On May 14th, 2018, NDI and CRRC-Georgia organized the second international conference on polling and politics “Power of Research in the Fight against Disinformation and Its Impact”. This conference gathered policy makers and analysts from Georgia and abroad to share their experiences and methods and discuss best practices and lessons learned.
The one-day event was opened by the President of Georgia Giorgi Margvelashvili. The conference was split into three thematic panels. Each panel was opened by a keynote address, followed by several speakers.
Panel I: Research on the roots, characteristics, and manifestations of disinformation efforts
- Laura Rosenberger, Director of the Alliance for Securing Democracy, German Marshall Fund – “Alliance for Securing Democracy“
- Tamar Kintsurashvili, Director of Media Development Fund (MDF) – “Anti-Western Propaganda 2017”
- Ivo Juurvee, Head of Security and Resilience Programme, International Centre for Defence and Security (ICDS) – “Power of Research in the Fight against Disinformation and Its Impact: Some Estonian Experience”
- Hans Gutbrod, Founder of Transparify – “Making Civil Society Organizations More Resilient”
- Vivian Walker, Research Fellow at Central European University – “Crafting Resilient Narratives in Post Truth Environments: Ukraine and Georgia”
Panel II: Measuring the impact of disinformation on public trust in democratic institutions
- Mariam Tsitsikashvili, Director of Georgian Reforms Associates (GRASS) – “Propaganda Made-to-Measure: How our Vulnerabilities Facilitate Russian Influence”
- Laura Thornton, Director of NDI – “Impact of Disinformation in Georgia: What Public Opinion Research Tells Us”
- Koba Turmanidze, President of CRRC-Georgia – “Towards Measuring National Resilience in Georgia”
- Mary O’Hagan, NDI Ukraine Resident Senior Director – “Countering Disinformation: Why Audience Analysis Matters”
- Giga Zedania, Rector of Ilia State University
Panel III: Building resilience, how to harness research to explore solutions
- Shaul Kimhi, Psychology Department, Tel Hai College, Israel – “Strengthening the ability to resist disinformation and national resilience to hybrid threats”
- Elina Lange-Ionatamisvili, Senior Expert at NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence – “NATO StratCom COE’s research on hybrid warfare and disinformation”
- Sophio Katsarava, MP, Georgian Dream
- Sergi Kapanadze, MP, European Georgia – “Initiative to combat Russian propaganda and disinformation”.
