Postgraduate research students

Daniele-Hadi Irandoost (PGR) is a doctoral researcher in Sociology at the University of Glasgow whose work focuses on public oversight of intelligence-driven digital surveillance. His PhD project, Public Oversight of the United Kingdom’s Investigatory Powers Bill: Lessons in Effective Oversight of Digital Surveillance for Intelligence Purposes Drawn from Comparative Cases in Southern Africa, examines how public-facing actors—including civil society organisations, journalists, trade unions, and advocacy coalitions—have attempted to scrutinise and contest surveillance law and practice.

A core concern in this research is the gap between formal oversight mechanisms and public accountability in the surveillance domain. The project treats intelligence-driven surveillance as a distinctive challenge for democratic oversight because it is shaped by secrecy, the involvement of public–private arrangements, and unequal access to the knowledge needed to understand and challenge surveillance practices. It therefore asks what kinds of public agency can support more effective scrutiny of surveillance powers under the UK’s Investigatory Powers framework, and what lessons can be drawn for future reforms.

Methodologically, Irandoost uses qualitative approaches, combining in-depth semi-structured interviews with documentary and thematic analysis of relevant materials (including legislation, parliamentary debates, campaign texts, reports, press coverage, and other public records). A further emphasis is on tracing causal and conditional mechanisms—including historical legacies, institutional arrangements, and patterns of mobilisation and contestation—to account for how oversight efforts develop and what outcomes they produce.

Comparative analysis is an important dimension of his doctoral work. While the UK case centres on the Investigatory Powers Bill/Act and related civil society responses, the project also draws comparative lessons from cases in Southern Africa, including Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Botswana, each concerning public oversight of legislation regulating intelligence-driven surveillance. This comparative element is explicitly framed as learning from existing and ongoing research on oversight practices in the region.

These current interests build on earlier work spanning intelligence history, intelligence oversight, and education. Alongside academic research, Irandoost has published books on espionage and oversight, including A New Vision of Spycraft: Or Necessary Notations on Espionage and Rahab’s House of Spies: Covert Action, Military Intelligence, and Espionage Oversight (both published by Manticore Press and edited with a preface by David William Parry). He has also published on educational theory and the philosophy of education, including On the Philosophy of Education: Towards an Anthroposophical View.

Overall, his research interests include surveillance studies, intelligence oversight, public accountability, and qualitative research on campaigns and policy contestation, with a continuing interest in how education and public understanding shape civic agency.

Prior publications

Works published at other institutions

• Professor Jane Duncan
• Professor Bridgette Wessels

He is funded by a College of Social Sciences (University of Glasgow) PhD Scholarship and secured Write of Spring festival support for Rebellious Writing Now: Lightning Talks and Rebellious Research Workshop. He also founded and curates TEDxLambeth, supported by funding from organisations including VegFund and the Ministry of Defence (Armed Forces Day).

He co-organised the Nephilim Anthropology Conference with David William Parry, and his recent conference outputs include "Localising the Right to Privacy"—presented as both a conference poster and a conference presentation at the ECR and PGR Workshop on Human Rights at the Local Level (2026-05); "Decolonising Public Oversight of Digital Surveillance" at the 3rd Annual PGR Conference: Understanding Developments in Politics and International Studies (2026-05); "Imperial Legacies and Intelligence Oversight since Snowden" at the British International History Group PGR Online Research Event (2026-04); "Public Oversight of the UK Investigatory Powers Act 2016" at the PGR Sociological and Cultural Studies Conference 2026 (2026-04); and "Public Oversight of the United Kingdom’s Investigatory Powers Bill" at the Sociology and Cultural Studies PGR Conference 2025 (2025-05).

Daniele is a qualified secondary teacher (PGCE History with Computing) with classroom, small-group, and one-to-one teaching experience across schools and adult education. He worked as a London-based supply teacher (2018–2020), teaching Geography, History, and Politics to groups and individual learners. He has also taught English as a Foreign Language with adult learners—delivering 1:1 and group tutorials.

He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (FRGS), a Fellow of the Society for Education and Training (FSET), a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute (FRAI), and a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society (FRAS), and is also a Member of the Historical Writers Association.