CIR launches the Digital Investigation Academy
3 min read
CIR
In October 2024 CIR launched the Digital Investigation Academy, a 12-week extra curricular programme for over 40 students at universities across the UK to develop open source skills, access career opportunities and have real-world impact doing research for a CIR witness project.
In a field with limited entry-level job opportunities, the Digital Investigation Academy was devised to train the next generation of investigators and offer a clear career path into open source analysis. The students will leave the programme with a published piece of human rights research, participate in a careers workshop, and have the chance to apply for a number of paid summer internships with CIR.
Ray Adams Row Farr, CIR Digital Investigation Academy Lead, said:
“The Digital Investigation Academy was born out of a desire to make a difference using digital research. In an era when so many of the world’s atrocities are documented on digital media, who better to investigate them than the generation who grew up online.”
The Academy’s first cycle will run until March 2025 and begins with three university partners: Cardiff University’s School of Journalism; the University of Glasgow’s School of Social and Political Sciences; and the University of Liverpool’s School of Social Sciences. This is the first iteration: CIR aims to expand the programme to more universities and students in the future.
Cardiff University students at the Academy pilot
A core value of the programme is accessibility. The anonymised, no-CV application process for the Academy reflects CIR’s focus on potential skills, not previous experience. The programme begins with two days of training from experienced CIR investigators. Successful applicants are trained in the foundations of open source investigation, including the collection, verification and analysis stages of research, with a focus on digital security, mental well-being and ethics. They will get comfortable with skills like geolocation, chronolocation, reverse image search, advanced search on social media sites and the use of satellite imagery in investigations.
Professor Aidan O’Donnell from the School of Journalism, Media and Culture at the University of Cardiff, said:
“[The Digital Investigation Academy] lets our students contribute to — and learn from — online investigative work for human rights. It means that we can move some of the OSINT and online investigation classes we already run onto real-world projects. It’s an opportunity for collaboration between journalism and computer science, and it gives students valuable practice at gathering information in a professional environment.”
Students will then get to apply these skills to real-world human rights investigations in a 12-week research project, where they will be guided and mentored by CIR investigators via weekly video calls. The network of over 40 students will use their new skills to produce reports on two key conflicts: two universities are mapping the burning of villages in Myanmar, while one is documenting damage to different types of infrastructure since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. These projects will contribute valuable data that is essential for supporting CIR’s ongoing public monitoring of these two conflicts.
Professor Clare McManus, Head of Central and East European Studies and Dean for Global Engagement at the University of Glasgow, said:
“This is an experience that not only boosts our students' employability but also strengthens our collaboration with CIR and our alumni, creating a continuous feedback loop to refine our curriculum and build further partnerships with external organisations.”
Research that meets CIR standards will be published on our website, and students will be given an opportunity to present their work to the organisation’s leadership and relevant project teams. CIR will run an online workshop on careers in the field and will share follow-up resources with students. Those who complete the course will also have the opportunity to apply for paid internships with CIR.
The Academy’s launch is an opportunity for CIR to not only raise awareness of the power of digital investigations but to bring about positive change to the sector as a whole – by opening up the world of open source to talented students from a range of backgrounds.