In September our CEO visited Sydney for a few days for a series of meetings and talks.

At The University of Sydney Dr Oboler presented a guest lecture covering online Holocaust disinformation to a history class. This was followed by a meeting with Vice chancellor Mark Scott to discuss campus antisemitism. On the way to the meeting with the Vice Chancellor we passed through the quad where a string of flags of the world was decorating stalls representing different cultures. While a Palestinian flag was present, the Israeli flag was absent and gap showed where it appears to have been ripped away. We shared this with the Vice Chancellor along with concerns that the environment was such that a talk we were presenting later that day for the university community, covering both antisemitism and anti-Muslim hate, was only advertised privately our of a concern both for safety and to avoid disruptions. This speaks to a campus environment that is not conducive to the goals of a university. The talk in the afternoon went a head without incident but to a small audience mostly made up of faculty.

While Sydney we also met with the NSW Premiers Department, providing an update on our work over the past year and discussion the potential for future collaboration. While we have not been successful in joining the COMPACT partnership, a move which would have allowed us to hire additional analysts based in NSW, we are in discussions with the NSW Government about other opportunities to assist them with their efforts to tackle online hate.

We met with Meta, finalising plans for our new advanced training program, sponsored by Meta, through which we will share our skills and offer support to volunteers from different communities impacted by online hate. The program which involves 20 hours of training (including practice) will allow participants to become experts in finding and documenting online hate, and give them access to our systems and support to allow concerns to be escalated. The training will run from November to February and applications are now open. More details here.

We also attended a half day meeting with the Department of Home Affairs and grant recipients of the Safe and Together Community Grants Scheme. The meeting allows us to share an update on our project supported by this government grant program and to hear from other grant recipients on their projects.