Eliot Higgins
Eliot Higgins is an award-winning journalist and the founder of Bellingcat, the investigative platform that has helped pioneer modern open-source intelligence and digital verification methods. He first gained international recognition through his early work analysing weapons use in the Syrian conflict under the pseudonym “Brown Moses“, before establishing Bellingcat in 2014 following the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17, where his team identified the Russian missile launcher responsible.
Under his leadership, Bellingcat has grown into a globally respected organisation advancing open-source investigative techniques across journalism, human rights, and accountability. Its work has contributed to major international investigations, including the Syrian civil war, the MH17 disaster, the poisoning of Sergei Skripal, and the war in Ukraine, demonstrating how publicly available data, from videos and satellite imagery to maps and social media, can be used to verify events and challenge disinformation.
In recent years, his research has expanded into the broader dynamics of disinformation and digital information systems. He has developed the Verification–Deliberation–Accountability (VDA) framework, examining how online environments are reshaping democratic knowledge, public debate, and institutional trust.
Eliot is the author of the Sunday Times best-selling book We Are Bellingcat: An Intelligence Agency for the People (2021) and leads Bellingcat Productions BV, producing documentaries and media based on the organisation’s investigations. His work has been widely recognised internationally: he was named one of Foreign Policy’s Global Thinkers (2019), listed among Politico Europe’s most influential figures (2021), and has received numerous awards including the Hanns Joachim Friedrichs Award (2015), the Monismanien Prize for freedom of speech (2022), and the Treaties of Nijmegen Medal (2024) for his contribution to peace and human rights.
