Eliot Higgins appointed as Honorary Fellow at SPIR

We are delighted to announce that Eliot Higgins, CEO at Bellingcat, has been appointed as an Honorary Fellow at the School of Politics and International Relations here at the University of Nottingham.

Eliot Higgins began as a lone blogger, called Brown Moses, fact-checking videos purporting to be of events at the start of the Arab Spring. Working from his kitchen table in Leicester, he developed a methodology of “open source intelligence” – OSINT – which is now used by journalists and governments worldwide. The Brown Moses operation – which became Bellingcat.com – is based in The Hague, employing 18 people plus numerous world-wide contributors.  

Higgins’ OSINT methodology is at the forefront of mainstream investigative journalism and Bellingcat is also leading the way in talking truth unto power in this volatile time of international relations. OSINT utilises information available on the internet to verify claims being made by the major world powers. It enables verification of claims in high risk areas – such as Syria and Ukraine - not accessible to reporters on the ground. Bellingcat has worked on cases such as the shooting down of MH17 over Ukraine, and the identification of individuals responsible for the Sergei and Julia Skripal Novichok poisoning. Higgins is also the author of the acclaimed We are Bellingcat: An Intelligence Agency for the People  published by Bloomsbury in 2021.

We are ecstatic to have Eliot join our community - lease join us welcoming him to the school!