Dr Julia Ebner is an expert on online radicalisation, conspiracy myths, threats to democracy, minority rights, and terrorism prevention. Julia has led various research and advisory projects and participated in undercover investigations, infiltrating extremist groups' online chatrooms and in-person meetings to expose their radicalisation methods.
Julia regularly advises governments, intelligence agencies, tech firms, and transnational organisations, including NATO, Europol, the World Bank, Google, and Meta. Julia has also served as a Special Advisor on Terrorism Prevention for the United Nations Office of Counterterrorism. Julia is the author of several award-winning and internationally bestselling books, including "Going Mainstream" (2023), "Going Dark" (2019), and "The Rage" (2017). She contributes to news outlets such as the Guardian, Sunday Times, Financial Times, Washington Post, and Süddeutsche Zeitung, and has appeared in major broadcast programmes and documentaries in the UK, US, Germany, and beyond.
Julia leads the Violent Extremism Lab at the University of Oxford’s Centre for the Study of Social Cohesion and is a postdoctoral researcher at the Calleva Centre for Evolution and Human Science (Magdalen College). She teaches courses for Oxford’s Department of Politics and International Relations and is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) in London.
Trust in science, the media and democracy have been dwindling in recent years. But in this new era of misinformation and distrust, the private sector has been a rare source of hope: according to the Edelman Trust Barometer, private sector firms and employers enjoy the highest trust levels in society. Julia Ebner addresses questions such as: What drives the enemies of science and democracy? Why are we more susceptible to conspiracy myths and disinformation in a world of growing uncertainty? And what can companies and institutions do to reverse this trend and restore trust?
By day, Julia Ebner worked at a counter-extremism think tank, monitoring radical groups from the outside. However, in her spare hours – late nights, holidays, weekends – she adopted five different identities and joined a dozen extremist groups from across the ideological spectrum. Based on her undercover investigations, Julia gives insights into how extremists across the world have skilfully expanded their reach by using cutting-edge technologies, attracted the youngest generations by gamifying their communication, and impacted politics by entering surprising coalitions.
Incels. Anti-vaxxers. Conspiracy theorists. Neo-Nazis. Once, these groups all belonged on the fringes of the political spectrum. Today, accelerated by a pandemic, global conflict and rapid technological change, their ideas are becoming more widespread. Based on Julia Ebner’s undercover investigations for her latest book Going Mainstream, she explores why outlandish ideas have taken hold and conspiracy myths are spreading faster than ever and, how, united by a shared sense of grievance and scepticism about institutions, radicalised individuals are influencing the mainstream as never before.
The risk of systematic disinformation campaigns that can lead to delegitimisation, hate and agitation has been further aggravated by the next generation of technologies. From Large Language Models (LLMs) and deep fakes to Decentralized Autonomous Organisations in the Metaverse, what risk do new technologies pose to organisations from a reputational perspective as well as a security perspective, and what can they do to prevent campaigns directed at their brand, employees or activities? Julia Ebner delves into this complex topic.
