Stage Talks with Bellingcat – Details, episodes & analysis

This week we spoke to maritime researcher Christian Panton. Christian builds resources to monitor ships as a hobby and has created a useful database of 'sketchy boats' that require further investigation. In the talk he described the purpose of the tool and how he created it, and provided a detailed overview of the current issues with researching ships up to no good.

The talk was hosted by Charlotte Maher on Thursday September 25th 2025. Music featured is courtesy of Artlist.

Recorded live in the Bellingcat Discord Server: https://discord.com/invite/bellingcat

Links discussed:

Sketchy Boats website: https://sketchy.boats/

Sketchy Boats GitHub: https://github.com/christianpanton/those.sketchy.boats

Christian's pages: https://bsky.app/profile/pa.nton.cx

https://christian.panton.org/

Lloyds list investigation on false flags that Christian contributed to: https://www.lloydslist.com/LL1154326/Massive-fraudulent-flag-operation-linking-over-20-separate-fake-sites-uncovered

Bellingcat investigation into the ships smuggling grain from occupied Crimea: https://www.lloydslist.com/LL1154326/Massive-fraudulent-flag-operation-linking-over-20-separate-fake-sites-uncovered

Bellingcat's Ship Detection Tool (built with Ollie Ballinger): https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/2023/05/11/peering-beyond-the-clouds-a-guide-to-bellingcats-ship-detection-tool/

And Ollie's GitHub page: https://oballinger.github.io/

#maritime channel in Discord: https://discord.com/channels/709752884257882135/920298016123023400

TW: This episode contains a description of a murder and mutilation.

This week we spoke to the team at New America about their work tracking militia and private military groups online. Candace Rondeaux and Ben Dalton led us through their tips and techniques for tracing connections on Russian social media site VK and Telegram.

The talk was hosted by Charlotte Maher on Thursday September 11th 2025. Music featured is courtesy of Artlist.

Recorded live in the Bellingcat Discord Server: https://discord.com/invite/bellingcat

Links discussed:

New America Future Frontlines: https://www.newamerica.org/future-frontlines/

Their Wagner project: https://www.newamerica.org/future-frontlines/uncovering-the-wagner-group/

And Proxy Warfare project: https://www.newamerica.org/future-security/future-proxy-warfare/

New America covering Hamdi Bouta's murder https://www.newamerica.org/future-security/reports/inquiry-murder-hamdi-bouta/introduction/

Our previous Stage Talk with All Eyes on Wagner: https://rss.com/podcasts/bellingcatstagetalk/2061764/

Coverage of the IDF's lavender programme: https://www.972mag.com/lavender-ai-israeli-army-gaza/

This week we spoke with DoubleThink Lab’s Jasper Hewitt as we explored the new forms of digital propaganda. We discussed spamouflage operations in the US elections to AI influencers pushing state lines on TikTok.

The talk was hosted by Charlotte Maher on Thursday May 8th 2025. Music featured is courtesy of Artlist.

Recorded live in the Bellingcat Discord Server: https://discord.com/invite/bellingcat

Links discussed:

DoubleThink Lab website: https://doublethinklab.org/

DoubleThink Lab medium: https://medium.com/doublethinklab

What is FIMI: https://www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas/beyond-disinformation-what-fimi_en

Graphika on spamouflage: https://graphika.com/reports/spamouflage/

US report from VOA and DoubleThink Lab: https://medium.com/doublethinklab/doublethink-lab-and-voice-of-america-us-election-joint-observation-mission-final-report-d5f2dae85e27

Ben Nimmo, the breakout scale: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-breakout-scale-measuring-the-impact-of-influence-operations/

Single File chrome extension: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/singlefile/mpiodijhokgodhhofbcjdecpffjipkle?hl=en&pli=1

Bellingcat auto archiver: https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/2022/09/22/preserve-vital-online-content-with-bellingcats-auto-archiver-tool/

Patriotism for sale: https://medium.com/doublethinklab/patriotism-for-sale-wechat-channels-information-ecosystem-5c6a0f7c6358

DFR Lab: https://dfrlab.org/

Wenhao substack: https://wenhao.substack.com/

Discourse Power substack: https://discoursepower.substack.com/

This week we spoke to John Mooney and Connor Plunkett about their investigation into the Kinahan cartel. We discussed the considerations you need to make when reporting on large scale operations and how they found a hidden side to one of Irelands most notorious cartel bosses.

The talk was hosted by Charlotte Maher on Thursday April 24th 2025. Music featured is courtesy of Artlist.

Recorded live in the Bellingcat Discord Server: https://discord.com/invite/bellingcat

Links discussed:

Bellingcat's reporting on this here: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2024/03/30/kinahan-cartel-wanted-narco-boss-exposes-whereabouts-by-posting-google-reviews/

and here: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2025/03/22/nowhere-to-run-the-online-footprint-of-an-alleged-kinahan-cartel-associate/

Sunday Times reporting on Oliver Hermann https://www.thetimes.com/world/ireland-world/article/kinahan-investigation-oliver-hermann-leveris-jkvrp8n8w

GHunt tool: https://bellingcat.gitbook.io/toolkit/more/all-tools/ghunt

Whois lookup: https://www.whois.com/whois/

Outscraper: https://outscraper.com/

Bellingcat workshops: https://www.bellingcat.com/workshops/

Digital safety tips - Bellingcat video: https://youtu.be/o9uFeVVIiVg

Kinahan's google reviews account: https://www.google.com/maps/contrib/107715424953684019563/reviews

This week we spoke to Lisa Broekhuizen from Space4Good, looking at how satellite imagery can help show large scale impacts on our environment from deforestation to the growth of trees.

The talk was hosted by Giancarlo Fiorella on Thursday April 10th 2025. Music featured is courtesy of Artlist.

Recorded live in the Bellingcat Discord Server: https://discord.com/invite/bellingcat

Links discussed:

This week we spoke to Andro Mathewson from Centre for Information Resilience on identifying explosive ordnance seen in imagery on social media. Explosive ordnance are munitions that contain explosives, and can detonate without warning, killing or injuring civilians long after conflicts have ended. Andro wrote a guide to easily identify the most common types of EO and in this talk he walked us through it.

The talk was hosted by Charlotte Maher on Thursday March 27th 2025. Music featured is courtesy of Artlist.

Recorded live in the Bellingcat Discord Server: https://discord.com/invite/bellingcat

Links discussed:

Andro's guide and key: https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/how-tos/2024/07/31/a-beginners-guide-to-identifying-explosive-ordnance-in-social-media-imagery/

Small Arms Survey: https://www.smallarmssurvey.org/

Conflict Armament Research: https://www.conflictarm.com/

OSMP: https://osmp.ngo/

Repository that Andro built: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/19xNmsQpcz7UwHOPy1Zrwud-2jVdctulT5W3_0fUNn8k/edit?gid=0#gid=0

CIR: https://www.info-res.org/myanmar-witness/

Bellingcat workshops: https://www.bellingcat.com/workshops/

CORD database: https://www.ordata.info/

Book recommendation: https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Military-Ordnance-Identification-Investigations/dp/0815369425

Bulletpickers library: https://www.bulletpicker.com/technical-manuals.html

This week we spoke to Joe Dyke and Joe Emmett from AirWars and Nick R. Jenzen-Jones from Armament Research Services (ARES). Together they work on the Open Source Munitions Portal, a database of different munition types for open source research analysis.

The team walked us through the uses of the OSMP, the many exciting features they've added over the years and why the project remains a vital resource for all open source researchers. The talk was hosted by Charlotte Maher on Thursday March 13th 2025. Music featured is courtesy of Artlist.

Recorded live in the Bellingcat Discord Server: https://discord.com/invite/bellingcat

Links mentioned:

The OSMP: https://osmp.ngo/

Airwars: https://airwars.org/

ARES: https://armamentresearch.com/

OSMP glossary: https://osmp.ngo/resources/glossary/

OSMP visual guide example (3D model): https://osmp.ngo/collection/small-diameter-bomb-gbu-39-visual-guide/

OSMP Israel and Gaza collection: https://osmp.ngo/collection/israel-and-gaza-2023-2024/

OSMP on X: https://x.com/munitionsportal

OSMP on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/munitionsportal.bsky.social

Bellingcat toolkit: https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/2024/09/24/bellingcat-online-investigations-toolkit/

This week we spoke to Dr. Alexa Koenig from UC Berkeley. Alexa has spent much of her recent career looking into how digital investigations could aid accountability for war crimes and gender based violence. Within this discussion we focused on her work covering gender based violence and what lessons she’s learnt from the various groups she’s spoken to and worked with, from legal professionals to survivor groups. The talk was hosted by Charlotte Maher on Thursday February 20th 2025. Music featured is courtesy of Artlist.

Links mentioned:

https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/situation-mali-mr-al-hassan-convicted-war-crimes-and-crimes-against-humanity-committed

https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/2023/03/03/sexual-and-gender-based-violence-open-source-researche-osint-digital/

https://www.refworld.org/reference/research/gbrfco/2014/en/101109

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4895271

https://humanrights.berkeley.edu/publications/evaluating-digital-open-source-imagery-a-guide-for-judges-and-fact-finders/

https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/case-studies/2014/08/23/the-hills-of-raqqa-geolocating-the-james-foley-video/

https://www.ohchr.org/en/publications/policy-and-methodological-publications/berkeley-protocol-digital-open-source

https://humanrights.berkeley.edu/publications/gender-persecution-in-the-islamic-republic-of-iran/

This week we're joined by Bellingcat Senior Fundraiser Mareike Vitt. Mareike is here to share invaluable tips on sourcing sustainable funding for open source research and journalism efforts. In the discussion we spoke about the current funding trends and how you as an individual or as an organisation can stand out in grant applications and when reaching out to those all important potential donors. The talk was hosted by Charlotte Maher on Thursday February 13th 2025. Music featured is courtesy of Artlist.

Links mentioned:

Funds for NGOs : Subscribe to newsletter, frequent overview of current calls for grants, fellowships etc. https://www.fundsforngos.org/

Specific insights for funds for NGOs: https://www2.fundsforngos.org/

Funds for Individuals: https://fundsforindividuals.fundsforngos.org/

Funds for US: https://us.fundsforngos.org/

Sample Proposals for many areas: https://www.fundsforngos.org/proposal_category/sample-ngo-or-nonprofit-grant-proposals/

Global Forum for Media Development https://gfmd.info/

Overview of current funding opportunities: https://gfmd.info/find-funding/

Extensive fundraising Guide: https://fundraising-guide.gfmd.info/

Check out other resources e.g. grant writing classes: https://www.nonprofitready.org/grant-writing-classes

Bellingcat workshops/training: https://www.bellingcat.com/workshops/

Bellingcat's current donation pathway: https://www.bellingcat.com/donate/

Bellingcat's original website campaign is still here! https://brown-moses.blogspot.com/

Freelance cross border funding example: https://www.investigativejournalismforeu.net/

This week we're joined by Mike Yambo, open source investigator from the popular African news outlet Nation. Mike explains how he managed to establish open source research practices in his traditional newsroom and how he taught himself those skillsets. The talk was hosted by Charlotte Maher on Thursday January 30th 2025. Music featured is courtesy of Artlist.

Links mentioned:

Mike Yambo's work at Nation: https://nation.africa/kenya/author-profiles/mike-yambo-4180312

Ben Strick, YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/bendobrown

Bellingcat guides: https://www.bellingcat.com/category/resources/

Witness: https://www.witness.org/

Code For Africa: https://opportunities.codeforafrica.org/

Anatomy of a killing - BBC Africa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbnLkc6r3yc

Bellingcat's telegram phone number checker tool: https://github.com/bellingcat/telegram-phone-number-checker

How to use the telegram phone number checker video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLJgnlilEBs&t=1s

Sudan story referenced by Mike: https://nation.africa/africa/news/look-the-fire-is-inside-your-houses-where-are-you-sudan-s-war-within-4683754

Bellingcat DRC coverage: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2025/01/29/m23-rebels-goma-congo-fighting-clashes-drc-kivu-control/

Shabaab story referenced by Mike: https://nation.africa/kenya/news/the-digital-footprints-of-suspected-shabaab-financier-4391768

Police beating story referenced by Mike: https://nation.africa/kenya/news/finding-the-location-of-viral-video-of-man-beaten-by-police-4304224