In September, Ella as Faculty Lead of Cambridge’s Digital Verification Corps (DVC), together with Cora Milner-Morris and Tom de Csilléry, DVC Student Leads, participated in the Digital Investigations Summit in Geneva. This was organised by Amnesty International’s Digital Verification Corps and Amnesty International Switzerland and brought together scholars, students and practitioners to discuss and learn about cutting edge methods and developments in open source investigations.
“Working together to develop investigations for the year ahead alongside staff from the Evidence Lab was a great exercise in understanding the value of the DVC’s contributions to Amnesty’s campaign output – Cora Milner-Morris, DVC Student Lead”
We heard fascinating talks from experts who were documenting violations involving artificial intelligence and autonomous weapons; who had developed tools and methods for identifying munitions and environmental harms and for archiving digital human rights evidence; and who were investigating border violence and arms exports. It was wonderful to reconnect with our fellow DVCs at other universities, and we left feeling energised about the DVC’s year ahead and the opportunities it will provide for our students to do hands-on human rights work.
“This year’s DVC summit was, once again, a highly valuable and constructive opportunity for collaboration across the DVC’s partner universities in a lively, engaging environment. Those from Cambridge’s DVC were very lucky to have this opportunity to meet with other students and professional practitioners alike, particularly as we so regularly work on shared projects remotely. Cora Milner-Morris, DVC Student Lead”
