Welcome to Resilience Innovation Lab (RIL) ! We hope you had an enjoyable summer 🌞.
After a two-month break, we are delighted to share our latest updates in this newsletter, along with new opportunities from the global community on archives, memory activism, and technology-facilitated human rights initiatives.
Global Gathering 2025 @Portugal
In September 2025, RIL attended the Global Gathering (GG) in Portugal. GG brought together digital rights defenders from over 144 countries for three days of collaboration building, knowledge sharing, brainstorming, and rejuvenation. These were individuals working on the most pressing challenges arising at the intersection of human rights, social justice and technology, such as online security for civil society.
RIL hosted a booth titled “Archiving Against Erasure: Hands-On Tools for Preserving Public Data under Authoritarian Regimes via Blockchain Technologies“. We explained the reasons why archiving work becomes an urgent tasks for civil society actors struggling in repressive regimes, and showcased how blockchain technologies can enable rights defenders to preserve public data from censorship and erasure. We thank all attendees who shared their feedback and recommendations for us to improve our work, and who expressed interests in future collaboration.
To know more about our analysis, rationale and appraoches to developing censorship-resistant archiving, read our training manual here (Traditional Chinese only).
Funding Opportunities
We’re happy to share ongoing and new funding opportunities from the global archiving and Web3 communities. Take a look at the details below—you may find something valuable for your work.
The National Archives (UK): Records at Risk Grants | Resilience Grants
National Lottery Heritage Grants (UK)
Bitcoin Development Fund, Human Rights Foundation (US)
Upcoming Events
We’re excited to share a selection of upcoming events exploring digital archiving, technology, human rights, and civil society. These gatherings are independently organised and not hosted by RIL, but we think they may be of interest to our community.
Copyright Issues for Digital Archivists / Asuntos de Derechos de Autor para Archivistas Digitales
Understanding and using copyright law and principles is an important part of an archivist’s work. This workshop covers the foundations of copyright law, including a copyright owner’s exclusive rights, copyright duration and transfers, public domain, derivatives, fair use and archives/library exemptions, orphan works, permissions, and takedown policies. We also will briefly touch on aspects of moral rights, character rights, music, copyright termination, cultural heritage and traditional knowledge, contracts, trademarks, and alternatives to copyright. Throughout we will focus on digital works and uses, including developing and using good copyright policies, best practices, and tools in managing copyright, and assessing and minimizing risks in creating and using digital works. Participants will gain an understanding of the law and best practices, and learn about practical methods and tools to better manage work, assist users, and understand and mitigate risk to avoid copyright infringement claims.
RSVP here.
International Archives Congress Barcelona 2025
Every four years, the International Council on Archives (ICA) organises a Congress, in association with the local institutions of the bidder selected to act as Congress host. Congresses are the major events for ICA in that the first few days are the opportunity to hold a series of governance meetings, and the rest of the week is devoted to Congress talks, sessions, workshops and meetings, all on the basis of a professional programme drawn up by the Congress Programme Committee.
Registration details can be found here.
RightsCon Summit 2026 Zambia
The 14th edition of the world’s leading summit on human rights in the digital age, will take place in Lusaka, Zambia and online, from Tuesday, May 5 to Friday, May 8, 2026. The organisers are incredibly excited to bring back RightsCon to the African continent since RightsCon Tunis in 2019, and to host their first-ever summit in Southern Africa! The return to Africa carries deep significance. It was a commitment they made after RightsCon Costa Rica in 2023, to bring RightsCon to the continent, and spotlight the strength, resilience, and global significance of Africa’s digital rights community.
Details of the upcoming program can be found here.
Useful Resources
Judicial Records in Hong Kong * has made every effort to collect court decisions related to the Anti-Extradition Bill Movement for educational and research purposes. These records are still accessible on the website of Hong Kong’s judiciary, but their continued availability to the public in the future remains uncertain. All judicial records collected and displayed here are secured and maintained using blockchain technology, through which they are decentralized and immutable, ensuring transparency, tamper-resistance, and trust in the integrity of the data. Our goal is to utilize blockchain as a form of censorship resistance to preserve invaluable public records. If there are any omissions in this database, please feel free to notify RIL’s research team: info.dap@protonmail.com .
China Open Courts * aims to preserve and provide public access to judicial records from the People’s Republic of China that are at risk of disappearing from official sources. Below is an overview of the methodology adopted in this project, including our data collection strategies, scope of coverage, and plans for ensuring continued accuracy and relevance of the information. Interested parties are welcome to reach out to our team at chinaopencourts@protonmail.com for further information, collaboration opportunities, or suggestions on additional keywords and topics to include.
*To protect your identity and personal information, you are advised to use these online resources with an encrypted device and VPN.
An Unbreakable Wall? Challenges and Opportunities of Defending Freedom of Information in China is RIL’s first research report on information environment in China. This report provides a comprehensive account of China’s information environment under the rule of the CCP. Drawing on evidence-based insights from multiple perspectives, the report seeks to inform a broad range of stakeholders—from policymakers and international businesses to civil society organisations and academic institutions—and encourages collaborative efforts to address the challenges posed by China’s information landscape and its impact on global information networks. The full report is now available on our website.
Safeguarding Freedom of Information in Hong Kong: Challenges, Opportunities and Remedies is RIL’s second research report, focuding on information freedom in Hong Kong. The report systematically outlines how Hong Kong’s information access environment has been significantly constrained since the implementation of the Hong Kong National Security Law (HKNSL) in 2020 and the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance (SNSO) in 2024. These measures have severely curtailed press freedom and undermined the ability of civil society to hold the government accountable. They have encouraged the withholding of publicly available data and represent a departure from international human rights standards. Access to and dissemination of information is increasingly criminalised, resulting in diminished government transparency, suppression of the media, and reduced accessibility to data for businesses. The repercussions are being felt by journalists, the business sector, researchers, and international organisations alike. The report is published bilingually on our website.
Who we are?
Resilience Innovation Lab (RIL) was founded by Asian veteran researchers and human rights defenders in 2023. RIL is a virtual platform promoting innovation, experimentation, and the exchange of research and educational initiatives that aim to develop and strengthen the democratic and digital resilience of organisations and individuals working in repressive environments.
RIL envisions a synergy of democracy, technology and civil society resilience today, especially when authoritarianism emerges as a common threat to liberal democracies and open societies. Building the capacities of citizens and civil groups to respond to such a new environment with creative and innovative instruments is of paramount importance for their sustainable development.
Our work focuses on researching Web3 technology, digital preservation of collective memory and history in conflict and post-conflict areas, and resilience of rule of law institutions and cultures in non-democratic regimes.
Enquiry: info.ril@proton.me