Adam Ferron

Thesis title: Islamic X in Salman’s Saudi Arabia

Biography

Background

Adam Ferron is a PhD candidate at the Department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies. Their disciplinary background is political sociology. They came to Edinburgh to further advance their Arabic through its MSc Arabic language programme, before commencing their PhD in 2020 with 2+3 funding from the Economic and Social Research Council. Prior to coming to Edinburgh, they were Scholar-in-Residence at the Council for British Research in the Levant based in Amman, Jordan. They earned their MA in Near and Middle Eastern Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies, and have a professional background in research and policy work in both local government in London, and the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Responsibilities & affiliations

Affiliate of Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI)

Affiliate of the Centre for Data Culture and Society (CDCS) 

Member of the British Association for Islamic Studies (BRAIS)

Member of the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES)

Member of Race.Ed

Member of Social Media Analysis and Support for Humanity (SMASH)

Member of Social Network Analysis in Scotland Group (SNAS)

 

 

 

Research summary

Adam's PhD examines the political use of  X, formerly known as Twitter, by religious actors in Saudi Arabia

Digital authoritarianism; political Islam; state-society relations

Project activity

Digital Methods Initiative, 'Trolls, Bots and Dictators', The University of Amsterdam, 2019

'Research Persona as Digital Method'

'Tracing Relational Affect on Social Platforms through Image Recognition: the Case of the Syrian War'

Current project grants

Economics and Social Research Council, 2+3 Language-Based Area Studies

Past project grants

The University of Edinburgh, The Institute for Academic Development, Project Lead for 'Curriculum Decolonisation in IMES and Beyond' (£1000)

The University of Edinburgh, The Centre for Data, Culture and Society (CDCS): Digital Methods, Training Grant (£1500)

Invited to give the workshop 'Queering the Middle East' for undergraduate and postgraduate students across the University of Edinburgh as part of an awarded Student Experience Grant.

Research Volunteer at Hidāyah

Data Carpentry

Syrian Teenagers Tutoring and Education Programme (STTEPS)

SOAS, Political Islam: Global & Local Manifestations and Challenges, Training Grant (£2000)

The EU Commission: Academic research intervention to critically evaluate UK de-radicalisation programmes, and to share this knowledge with EU governments that were attempting to do similar work (€471,658)

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