Challenging power: Counter-Research Network launches at King's
King’s welcomed scholars from the UK and abroad for the first Counter-Research Symposium, launching CRIMSON – a new cross-institutional network dedicated to supporting researchers working with marginalised, precarious, and often silenced communities.
In the photo: Munira Cheema, Anna Khlusova, Jiali Fan, Matthias De Bondt, Woori Han, Hong Yu Liu, Yuval Katz
The event was funded by the King’s Arts & Humanities Research Culture Grant and co‑sponsored by the Centre for Research in Communication and Culture (CRCC) at Loughborough University.
A new network for challenging contexts
CRIMSON brings together media scholars and activists whose work often takes place in difficult or politically sensitive environments, including authoritarian states, and directly confronts state and institutional power. The symposium explored what it means to conduct “counter-research”– work that challenges dominant narratives, centres alternative forms of knowledge, and confronts structures of power.
Discussions throughout the day focused on key questions: How should researchers approach media produced by communities pushing back against power and oppression? How can scholars interpret this work without putting participants or themselves at risk? And how can emerging researchers be better supported when their work sits outside conventional academic or cultural frameworks?
In the photo: Yuval Katz, Matthias De Bondt, Hong Yu Liu, Anna Khlusova, Jiali Fan, Munira Cheema, Woori Han
Roundtable: Introducing CRIMSON
The opening roundtable featured CRIMSON’s founding members, who shared case studies from their research on queer and feminist activism in South Korea and Russia, counterpublics in Pakistan, influencers and tech workers in China, and media professionals in Israel and Palestine.
They highlighted the ethical and methodological challenges of working with vulnerable communities and the institutional barriers that often accompany politically delicate research.
In the photo: Meghan Lazier Stemp (Royal College of Art), Kennis Lai Mohrbach (Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf), Carlos Eduardo Barros (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro) and Asif Ali Akhtar (London School of Economics)
Panels: Ethics, methods and representation
Two panel sessions expanded on these themes. The first, featuring researchers from institutions in the UK, Germany and Brazil, examined counter-research as an embodied and often risky practice – from studying reproductive rights to navigating surveillance in Pakistan, self-censorship in Hong Kong’s film industry, and the influence of big tech in Brazil.
The second panel turned to representation and positionality. Presenters explored American “asylum cinema,” gendered experiences of digital ethnography in the Nordic manosphere, and research centred on cleaners in China, asking what it means to create scholarship that empowers rather than extracts.
In the photo: Professor Natalie Fenton
Professor Natalie Fenton: ‘Critical theory needs to be emancipatory’
The symposium’s keynote was delivered by Professor Natalie Fenton (Goldsmiths, University of London), who called for academics to move beyond diagnosing societal problems and instead offer practical alternatives. She stressed the importance of political courage in research, stating that one “needs to know where they stand and what they are going to do about it.”
For Fenton, “critical theory needs to be emancipatory. What’s the point in doing counter research if we don’t offer an alternative?”
What struck me throughout the Counter-Research Symposium was how clearly it illuminated the subtle and overt pressures researchers face from political, institutional and cultural forces. It reminded me that safeguarding research integrity is not just about adhering to formal standards, but about creating the conditions in which honest, courageous scholarship can survive external interference. The discussions highlighted how vulnerable researchers can be when their work challenges dominant narratives, yet also how vital it is that we protect their ability to do so without fear. This symposium reinforced the importance of building environments where integrity is not only expected but actively defended.
Dr Stefan Bauer, Research Integrity Facilitator
Looking ahead
The organisers plan for CRIMSON to become a longerm platform for collaboration. They are developing a reflective article shaped by insights from the symposium and are in discussions with publishers about an edited volume on counter-research. Future events will explore how to teach “counter-knowledge” in the classroom.
