Kat's article on How Brexit border debate could affect human trafficking into UK has been published in the Conversation

'Security Ethics', a new collection co-edited by IERG's Kat Hadjimatheou, Tom Sorell, and John Guelke has been published by Routledge. Find out more here.

About the Book

 Governments often act in the name of security to protect their citizenries. For example by legislation or by the recruitment and employment of large numbers of armed personnel to detect and prosecute violent crime, or via engagements in military interventions to repel or pre-empt foreign attacks. These practices are often taken to have strong moral justifications. The value of security is linked to the value of life and the disvalue of violence and injury, and all of these are central both to theoretical accounts of and common sense views about the difference between right and wrong. The essays in this volume seek to increase our understanding of state action in the name of security and take a range of viewpoints and approaches. Some articles attempt to delimit the concept of security, or dispute attempted delimitations; some consider security as a 'good' and ask what sort of good it is, and how valuable; whilst others consider the relation between state action in the name of security and state action in the name of other goods, notably liberty, or consider ethical issues in health security, climate security and cybersecurity. Overall, this collection of essays shows how appeals by governments to the value of security have grown out of relatively recent events and processes at a global level, such as the response to pandemics, the acceleration of climate change, and counter-terrorism. The volume features an introductory essay and forms part of a five-volume series on legal ethics and the enforcement of law.

IERG’s PERICLES research project has been funded in the latest round of H2020. The project will last 36 months. IERG staff involved in the project are Tom Sorell (PI) and Kat Hadjimatheou (postdoc RF), and the project is worth €190,000. The overall aim of PERICLES is to develop a comprehensive approach to preventing and countering violent radicalisation. Transitional processes of radicalization are a focus of the research, which will consider violent left-wing and right-wing as well as religious ideologies. PERICLES will particularly emphasise violent propaganda delivered digitally. Partners include TNO, Trinity College Dublin, Thales and the Netherlands Police.

Tom Sorell has been awarded follow-on funding for Impact and Engagement from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) as Co-Investigator on a 'Responsible Lending' project that responds to findings from the 2012-2016 AHRC project, FinCris. 'Responsible Lending' will focus on access to affordable credit for low and moderate income communities. It will engage with UK Credit Unions and trade associations to develop innovative and creative strategies for implementing responsible lending practices and products. The project will begin in 2017, and will be led by Professor Karen Rowlingson, University of Birmingham.

Bulk Collection and Disproportionateness