A UNIVERSITY has been honoured for its role in a project investigating human rights violations in armed conflict.

Essex University partnered with Amnesty International, Airwars and five other universities to develop the Digital Verification Corps.

The project aimed to deliver a report which detailed the impact of the US-led coalition’s campaign to retake the Syrian city of Raqqa from Islamic State.

Trained groups of students identified videos and photos of the Syrian city of Raqqa online and then geolocated destroyed buildings using Google Earth.

GPS coordinates were published online so a further group of volunteers could use free satellite imagery to pinpoint when those buildings had been destroyed.

Amnesty investigators on the ground used this information to identify survivors and witnesses.

The project led to the most comprehensive investigation into civilian deaths in modern conflict.

More than 1,600 victims were identified, about ten times more than the number presented on an online platform and at an exhibition in London.

The project has now won the International Collaboration of the Year award at the Times Higher Education Awards.

The award judges said they were “incredibly impressed with the nature of the partnership, how it led to an impressive network of student investigators, and how it has delivered and continues to deliver data-driven evidence that can be used to prosecute war crimes and support society building and social justice”.

Dr Daragh Murray, pictured, heads up the Essex University Digital Verification Unit.

He said: “Students in our unit are leading the way in the development of open source investigation techniques.

Gazette:

“Our collaboration with Amnesty, and partners in Berkeley, Pretoria, Toronto, Cambridge and Hong Kong are central to our work. This collaboration not only makes our work unique, it makes it possible.”