For our final iteration of the 2026 Practitioner Series, the CGHR Student Group welcomed Dr Philippa Metcalfe on 11 March 2026.
Philippa is a researcher working on datafied and securitised borders, with a focus on how these digital technologies impact the lived realities that illegalised travellers and people seeking asylum face in the UK and the EU today. She has worked on projects such as Racial Justice Network’s Stop the Scan campaign; TNI’s research on lobbying practices by defence-tech companies on the legislation of the AI Act; and Corporate Watch and Privacy International’s joint project on dual-use technologies for military and civilian contexts.
For this talk, Philippa spoke about how digital technologies for surveillance and policing have long been used in borders and are now being adopted en mass in civilian life, the processes and powers at play with digital technologies, and the possibilities of research directed at tech corporations in the present moment. With a practice-based approach, she emphasised the vital role that researchers, organisers, and people at large can play in fighting against the obfuscation and invisibilisation of surveillant technologies in our lives.
Led by the Student Group, this session was moderated by Ed Parker, Student Group co-coordinator and MPhil Candidate in International Studies.
