An audience of over a hundred students and staff gathered for the first Mitre Lecture of the new academic year, delivered by Dr Julia Ebner.
An acclaimed author, journalist, and Oxford academic, Julia gave a fascinating insight into the dangerous – and increasingly well-supported – conspiracy movements emerging on the extremes of European politics, as well as within religion, misogyny, and other areas. Drawing on her groundbreaking undercover research, she explained how the internet and AI are accelerating the spread of baseless beliefs.
As well as sharing her experiences infiltrating these movements, Julia provided a set of useful diagnostic tips to help students differentiate between credible theories and dangerous myths, focusing on the movements’ common tactics of manipulating group psychology, victimisation, and co-optation of legitimate hobby groups.
After the lecture, Upper Sixth Psychology students Tilly D and Amira G chaired an excellent Q&A session, which covered a range of related topics from social media regulation to the rise of post-truth politics.
Upper Sixth Max opened the event by introducing Dr Ebner. He said, “As an A Level Psychology student, it was an incredible opportunity to be able to introduce someone with the achievements and expertise Dr Ebner has. I was fascinated by her talk, as someone who loves the subject, seeing how relevant it is to the most pervasive issues in our society was inspiring.”
Assistant Head – Teaching and Learning, Mr Robin Hardman, reflected: “It was so wonderful to welcome Julia to Trinity – she occupies a very rare position between academia and investigative journalism, and her insights are unfortunately more precious and important now than they ever have been. The Mitre Lectures are all about engaging with the most difficult and interesting questions of our times, and we couldn’t have had started the new academic year in a better fashion.”
Scroll right to see more stories
