Leveraging online violence prevention technologies to identify, understand, and counter violent extremism, gender-based violence, and mis/disinformation

Violent online content and radicalization have become so pervasive that it is contributing to the polarization of political discourse, a fraying of the social fabric, and to widespread human rights violations. Moonshot is devoted to ending online harms and protecting vulnerable individuals. It has developed and built technological tools to help governments identify and disrupt a wide range of violent threats, from terrorism to organized crime, child sexual exploitation, and trafficking, among other forms of abuse and violence.
Moonshot is seeking one Mitacs intern to support two of its ongoing research projects focused on countering radicalization, gender-based violence and misinformation, and assessing online threats. Activities include conducting research on online harms to assess when and how they are encountered by Canadians; who is seeking support or engaging with extremist content; and how violence prevention services can be made more accessible online, and engage vulnerable populations. The Mitacs intern will research and analyze relevant data, conduct desk research, and contribute to reports and campaigns. The projects will benefit the partner organization by supporting its ability to work with governments and local behavioural health services to create skilled provider networks, design effective online outreach strategies, and improve service delivery in virtual settings.

Faculty Supervisor:

David Welch;Andrew Thompson

Student:

Partner:

Moonshot

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

University of Waterloo

Program: