1.2.1 Work Package 1: Training
A: Auditing two graduate courses on public policy, ‘Theories of Public Policy’ & ‘Democratic Government & Public Policy’ : The courses that were relevant to my project were only offered in the fall semester starting at the beginning of September. Since I arrived in Canada on 14 October, the courses were already more than half way through. After discussing the issue with my supervisor, we decided to postpone the auditing to 2025.
B: Training in discourse and semiotic analysis: I agreed on a reading list with my supervisor, Prof. Dr. Murakami Wood, and we discussed and examined several approaches with actual examples from his PhD students’ projects. The training is fully complete.
1.2.2 Work Package 2: Research Activities
A: Desk research, (field visits), interviews -Turkey: Although I was originally expected to conduct desk research, potential field visits, and interviews focused on Turkey in the first three quartiles, I completed desk research on all three countries, produced corresponding reports, and made the relevant Zotero library publicly available.
I discussed my project with three urban researchers from Turkey and established a strong connection with the Urban Planning Agency in Istanbul. I successfully secured their agreement to interview eight experts who had conducted extensive research on Istanbul’s smart city infrastructure. I planned a research trip in April 2025 to conduct these interviews. However, shortly before my departure, the Mayor of Istanbul and the head of the planning agency were arrested, and widespread protests broke out in the city. My contact advised me to cancel the trip and interviews for the safety and security of the participants. Unfortunately, I was not able to reschedule due to the termination of my agreement.
In the meantime, I redirected my focus to Thailand and successfully conducted three expert interviews before attending the International Public Policy Conference, where I co-organised two panels.
B: Participation in two research groups at UOttawa: I regularly attended the research events of Centre for Law, technology, and Society and the International Policy Studies Centre at the University of Ottawa. This included more interactions than mentioned in my proposal.
Despite the difficulties, this work package is ahead of its scheduled plan.
1.2.3 Work Package 3: Management and Supervision training
A: Editorial Job-shadowing & PhD mentorship: I have had frequent meetings with both editors- in-chief and have been promoted to associate editor at the Surveillance and Society Journal.
I have attended regular meetings of Prof. Murakami Wood with his PhD students and have contributed to their supervision in many occasions, especially on expanding their theoretical and methodological approach to include Majority World perspectives.
B: Integration of the Global South Network into the SSN: Although this was planned for the last year of the fellowship, I have successfully integrated the Global South Network with a new name of Surveillance in the Majority World Research Network as a working group of the international Surveillance Studies Network.
1.2.4 Work Package 4: Communication and Dissemination
A: Updating the project’s webpage and social media: While sending out interview requests, I noticed that the word authoritarian in the title of the project puts a lot of interview partners and research associates in danger and decreases the likelihood of possible collaborations. For that reason, I wanted to keep a low profile for the project until all interviews are conducted. The incident in Turkey was a good example of how sensitive the public profile can be. This task could not be completed due to the early termination of the project.
B: 2 manuscripts with UOttawa colleagues: Although this activity was designed for Y1-Q4, I have already finished it. The publications include:
Akbari, A. & Wood, David M. (2025). Towards a Critical Political Economy of Surveillance and Digital Authoritarianism. Surveillance & Society, 23 (1): 152-158.
Akbari, A. & Wood, David M. (2025- accepted). Smart City as Control City. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Science, Technology, and Society.
C: Attending scientific conferences: Although this activity was planned for final quartiles of each year, I have been involved in the following events either as organiser, keynote speaker, or invited speaker.
▪ Panel co-chair (2 panels) on critical perspectives on global AI policy and governance at the International Conference of Public Policy at Chiang Mai, Thailand, 2-4 July.
▪ Invited Speaker: Authoritarian Smart Cities: A Digital Development Dilemma, Annual Symposium of Royal Geographical Society’s Digital Geography Research Group, Online, 20.06.2025.
▪ Member of the organising committee for the first African Surveillance Studies Track at Digital Rights Forum, A collaboration between Surveillance in the Majority World Network, Paradigm HQ, and African Digital Rights Network, Lusaka, Zambia, April 27-8, 2025.
▪ Invited Speaker: Authoritarian Smart Cities: A Digital Development Dilemma, Centre for Law, Technology and Society, University of Ottawa, October 2024.
▪ Keynote Speaker: Authoritarian Smart Cities: A Digital Development Dilemma, Smart Cities as Safe Cities Conference, CEThicS: Interdisciplinary Research Center for Surveillance Technologies and Practices. Université Catholique de Lille, October 2024.
