New Workshops!

In-Person Workshop in New York on March 24-28, 2025

Hello all dear Patrons,

We are organising a new in-person workshop in New York on March 24-28, 2025 on digital investigation techniques. 

We use Eventzilla for registration, with a relatively light screening process preceding confirmation and payment for the workshops.

You can register directly in Eventzilla here without emailing us, but if you have questions, feel free to shoot us a message at workshops@bellingcat.com.

We will be publishing this announcement on our site and social media pages later this week, so you have a few days to register before a larger rush of applicants come in.

Training Topics

Our in-person workshop in New York on March 24-28, 2025 is split into two segments: approximately three days (~24 hours) of hands-on training developing approaches and techniques of digital investigation, and approximately two days (~16 hours) of guided project work. We also have at least one “guest appearance” of other researchers working on digital investigations, either appearing in-person or virtually. 

The course's content over the first three days will include:

• Introduction to open source investigation

• Creative search fundamentals

• How to conduct (nearly) traceless and anonymous/pseudonymous research

Beginning to intermediate verification topics, including:

• Verification of user-generated materials

• Intuitive reverse search techniques in digital investigations

• Geolocation & chronolocation of visual materials

• Using mapping and satellite services in investigations

Beginning to intermediate social media topics, including:

• Fundamental techniques and creative search strategies on individuals & groups

• How to archive digital materials for open source investigations

• Tracking transportation services (e.g. naval vessels, aircraft) for investigations

Screening

We manually approve all applications after registration on Eventzilla. We do basic due diligence checks on our participants to be sure that our trainers and other participants are comfortable with their participation. Members of any military or intelligence service are not permitted registration at our workshops, and we allow government employees in on a case-by-case basis to be sure there aren't any serious ethical issues. We also restrict access to our workshops from members of police forces, but make some exceptions depending on participants' areas of responsibilities.

For example, in past workshops, we have approved the participation of government employees working on issues around election integrity and security, while we have rejected the participation of those working for state migration services. We very rarely approve members of police forces, but have made some limited exceptions for those working on issues of child exploitation and trafficking. We also conduct basic due diligence for non-government employees to be sure both the participant and their employer do not have a track record that would clearly make our trainers and other participants uncomfortable with providing training in research techniques that could be abused.

That said, the vast majority of participants are approved without any issue.

Payment Note

If you register and we approve your participation, and you select credit card or Paypal, you must pay when you start the payment process, otherwise Eventzilla will lock you out and we will have to manually delete and restart your registration. Wait to open the payment tab until you have your card or Paypal information ready to go!

Alternatively, you can choose "bank transfer" and pay later -- many of our participants being sponsored by their employers choose this option.

Cancellation

Please look closely at the cancellation and event policies in Eventzilla before you take the leap. 

In case you’re interested in joining our New York in-person workshop on March 24-28, 2025, you can register here.

 Feel free to send us an email to workshops@bellingcat.com if you have any questions.