At King’s College London, Inga Kristina Trauthig is a visiting fellow with the Institute of Middle Eastern Studies (IMES). She is a security studies researcher and holds a PhD from the Department of War Studies at King's for which she focussed on Libya. During the time of her PhD, she was a research fellow with the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR). She also has an MLitt from the University of St Andrews in Middle East, Caucasus, and Central Asian Security Studies.

Inga is a research professor at the Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy at Florida International University (FIU). She has authored over 80 publications. The majority of those are peer-reviewed while others are op-eds or shorter, policy-focused pieces such as for Lawfare. She has published in peer-reviewed journals like Conflict, Security & Development, Journal of Online Trust & Safety, New Media & Society, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, or Political Research Quarterly. Inga also co-edited a special journal issue on conspiracy theories for the Journal of Information Technology & Politics.

Inga has conducted work with UN-organisations, governments, NGOs, and private companies that address causes of war and insecurity. She consults regularly with policy and security professionals and has given oral evidence in the UK parliament.

She has joined podcasts such as Just Security or BBC’s Digital Human and her comments have been featured by outlets like Al Jazeera, Bloomberg, CNN, Houston Chronicle, Foreign Policy, Tagesschau and The Washington Post.

At King’s College, she was convenor of the MENA Research Group within IMES and has held various positions in student representation at faculty, school, and departmental level.

Research Interests

• Terrorism and extremism
• Disinformation
• Emerging technologies
• Middle East and North Africa
• Ideology, political Islam, Salafism

Publications

• Woolley, Samuel and Inga Kristina Trauthig. “Self-Regulation Won’t Prevent Problematic Political Uses of Generative AI,” Lawfare Blog, 17 July 2024, https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/self-regulation-won-t-prevent-problematic-political-uses-of-generative-ai.
• Trauthig, Inga Kristina. “India’s TikTok Ban Did Not Slow Disinformation: We Need Better Solution,” The Hill, May 2024, https://thehill.com/opinion/technology/4635961-indias-tiktok-ban-didnt-even-slow-disinformation-we-need-a-better-solution/.
• Trauthig, Inga Kristina. “‘This is the Fate of Libyan women:’ Contempt, Ridicule, and Indifference of Seham Sergiwa. Conflict, Security and Development, May 2024, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14678802.2024.2334832
• Martin, Zelly, Beacken, Gabrielle, Trauthig, Inga Kristina and Samuel Woolley. “Embodied Political Influencers: How U.S. Anti-Abortion Actors Co-opt Narratives of Marginalization,” Social Media & Society, March 2024, https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051241245401.
• Trauthig, Inga Kristina and Guy Eyre. “(In-)security, (dis)order, and political (in)subordination: ‘Quietist’ Salafism and the Arab revolts in Algeria and Libya”, Mediterranean Politics, October 2023. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13629395.2023.2272474
• Trauthig, Inga Kristina, Martin, Zelly and Samuel Woolley. “Messaging Apps: A Rising Tool for Informational Autocrats,” Political Research Quarterly, vol 77 (1), July 2023, https://doi.org/10.1177/10659129231190932.
• Trauthig, Inga Kristina. “Woher kommt der Hass auf Israel.” Tagesspiegel, August 2023, https://www.tagesspiegel.de/internationales/proteste-in-libyen-annaherung-an-israel-unerwunscht-10393336.html.
• Martin, Zelly, Riedl, Martin, and Inga Kristina Trauthig. “Abortion Activists Are Targets of Violent, Gendered Threats After Overturn of Roe,” TeenVogue, July 2023, https://www.teenvogue.com/story/abortion-activists-violent-threats-roe.
• Trauthig, Inga Kristina. “As Beijing’s Propaganda Grows More Aggressive, the West Should Take Note,” Center for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), July 2023, https://www.cigionline.org/articles/as-beijings-propaganda-grows-more-aggressive-the-west-should-take-note/.
• Trauthig, Inga Kristina and Samuel Woolley. “Addressing Hateful and Misleading Content in the Metaverse,” Journal of Online Trust and Safety, April 2023, vol 1 (5), https://doi.org/10.54501/jots.v1i5.109.
• Trauthig, Inga Kristina. “Chat Apps, Mass Mobilization, and Authoritarian Control: Assessing Evidence from Egypt, Iran, and Morocco,” eds. Francis Fukuyama and Marietje Schaake. Digital Technologies in Emerging Countries: Impacts and Responses” (DTEC) from the Program on Democracy and the Internet (PDI), Stanford University, https://fsi9-prod.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/2023-05/digital_technologies_in_emerging_countries_digital.pdf
• Trauthig, Inga Kristina and Lorand Bodo. “Emergent Technologies and Extremists: The DWeb as a New Internet Reality?” Global Network on Extremism and Technology (GNET), 11 August 2022. https://gnet-research.org/2022/08/01/emergent-technologies-and-extremists-the-dweb-as-a-new-internet-reality/
• Trauthig, Inga Kristina and Guy Eyre. “‘Quietist’ Salafism in North Africa: Outlining Moroccan and Libyan Developments.” Al Sharq Forum, December 2021.
• Trauthig, Inga Kristina and Samuel Woolley. “Online Propaganda Is Making Inroads in the Middle East and North Africa.” Center for International Governance Innovation, 9 December 2021.
• Trauthig, Inga Kristina. “SSR and elections – what role for the security sector in fostering the democratic process?”, in Hybridity in Conflict Environments, Roberta Maggi and Archibald Gallet, eds, Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF), November 2021.
• Trauthig, Inga Kristina. “The Integrated Review and the Middle East: Trade Priorities, Self-Reliance and Pitfalls.” King’s College London School of Security Studies Series, 8 June 2021.
• Angha, Negah and Inga Kristina Trauthig. “Middle East Diplomacy: Reflections on the Role of Diplomacy in Managing the Arab Spring”, in New Perspectives on Diplomacy, Jack Spence, Claire Yorke and Alistair Messer, eds, London: Bloomsbury Publishing, April 2021.
• Trauthig, Inga Kristina. “God’s Plan: COVID19 lockdowns and the reaction of Moroccan religious leaders”, Middle East Research Hub (MERH), 9 November 2020.
• Cook, Joana, Haid, Haid and Inga Kristina Trauthig. “Jurisprudence beyond the state: An analysis of jihadist ‘justice’ in Yemen, Syria and Libya”, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 10 June 2020.
• Trauthig, Inga Kristina. “Islamic State in Libya: From Force to Farce?”, International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR), King’s College London, 10 March 2020.