SPIN⟲

SPIN Panel Session: ‘State Secrecy: from wargames to leaks’: Miotto, Limburg-Witjes, and de Zeeuw

Dr. Elspeth Van Veeren (Bristol)
February 18, 2026

SPIN Panel Session: ‘Secrecy, Scandal, Transgression’: Dr Ana Flamind, Dr Jamie Johnson, Prof Victoria Basham

January 21, 2026

SPIN Talk Recording: The Birth of Psychological War by Dr Jeffrey Whyte

Dr. Elspeth Van Veeren (Bristol)
January 20, 2026

SPIN Winter Newsletter

January 14, 2026

LCC/SPIN ‘Artist Lab’ – January 16th, London

Dr. Elspeth Van Veeren (Bristol)
December 19, 2025

SPIN Talk Recording: Articulated Absences Archive, Dr Vera Zurbrügg

November 13, 2025

D is for Deep Politics

Dr. Theo Kindynis (City St George’s, University of London)
October 17, 2025

P is for Parapolitics

Dr. Theo Kindynis (City St George’s, University of London)
October 17, 2025

SPIN Autumn Newsletter

September 28, 2025

Call for Papers: Subjugated Knowledges Secrecy and Society Volume 4, Issue 1

September 24, 2025

Project – Contending Securitization: Populism, Conspiracy Theories, and the COVID-19 pandemic

Dr Tim Aistrope (University of Kent) and Dr Ugo Gaudino (University of Kingston)
September 3, 2025

Book Talk: Erased by Professor Patricia Owens

September 1, 2025

SPIN Event Recording – SPIN Research Methods Masterclass: Navigating the challenges of Freedom of Information Access (FOIA)

June 30, 2025

F is for Five Eyes

Dr. Lydia Morgan, Associate Professor, Birmingham Law School, University of Birmingham
June 25, 2025

Essay: The Age of Innocence and Ignorance: Exploring the ‘silencing of the past’ in US foreign policy

Shae Miles, Politics and International Relations Student, University of Bristol
June 18, 2025

SPIN Talk Recording – Dr Shereen Fernandez on Secrecy and Redaction in the War on Terror

Dr Shereen Fernandez (LSE)
June 4, 2025

New Publication: Taking the Red Pill: Conspiracy Theories, Gender, and the ‘elusive epistemologies’ of the Manosphere

Dr. Elspeth Van Veeren (Bristol), Elisabeth Moerking (Bristol) and Harvey Dryer (Bristol)
May 21, 2025

SPIN Spring Newsletter

May 11, 2025

New Publication: Death and denial in the city: Making sense of London Bridge and Grenfell

Dr Owen D Thomas (Exeter), Prof Victoria M Basham (Cardiff) and Dr Rhys Crilley (Glasgow)
April 28, 2025

SPIN Talk – Dr Shereen Fernandez on Secrecy and Redaction in the War on Terror

April 16, 2025

Event – SPIN Research Methods Masterclass: Navigating the challenges of Freedom of Information Access (FOIA)

April 13, 2025

SPIN Discussion – Race, secrecy, mobilities, 19 May 2025

March 25, 2025

Call for Chapter Proposals – New SPIN Edited Volume, Initial Deadline: 1 June

Dr. Elspeth Van Veeren (Bristol)
March 13, 2025

SPIN Photography Commission: ‘Sub Rosa (Under the rose)’, Ashutosh Shaktan

Ashutosh Shaktan, SPIN-MPF Photo Commission 2024
March 5, 2025

Book Launch Recording – Professor Brian Rappert’s latest book: Revelations

February 3, 2025

Call For Chapter Proposals – New Edited Volume on The Gender of Secrecy

January 30, 2025

SPIN at the BISA 2025 50th Anniversary Conference

Dr. Elspeth Van Veeren (Bristol)
January 24, 2025

Event – SPIN Panel Session – Prof Clare Birchall: Online Conspiracism and Dr Theo Kindynis: Conspiracy Theories

January 20, 2025

SPIN Winter Newsletter

January 13, 2025

SPIN Colloquium 2024 – A thank you!

December 17, 2024

G is for (Secrecy) Games

Dr. Elspeth Van Veeren (Bristol)
December 15, 2024

M is for Maze

Dr. Elspeth Van Veeren (Bristol)
December 15, 2024

Book Launch – Professor Brian Rappert’s new book: Revelations

Prof. Brian Rappert (University of Exeter)
December 9, 2024

Articulated Absences and Silenced Souvenirs

Vera Zurbrügg
December 6, 2024

Talk Recording – ‘State Secrecy in Liberal Democracy’, Associate Prof. Lydia Morgan (Birmingham)

Associate Prof. Lydia Morgan (Birmingham)
November 29, 2024

N is for Nuclear Secrecy

Dr. Susan Maret (SJSU)
November 20, 2024

M is for Magic

Prof. Brian Rappert (University of Exeter)
November 18, 2024

Talk Recording – ‘Oracles and Power: new connections’, Prof. Linsey McGoey (Essex)

November 15, 2024

SPIN Podcast, Season 2 now starting

November 13, 2024

SPIN Labs Artist Project – Oskar McCarthy

Oskar McCarthy (SPIN Labs Artists 2024)
November 11, 2024

Essay – Local Authorities, CCTV, Secrecy and Privacy

Jim Gillman, SPIN Fellow (2024)
November 6, 2024

Draft SPIN Colloquium 2024 Programme now available

November 4, 2024

SPIN Autumn Newsletter

October 31, 2024

What has SPIN-ster Luca Trenta been up to?

Luca Trenta, Associate Professor of Politics, Philosophy and International Relations, Swansea University
October 29, 2024

Talk – ‘State Secrecy in Liberal Democracy’, Associate Prof. Lydia Morgan (Birmingham), 13 November

October 24, 2024

B is for Born Secret, Born Classified, Classified at Birth

Susan Maret, Lecturer at SJSU School of Information
October 23, 2024

Call for Papers: SPIN at the BISA 2025 50th anniversary conference

Elspeth Van Veeren (Bristol)
October 21, 2024

A is for Assassination (State-Sponsored)

Dr. Luca Trenta (Swansea University)
October 7, 2024

Talk Recording – State-sponsored assassination: from the Cold War to the present with Dr Luca Trenta

Luca Trenta, Associate Professor of Politics, Philosophy and International Relations, Swansea University
October 3, 2024

Event – SPIN Panel Session – Prof. Linsey McGoey: on the oracular and Prof. Perry Zurn: on curiosity

September 30, 2024

SPIN Summer Newsletter

Elspeth Van Veeren (Bristol)
July 30, 2024

Event – State-sponsored assassination: from the Cold War to the present with Dr Luca Trenta

Luca Trenta, Associate Professor of Politics, Philosophy and International Relations, Swansea University
July 22, 2024

SPIN Colloquium 2024

Elspeth Van Veeren (Bristol)
July 10, 2024

Event – Illuminating Intelligence Work: is transparency necessary and desirable?

May 17, 2024

SPIN May Newsletter

Evelyn Miller, SPIN
May 6, 2024

Talk Recording – Secrecy games, power and resistance in Global Politics, Dr Clare Stevens, Dr. Elspeth Van Veeren and Dr. Amaha Senu

May 3, 2024

Photography Commission: SPIN-MPF

May 3, 2024

C is for Conspiracy Theory

Prof. Clare Birchall, Professor of Contemporary Culture, King's College London
April 24, 2024

O is for Omertà

Kate Thornton, Politics and International Relations Student, University of Bristol
April 17, 2024

Essay: To what extent should British governments intervene with anonymous profiles on X?

Liam Rosser, Politics Student, University of Bristol
April 5, 2024

Essay: Silence as a symptom of an unhealthy democracy and its potential applications in resisting authoritarianism

Harry Couchman, Politics Student, University of Bristol
March 29, 2024

Event Recording – FAKERS: Lessons from the Rise and Fall of Cold War (Counter-)Disinformation, Prof. Rory Cormac

March 25, 2024

Essay: Donald’s Disciples: Omertà and the silent majority of the Republican Party

Kate Thornton, Politics Student, University of Bristol
March 22, 2024

Event – Secrecy games, power and resistance in Global Politics, Dr Clare Stevens, Dr. Elspeth Van Veeren and Dr. Amaha Senu

March 19, 2024

Essay: Artificial intelligence, disinformation, and state secrecy: Challenges to the legitimacy of the upcoming 2024 United States presidential election

Madison James, French and Politics Student, University of Bristol
March 8, 2024

Call for Papers: Special Issue on Pandemic Secrecy

March 1, 2024

Event – FAKERS: Lessons from the Rise and Fall of Cold War (Counter-)Disinformation, Prof. Rory Cormac

February 26, 2024

SPIN Spring Newsletter

February 9, 2024

New Publication: “Secrecy and the politics of selective disclosures: the US government’s intervention in Guatemala”

Dr. Luca Trenta, Dr. Kevin T. Fahey & Dr. Douglas B. Atkinson
February 7, 2024

O is for Official Record

Dr. Peter Finn (Kingston University London) and Dr. Robert Ledger (Goethe University Frankfurt)
February 5, 2024

New Publication: ‘Arms, aviation, and apologies: mapping the Boeing social media response to the 2019 Ethiopian Airlines crash’

Dr. Natalie Jester (Gloucestershire)
January 31, 2024

New Publication: “The ‘Unforgivable’?: Irish Republican Army (IRA) informers and dealing with Northern Ireland conflict legacy, 1969-2021”

Dr. Thomas Leahy and Dr. Eleanor Leah Williams
January 29, 2024

Introducing SPIN Labs

January 19, 2024

Introducing Natasha Mulvihill and Hannah Richards

Dr. Elspeth Van Veeren (Bristol)
October 5, 2023

Event: Working Paper Session with Chloe Peacock

Dr. Elspeth Van Veeren (Bristol)
October 3, 2023

SPIN Autumn Newsletter

Dr. Elspeth Van Veere (Bristol)
September 29, 2023

New Publication: “Technologies and Time Tempers: How Things Mediate a State’s (Cyber Vulnerability) Disclosure Practices”, Secrecy and Society

Dr. Clare Stevens (University of Portsmouth)
September 28, 2023

Introducing the Special Issue on Secrecy and Technologies, guest edited by SPIN member Dr Clare Stevens for Secrecy and Society

Dr. Clare Stevens (University of Portsmouth)
September 28, 2023

New Publication: ‘Being Curious with Secrecy’, Secrecy and Society

Elspeth Van Veeren (Bristol)
August 13, 2023

C is for Curiosity

Erin Jenkins, Graduate, Politics and IR, University of Bristol
July 28, 2023

Introducing Lewis Bush – SPIN Research Fellow 2023

Harvey Dryer
July 12, 2023

Book Launch: The Covert Colour Line by Dr. Oliver Kearns

Harvey Dryer, University of Bristol
July 7, 2023

SPIN Summer Newsletter 2023

Elspeth Van Veeren, University of Bristol
June 25, 2023

G is for Gaslighting

Erin Jenkins, Graduate, Politics and IR, University of Bristol
June 25, 2023

SPIN Spring Newsletter

Elspeth Van Veeren (Bristol)
March 23, 2023

SPIN at the International Studies Association Annual Convention 2023

Elspeth Van Veeren (Bristol)
March 22, 2023

Book Launch – The Covert Colour Line

Dr. Oliver Kearns, University of Bristol
March 18, 2023

Rescheduled Event – Secrecy and Ignorance: SPIN Colloquium 2022

October 17, 2022

Conspiracy Theory Series

Harvye Dryer, Politics BSc Student, University of Bristol
October 10, 2022

SPIN Art Commission – Emily Graham

Dr. Elspeth Van Veeren (Bristol)
September 30, 2022

Book Launch – Performing Deception

Prof. Brian Rappert (University of Exeter)
September 7, 2022

Event: Secrecy and Ignorance: SPIN Colloquium 2022

July 19, 2022

SPIN’s Twitter hour co-hosted with @DefenceResNet and @womenknowintel

Dr. Elspeth Van Veeren (Bristol)
July 1, 2022

June 2022 Newsletter

Dr. Elspeth Van Veeren (Bristol)
June 24, 2022

Recording – Book discussion of ‘Violent Ignorance: Confronting Racism & Migration Control’

Hannah Jones (University of Warwick)
May 30, 2022

Recording – Poisons and Podcasts lunchtime talk by Dr. Brett Edwards

Dr. Brett Edwards (University of Bath)
May 25, 2022

Essay – The Great Global Warming Conspiracy: A Critical Analysis of the Political Implications of a Conspiracy Theory

Clara Rayner, Economics and Politics BSc Student, University of Bristol
May 13, 2022

Book discussion – Violent Ignorance: Confronting Racism & Migration Control

Hannah Jones (University of Warwick)
February 25, 2022

Lunchtime Talk: Poisons and Podcasts, March 7th

Dr. Brett Edwards (University of Bath)
February 7, 2022

February 2022 Newsletter

Dr. Elspeth Van Veeren (Bristol)
January 31, 2022

Expression of Interest: Teaching Secrecy

Dr. Elspeth Van Veeren (Bristol)
January 19, 2022

Adam Sisman on John le Carré: Writing and Researching Elusive Subjects

Adam Sisman, Author of 'John le Carré: The Biography'
January 17, 2022

Democracy Lives in Darkness: Discussion with Professor Emily Van Duyn

Emily Van Duyn (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
January 5, 2022

Back by popular demand… Magical Encounters: Presented by Prof. Brian Rappert

November 29, 2021

ISA-NE Secrecy panel

Dr. Elspeth Van Veeren (Bristol)
November 17, 2021

Book Panel Recording – Professor William Walters’ ‘State Secrecy and Security: Refiguring the Covert Imaginary’

Dr. Elspeth Van Veeren (Bristol)
November 15, 2021

Photo Commission: SPIN-MPF

SPIN Admin
November 12, 2021

October 2021 SPIN Round-up Newsletter

Dr. Elspeth Van Veeren (Bristol)
November 5, 2021

Adam Sisman on John le Carré: Writing and Researching Elusive Subjects

Adam Sisman, Author of 'John le Carré: The Biography'
November 4, 2021

‘Revelations’ Online Workshop

Prof. Brian Rappert (University of Exeter)
October 25, 2021

Magical Encounters: Presented by Prof. Brian Rappert

Prof. Brian Rappert (University of Exeter)
October 11, 2021

Charles W. Mills: Legacies of Thought in Bristol

Julia Paulson, School of Education, University of Bristol; Education, Justice and Memory (EdJAM)
October 6, 2021

SPIN September Newsletter

September 15, 2021

Essay – The Role Ignorance Plays in US Politics

Grace Williamson-Beare, Final Year Student, Politics and International Relations BSc, University of Bristol
September 13, 2021

Announcement: New SPIN-ster, ESRC Postdoctoral Research Fellow Dr Chloe Peacock joins with a project on ignorance and UK criminal justice

Dr Chloe Peacock, ESRC Postdoctoral Research Fellow (October 2021), University of Bristol
August 23, 2021

Book Launch – Professor William Walters’ new book: State Secrecy and Security: Refiguring the Covert Imaginary

August 18, 2021

SPIN Panel – Twenty Years of the Global War on Terror: Looking back, looking forward

Dr. Elspeth Van Veeren (Bristol)
August 11, 2021

SPIN Publication – Ruination is a Form of Time Travel

James Mansfield, PhD Researcher (University of Reading) 2021 SPIN Fellow
August 9, 2021

Essay – Ignorance: An Undemocratic Threat from Above

Nicola Fincham, Final Year Student, Politics and International Relations BSc, University of Bristol
August 2, 2021

Call for abstracts: ISA North East Virtual Conference – November 4th to 6th

SPIN Admin
July 20, 2021

New publication – Counting the dead and making the dead count: configuring data and accountability

Prof. Brian Rappert (Exeter)
July 6, 2021

LIVE: SPIN-We the Curious A-Z of Secrecy and Ignorance

SPIN Admin
June 22, 2021

New Publication – Decolonising Curricula and Pedagogy in Higher Education

Dr. Manjeet Ramgotra (SPIN Visiting Researcher/SOAS)
June 22, 2021

Call for Abstracts: EISA Early Career Workshop 2021

May 7, 2021

‘#Classified: The CIA on Twitter’ Research Talk by SPIN Fellow Dr. Louise Pears

SPIN Admin
April 22, 2021

Introducing our 2021 SPIN Fellowship Recipients

April 22, 2021

New Publication – A Critical Analysis of the Impacts & Discursive Framework of Surveillance Capitalism

Mikey Ettlinger (University of Bristol)
March 2, 2021

Brigstow Institute Research Funding and Fellowship Announcement

Patterson Deppen (University of Bristol)
February 1, 2021

The Magic of Social Life

Prof. Brian Rappert (Exeter)
January 28, 2021

Funding Opportunity – SPIN Fellowships

Dr. Elspeth Van Veeren (Bristol)
January 16, 2021

BISA Conference CFP: Forget International Studies?

Patterson Deppen (University of Bristol)
December 19, 2020

New Publication – Seeing and unseeing Prevent’s racialized borders

Dr. Nadya Ali (University of Sussex)
November 23, 2020

Security in the Balance: How Britain Tried to Keep its Iraq War Secrets

Dr. Owen Thomas (University of Exeter)
November 3, 2020

New Publication – Truth and Consequences? Reconceptualizing the Politics of Exposure

Dr. Lisa Stampnitzky (University of Sheffield)
October 29, 2020

New Exhibition: SPIN, the A-Z of Secrecy and Ignorance at Bristol’s We the Curious Museum

Dr. Elspeth Van Veeren (Bristol)
October 20, 2020

SPIN at the Annual Millennium Conference

Dr. Elspeth Van Veeren (Bristol)
October 18, 2020

SPIN Art Commission: ‘Social Suffocation’, Olu Osinoiki⁣⁣, 2020

Dr. Elspeth Van Veeren (Bristol)
October 16, 2020

Decolonising the SPAIS Curriculum: New Prelim Report Released

Lauren Hutfield (Bristol)
October 12, 2020

Essay – Catfishing and the ocularcentric: how secrecy and visualities are interconnected

Sophie Peachey, Final Year Student, Politics and International Relations BSc, University of Bristol
August 13, 2020

New publication by SPIN member -‘What do bisexuals look like? I don’t know!’ Visibility, gender, and safety among plurisexuals, 2020

Dr. Rosie Nelson, University of Bristol
August 7, 2020

New publication by SPIN member: The Intelligence War Against the Irish Republican Army, 2020

Dr. Thomas Leahy, Cardiff University
July 14, 2020

SPIN awarded new funding for 2020-2021

Dr. Elspeth Van Veeren, University of Bristol
July 10, 2020

COVID-19 and the Politics of Knowledge: An Issue and Media Source Primer

Sif Beyer-Hunt, Jessie Carter, Audrey Goh, Ningning Li, and Sarah M. Natumanya, SPAIS Undergraduate and Postgraduate students, with Dr. Elspeth Van Veeren, University of Bristol
May 14, 2020

Presentation – Commodification, heteronormativity and the interplay of sexuality and secrecy

Maddy Russell, Final Year Student, Politics and International Relations BSc, University of Bristol
May 7, 2020

Essay – Spotify’s datamining practices: An example of surveillance capitalism?

Jekaterina Vinogradova, Final Year Student, Politics and International Relations with Study Abroad BSc, University of Bristol
April 30, 2020

Essay – See it, Say it, (Panoptic) Sorted: The rail passenger as ‘inspector’ in a National Rail surveillance campaign

Alice Chancellor, Final Year Student, Politics and International Relations with Study Abroad BSc, University of Bristol
April 22, 2020

New publication – National Security, the Democratic Oversight Narrative and Freedom of Information

Dr. Peter Finn (Kingston University)
February 27, 2020

New publication – Everyday secrecy: Oral history and the social life of a top-secret weapons research establishment during the Cold War

Prof. William Walters, Carleton University
January 24, 2020

Ignorance experts (yes that is a thing) welcome!

November 6, 2019

New publication by SPIN member – Secrecy’s subjects: special operators in the US Shadow War

Dr. Elspeth Van Veeren, University of Bristol
October 21, 2019

Essay – Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre

Joanna Coulson, Graduate, Politics and Internationa Relations, University of Bristol
July 22, 2019

Essay – The Secret Ballot

Matt O'Brien, Graduate, Politics and International Relations, University of Bristol
June 22, 2019

Essay – The white (silent) powerful woman: A Critical Gendered Analysis of Secrecy in Bier’s ‘Bird Box’

Liberty O’Hagan, Graduate, Politics and International Graduate, University of Bristol
June 22, 2019

Conference Panel CFP: Critically Secret: Knowledge-Making and Unmaking in International Relations

Dr. Elspeth Van Veeren, University of Bristol
May 22, 2019

Essay – Researching Secrecy Amidst the Ruins of Orford Ness

Professor William Walters, Benjamin Meaker Visiting Research Professor, University of Bristol
December 24, 2018

Workshop CFP: Secrecy and (In)Security: New Perspectives

Dr. Elspeth Van Veeren, University of Bristol
January 1, 2018