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Professor Richard Aldrich wins Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship
Richard Aldrich has been awarded a three-year Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship for a project entitled ‘The end of secrecy? Whistle-blowers, electronic data and the transparent state,’ which argues that State secrecy is under pressure. "Whistle-blowers" are deploying new technologies that facilitate the anonymous data-sharing of large volumes of classified information, working with prominent media outlets such as The New York Times. Meanwhile, the oversight of national security is changing rapidly. We are seeing a decline in formal accountability and the rise of what we might call "regulation by revelation". Recent activities by Edward Snowden and Julian Assange have been interpreted through the prism of panic over privacy. Instead, this fellowship proposal suggests they are even more important for the changing nature of state secrecy, which remains largely unexplored. The project builds on collaborative work with several colleagues, including Dr Chris Moran, over the last five years.