Michael Cruickshank is a freelance journalist and open-source intelligence (OSINT) researcher originally from Australia. After graduating from the University of Queensland, he studied at Shanghai’s Fudan University before moving to Europe. For the last few years he has been investigating the nexus of security, technology and the climate crisis, and has published articles from a range of locations around the world. Currently, he is working on a new project called ‘Anthropocene Intel’ which attempts to model and predict security crises caused by enviro-political factors.

OSINT for the Anthropocene Epoch
This talk and workshop looks at how the field of open-source intelligence (OSINT) can be applied to the numerous emerging conflicts caused by the accelerating climate crisis. It will discuss the utility of OSINT and why it is uniquely well-positioned for reporting and analysis of the effects of climate change on global security. Michael Cruickshank will present the common tools and approaches used within OSINT research before moving on to show how these can be applied to climate conflicts and humanitarian crisis around the world. He will complement this with example case studies showing how these techniques can be applied in practice. Finally, Michael will present a concept for how these small-scale investigations can be scaled up to provide a regional or even global model of how the environment, politics, and security are linked.

Following the talk, Michael will present a practical workshop on OSINT research. This workshop will teach attendees how to use common OSINT techniques for a wide variety of situations and investigations.