does (Linkedin): http://www.linkedin.com/in/johnnyryan1
listens to (LastFM): http://www.last.fm/user/johnnyryan1

Interests:

A) THE HISTORY OF THE INTERNET AND ITS LESSONS FOR THE FUTURE; B) Ireland’s Digital Competitiveness; c) the Political Impact of the Internet; D) How ideas – including violent political ideas – are communicated online.

PRESENT ACTIVITIES:

• Senior Researcher, Institute of International and European Affairs,
  leading the IIEA’s work on the Digital Future, Ireland’s digital competitiveness, and principal investigator on a study on non-legislative measures to prevent the distribution of violent radical content on the Internet conducted for the European Commission
• PhD candidate, University of Cambridge

PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE:

• Senior Researcher, Institute of International & European Affairs, 04/2007-03/2008
  I led programmes on i) counter terror & security; ii) justice & home affairs policy; and iii) digital policy.
  Also member of European Security Research and Innovation Forum (ESRIF) working groups 2 (critical infrastructure) and 11 (human & societal dynamics).
• Project Manager, European Biometric Forum, 02/2008-10/2008
• Researcher, Institute of International & European Affairs, 08/2005 – 05/2007
  and Peer-Reviewer, EuroMesCo (Euro-Mediterranean Study Commission)
• Project Coordinator, Digital Publishing Innovations Ltd., 12/2003 – 04/2004

Books:

• Countering Militant Islamist Radicalisation on the Internet: A User Driven Strategy to Recover the Web (2007), 166 pp, hardback ISBN: 1-874-109-86-9
• A history of the Internet and its lessons for the future of business, politics, and society working title – suggestions welcome!, forthcoming, 2010, Reaktion Press
  

Publications, chapters & papers:

• >under review< “The Internet, the Perpetual Beta, and the State: The Long View of The New Medium”, Studies in Conflict and Terror, 2010?
• >forthcoming< Final report to the European Parliament DG Info of Politics Talk project, “The development of a Two Way Politics Internet Platform”, forthcoming in December 2009
• “The Internet: empowering end users to seize the new high ground”, in Steve Tsang (ed.), Combating Transnational Terrorism: Searching for a new Paradigm, Praeger, 2009
• “The Next Leap: Competitive Ireland in the Digital Era”, IIEA report presented to An Tanaiste (deputy Irish Prime Minister), December 2008
• (with Joseph Curtin), “The Lisbon treaty and the Irish voter: democratic deficits”, OpenDemocracy, 16 June 2008
• “Norms on the Net: Governing the Internet and the perils of failure”, NthPosition online magazine, 21 May 2008
• “iWar: pirates, states and the internet”, OpenDemocracy, 06 February 2008
• “iWar: A new threat, its convenience, and our increasing vulnerability”, NATO Review, Winter 2007
• “Ideas at war: militant Islamist rhetoric”, Journal of Information Warfare, vol 6, issue 3.
• “Islamist militants’ calls to violence: four P-words (Persecution, Precedent, Piety and Perseverance) in common with Irish Republicanism”, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, vol. 30, issue 11, November 2007
• “iWar”, Technology, Commerce, Society Daily TCSDaily, 13 August 2007
• “Web filtering is flawed terror response”, Oxford Analytica Daily Brief Services, 10 August 2007
• “Countering militant radicalisation on the Internet”, RUSI/Jane’s Defence Homeland Security & Resilience Monitor, 8 August 2007
• “The militant Islamist call and its echo”, OpenDemocracy, 1 August 2007
• “EU should take its anti-terrorism fight to the Internet”, Europe’s World policy dossier on security and defence (Summer, issue 6, 2007)
• “Islamists on the internet: brotherhood of belief”, Magill, May 2005
• “Complexity in the war on terror”, Magill, March 2005

Selected presentations:

• Speaker: “Non-legislative measures against violent radical content on the Internet”, Public private dialogue to fight online illegal activities, European Commission, Brussels, 27 November 2009
• Speaker: “The Internet & militant Islamist radicalisation: understanding the medium”, Club of Berne annual workshop, 5 June 2008
• Speaker: “The Internet & militant Islamist radicalisation: Rethinking the medium (Metcalfe’s Law, the Long Tail and realistic, limited objectives)”, Corpus Christi Intelligence Seminar, University of Cambridge, 30 January 2008
• Speaker: “The Next Leap: Strategic Report on the Trends of Change in the Digital Sector, and Government Opportunities for Action”, Institute of International & European Affairs, Dublin, 16 December 2008 [watch on youtube]
• Speaker: “Respect the medium – Challenge the message”, United Nations CTITF Stakeholders’ Meeting, New York, 11 November 2008.
• Speaker: “A strategy against online radicalisation: Respect the medium – challenge the message”, International Institute for Strategic Studies, London, 21 July 2008
• Speaker: “Internet governance – why openness is security!”, Swiss Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs Counter Terror Conference, Geneva, 28-29 April 2008 see powerpoint presentation here
• Speaker: Police Service of Northern Ireland C3 Special Branch Conference, Belfast, 39 March-1 April 2008
• Speaker: “The Internet: empowering end users to seize the new high ground”, Pluscarden Conference, St. Anthony’s, Oxford, 14-15 March 2008
• Keynote speaker: OSCE Action Against Terrorism Unit Seminar on Incitement to Terror, Vienna, November 2007 Remarks at the 15-16 November 2007 OSCE Experts Workshop on violent radicalisation on the Internet
• Participant: Netherlands’ Counter terrorism Coordinator’s Conference, the Hague, October 2007
• Irish Government’s National Expert: Euromed conference on “preventing incitement to terrorism and radicalisation: what role for the media?”, 21 May 2007
• Lecture: “Key issues in European Union external relations”, the European Commission Representation in Ireland, December 2006
• Guest chair: “Identity: Ireland within Europe”, Trinity College Dublin Historical Society, October 2006
• Speaker: “The new Justice & Home Affairs policy architecture”, Law Society Conference, University of Cork, December 2005

Media:
Interview/expert contribution experience: Reuters, Associated Press, Irish Times, Irish Independent, The Times, BBC World News Service, BBC Radio Five Live, Austrian Broadcasting Corporation, NewsTalk, Today FM, ENN, RTE PrimeTime, Silicon Republic.

Education:
PhD Candidate, Magdalene College, University of Cambridge (currently)
MPhil, Clare Hall, University of Cambridge
BA and MA, University College Dublin

Awards & tenders:

• Lead applicant (on behalf of IIEA Director General) and Principal Investigator: European Commission DG FSJ study on non-legislative measures to prevent the distribution of violent radical content on the Internet (value €179,604.00)
• Lead applicant on behalf of IIEA Director General: European Parliament grant for web 2.0 politics project, title “Politics Talk: development of a Two Way Politics Internet Platform”, 2008-09 (value €150,000.00)
• Beneficiary: O’Reilly Foundation Scholarship, 2008-10 (value €50,480)
• Honorary Cambridge European Trust Scholar, 2008-2010 (not financial)
• Lead applicant on behalf of IIEA Director General: European Commission DG Info, grant for web 2.0 project, title “Europe 2.0″, 2007-08 (value €97,733.05)