Surveillance Studies Centre at Queen's U

A proposal to provisionally establish a faculty-based Surveillance Studies Centre at Queen’s University has received approval.

22 October 2009.
I am pleased to report that our proposal to provisionally establish a faculty-based Surveillance Studies Centre at Queen’s University has received approval from Queen’s principal Daniel Woolf. A Surveillance Studies Centre (SSC), replacing but building on the former Surveillance Project, will allow us to expand our research program and attract funding.

Our main research tasks will continue, with The New Transparency Project front and centre, and other ventures, such as SCAN (Surveillance Camera Awareness Network), running alongside. We believe that having the status of a Centre, rather than a "project" will enhance our capacity for collaboration with others, nationally and internationally, and thus strengthen what is already a productive tradition!

While gaining provisional approval is indeed a milestone to be celebrated, we now have 24 months to seek formal approval via Queen’s Senate. The process of establishing a new website and new visual identity has already begun, with the goal of 15 January 2010 as the date to formally launch the SSC.

My hope is that the SSC will facilitate much collaboration between its members and beyond, and advance the surveillance studies field by way of workshops, lectures and seminars, empirical work, publishing, community outreach, liaising with policy and activist groups, and student training. We look forward to ongoing cooperation with you as we move toward our goal of establishing Queen’s University as a leading centre of expertise in the field of surveillance studies!

David Lyon FRSC
Professor, Dept of Sociology;
Director, Surveillance Studies Centre