and survival through the lens of race. All welcome! Details and how to register:

Join us for the next SPIN Talk! Dr Shereen Fernandez (LSE) discusses how secrecy and redaction shaped surveillance and policing during the War on Terror. Chaired by Dr Jeffrey Whyte. All welcome! Wed 14 May, 1pm (GMT+1) Online More info:

Struggling with the Freedom of Information Act in your research? Looking to use government documents that seem inaccessible? Join our free SPIN Methods Masterclass: Navigating the Challenges of FOIA. Open to all, focus on PhD & ECRs Wed 11 June, 2pm (GMT+1) Online Register now:

📢 Call for Chapter Proposals for new SPIN edited volume Secrecy Studies: Enduring Themes, New Directions Deadline: 1 June 2025 We are inviting interested scholars to submit chapter abstracts for this new ground-breaking volume on secrecy. For further details: wp.me/sb19Tu-4213

New paper on Grenfell and denialism by SPIN-ster and friends of SPIN. See the thread below with link to the full paper.

1/ 📢 New research! How do societies make sense of violent events? In a new paper with @politicsandspace.bsky.social, Victoria Basham, @rhyscrilley.bsky.social and I explore how the London Bridge attack & Grenfell Tower fire were understood in media & public discourse—and why this matters. 🧵👇