Conference Agenda

Open Source Investigation Comes Of Age

Abstract: Bellingcat founder Eliot Higgins has spent the last decade promoting the use of open source investigation in a wide variety of fields, working with Bellingcat's team to train thousands of investigators. With Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 Eliot looks at how the use of open source investigation has finally come of age, and what that means for the work of investigators and the future of conflict.

Bio: Eliot Higgins is the founder of Bellingcat, a multi-award winning investigative collective focused on online open-source investigation. Higgins is currently creative director of Bellingcat's investigative arm, Stichting Bellingcat, and director of Bellingcat's production company, Bellingcat Productions BV.

Higgins first came to prominence during the early stages of the conflict in Syria, when he started blogging about open-source images being shared online from the conflict. Early successes included identifying the types of munitions being used by the Syrian Air Force, including cluster munitions and improvised "barrel bombs", identifying arms being smuggled to Syrian armed opposition groups by Saudi Arabia through Jordan, and investigating the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government.

As interest in Higgins' work and open-source investigation grew, Higgins launched Bellingcat in 2014, a new website intended to provide a place for readers to learn how to do their own open source investigations, and to contribute their own investigative work to the website. Bellingcat was launched with funding raised through Kickstarter, and quickly became known internationally thanks to the work of its community on the downing on Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) on July 17th 2014, ultimately identifying the missile launcher that shot down MH17 as originating from Russia's 53rd air defence brigade.

Over the years Bellingcat has expanded from a single staff member and a team of volunteers to a Netherlands based NGO employing 30 staff members from across the world, working on a wide range of topics. Bellingcat's work has led the way in developing the use of online open source investigation in a wide variety of fields, from journalism to justice and accountability, and is widely recognised as a leader in the development of online open source investigation.

In 2021 Higgins published the Sunday Times best-seller, We Are Bellingcat, about the work of Bellingcat and the development of the field of online open-source investigation.

Most recently Higgins has been involved with the launch of Bellingcat Productions BV, which aim to build on the success of Bellingcat's podcasts and documentaries about Bellingcat's work to produce films, podcasts, and television series based on the work of Bellingcat.