From November 5 to 7, the GATE Institute at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” hosted the Sofia Information Integrity Forum 2025, an event that brought together experts from government, academia, civil society, media, and the technology sector to discuss current technologies, policies, and strategies for countering disinformation and foreign information manipulation. The forum was held in English, with sessions streamed on Discord. It was co-funded by the European Union and supported by the Media Programme South East Europe of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung; BROD (Digital Europe Programme); FactCRICIS (Horizon Europe Preparatory Action); the “Social Vulnerability and Propaganda” project, financed by the America for Bulgaria Foundation; and the CoDE project. The event was organized by the Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD), the Human and Social Studies Foundation – Sofia (HSSF), GATE Institute, Identrics, Sensika, and Graphwise.
The programme spanned three days and two parallel halls, covering Bulgaria’s policy pathways from regulation to resilience, frontier technology for information integrity, election integrity in Southeast Europe, democratic resilience, OSINT for monitoring FIMI, media literacy, and the CoDE hackathon model.
Leading names in the field who participated in the event included:
| Plenary Hall | Second Hall | |
|---|---|---|
| 9:00 |
Opening
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| 9:30 |
Technology, Democracy, and Cognition: From Pressure Points to Resilience Stephan Lewandowsky, University of Bristol Moderator: Prof. Milena Iakimova, HSSF |
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| 10:30 | Coffee break | |
| 11:00 |
Practical policies to counter disinformation campaigns Bozhidar Bozhanov, Member of the National Assembly of Bulgaria How Can We Build a Resilient Information Space Saman Nazari, Alliance4Europe Moderator: Prof. Milena Iakimova, HSSF |
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| 12:30 | Lunch | |
| 13:30 |
Navigating the Information Landscape: Bulgaria’s Policy Pathways from Regulation to Resilience Peace-building in the Black Sea region: the scenario method in Russia-Ukraine conflict and the EU’s role Neli Kirilova, PhD Fellow (Graduated), Doctoral School on CSDP/CFSP at European Security and Defence College (ESDC) Identity Narratives and Polarisation in Bulgaria Elizaveta Polyakova, Analyst, Center for the Study of Democracy Pravda’s Web / Systemic Manipulation of Search Engines and LLMs via Automated Networks Goran Georgiev, Senior Analyst, Center for the Study of Democracy Digital Services Act: Anticipating Challenges in Regulatory Implementation Simona Veleva, Chairwoman, Council for Electronic Media Moderator: Gloria Trifonova, Center for the Study of Democracy |
Faster >> Better >> Stronger: Defending and Reinforcing Information Integrity with Frontier Technology AI and LLM Against Disinformation – fact-checking examples from the ATENA project Miran Čoklo, Analyst, Hybrid Warfare Research Institute Building trustworthy AI in the age of disinformation Andrey Tagarev, Researcher, Graphwise Fighting visual disinformation: Synthetic images detection in the wild Olga Papadopoulou, Researcher, Centre for Research & Technology, Hellas (CERTH) Revealing propaganda with OSINT & AI: 24,000 Russian Articles on Pogled.info Gennadiy Vorobyov, Co-Founder & CEO, Netpeak Bulgaria Strengthening the cognitive deterrence: Lessons learned from 450 Stratcom Campaigns (online) Sviatoslav Hnizdovskyi, CEO, OpenMinds Moderators: Todor Kiriakov, Information Integrity Specialist, Identrics & Devora Kotseva, Information Integrity Specialist, Identrics |
| 15:00 | Coffee break | |
| 15:30 |
From Reach to Meaningful Connection: Earning Trust of Disinformation-Affected Audience (session organized by SCIENCE+) Participants:
Moderator: Maryia Sadouskaya-Komlach, FPEE/FPU/CEPA |
Technology for Information Integrity: Products Tracking Narrative Dynamics in Disinformation Campaigns on Bulgaria’s adoption of Euro Vassil Velichkov, CTO, Sensika From Reaction to Strategy: How Predictive Models Are Streamlined into Prediction Systems for Simulation Exercises Nesin Veli, CEO, Identrics Echoes Across Borders: Tracking Russian Propaganda in the EU Michal Trnka, CEO, Gerulata Business as stakeholder in disinformation countering: analysis of CEO messaging consistency on energy transition Elena Mihalska, Project Manager, Commetric & Slavi Slavov, ML Engineer, Commetric Kronkite: building a new revenue stream for quality journalism Garvan Walshe, Founder, Article 7-Intelligence for Democrats Moderator: Nikola Tulechki, Graphwise |
| 17:00 |
Hacking Dictatorships with AI: Real-World Cases of Digital Sabotage and Propaganda Warfare Chris Kubecka, Cyberwarfare Specialist/Founder & CEO, HypaSec Moderator: Nikola Tulechki, Graphwise |
Workshop · hybrid
Election Integrity in SE Europe Workshop Representatives of BROD 2.0 partner organizations – SNSPA, AFP, Funky Citizens, GLOBSEC, GATE (short presentations and panel discussion). Moderator: Iglika Ivanova, GATE |
| 18:00 |
“Architects of Chaos” Screening Maya Dimitrova, Journalist, Bulgarian National Television Moderator: Ruslan Trad, De Re Militari |
Hands-on
Hands-on CheckFirst OSINT Platforms: Oppi and RADAR Hervé Letoqueux, COO, CheckFirst |
| 19:00 | Closing | |
| Plenary Hall | Second Hall | |
|---|---|---|
| 9:00 |
The European Media Freedom Act: a milestone for media freedom and pluralism in the EU Inês de Matos Pinto, Legal and Policy Officer at European Commission (DG CNECT) When Strategic Communications become Strategic Jānis Karlsbergs, Senior Policy & Publication Manager, NATO StratCom CoE Strategic Communications and the Liberal Democratic Consensus Dr. Neville Bolt, Founder & Director, Sympodium Institute for Strategic Communications China’s discourse power: Beijing’s information manipulation as a tool of China’s foreign policy Alicja Bachulska, Policy Fellow, European Council on Foreign Relations Moderator: Prof. Dimitar Vatsov, HSSF |
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| 11:00 | Coffee break | |
| 11:15 |
Workshop · Part 1
OSINT Workshop for Monitoring Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI): Theory |
Democratic Resilience I: Actors and Institutions Populists before power: delegitimization strategies against independent judiciaries Dr. Tilko Swalve, Assistant Professor, Institute of Political Science, Leiden University Building resilient bureaucracies: Patronage and its consequences Prof. Dr. Petr Kopecky, Professor of Political Science, Leiden University, and Dr. Maria Spirova, Institute of Political Science, Leiden University Institutional Entrepreneurs and Democracy Dr. Diana Davila Gordillo, Assistant Professor, Leiden University Resilience in Time Dr. Licia Cianetti, Political Scientist, University of Birmingham Moderator: Dr. Maria Spirova, Leiden University |
| 12:45 | Lunch | |
| 13:30 |
Workshop · Part 2
OSINT Workshop for Monitoring Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI): Practical Exercises |
Democratic Resilience II: Country Perspectives Democratic Resilience in Georgia Amy Eaglestone, Political Scientist, University of Birmingham Democratic Resilience in Slovakia Prof. Tim Haughton, Professor of Comparative & European Politics, University of Birmingham Democratic Resilience in Bulgaria Yuxiang Lin, PhD Researcher, University of Birmingham Democratic Resilience in Poland Prof. Aleks Szczerbiak, Professor of Politics, University of Sussex Moderator: Prof. Tim Haughton, University of Birmingham |
| 15:00 | Coffee break | |
| 15:30 |
Russia’s Campaign to Destroy Ukrainian Identity: Accountability for Enforced Indoctrination and Re-Education Panel discussion with human rights advocates, OSINT researchers, educators, and journalists on documenting and countering Russian information control. Participants:
Moderator: Mykhaylo Shtekel, The Reckoning Project |
Wikipedia and Information Integrity Panel (Wikimedia CEE Hub) Panel discussion with representatives of the Romanian-Moldovan, Serbian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Bulgarian and North Macedonian communities. Keynote speaker: Costanza Sciubba Caniglia, Anti-Disinformation Strategy Lead, Wikimedia Foundation Participants:
Moderators: Nikola Tulechki, Graphwise & Iglika Ivanova, GATE |
| 17:00 |
Narratives in the storm: Security and the Role of Media in the Black Sea Region (session organized by KAS Media Programme SEE) Participants:
Moderator: Ralitsa Stoycheva, KAS Media Programme SEE |
Human Rights, Information Integrity, and Measuring Democratic Discourse Reporting to the UN on human rights in the Russian Federation (online) Mariana Katzarova, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation From Theory to Algorithm: How We’re Building the Democracy Discourse Index Dr. Jacob Udo-Udo Jacob, Founding Executive Director, The Global Centre for Rehumanising Democracy Information Under Siege: Georgia’s Battle for Narrative Control Salome Kandelaki, Doctoral Candidate in Political Science, Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University Chinese Influence in Bulgaria: Under the Radar but Ubiquitously Present Rumena Filipova, Chairperson & Founder, Institute for Global Analytics Moderator: Ruslan Trad, De Re Militari |
| 18:30 | Closing | |
| Plenary Hall | Second Hall | |
|---|---|---|
| 9:00 |
Influence Through Information: What happens in your body, and beyond Participants:
Moderator: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ralitsa Kovacheva, NTCenter |
Comparative Research Perspectives on Information Integrity From Epistemic Erosion to Cognitive Conflict: A Multi-Level Analysis of Democratic Vulnerability Dr. Keith Peter Kiely, Experienced Researcher, GATE Institute Countering Manipulations of Public Opinion on the “Terrain” of Rational Public Communication: How Can a Critical Public Function Prof. Plamen Makariev, Faculty of Philosophy, Sofia University Narratives and Trends of the Anti-European Discourse: A 2024 Propaganda Review Valentin Valkanov, Assistant Professor, Sociology, New Bulgarian University, and Lyubomir Donchev, Researcher, HSSF Moderator: Assoc. Prof. Veronika Dimitrova, HSSF |
| 10:30 | Coffee break | |
| 11:00 |
Building Countering Disinformation Ecosystem in Bulgaria (CoDE) and the DisInfoHack “slow” hackathon model DisInfoHack 2025: A Success Story Dr. Mariya Yurukova, Assistant Professor, Sofia University Words as Weapons: How Dehumanisation Through Language Shapes Perceptions of Ukraine in Bulgaria Alexandra Gouleva & Viktoria Mirinska, winning team “Narrative Hunters”, DisInfoHack 2025 Disinformation Narratives: Bulgaria’s Eurozone Accession Through the Lens of Facebook and Telegram Stanislava Yordanova, Lubov Lubenova, Petya Kruchmarova, team “Lhotse”, second place, DisInfoHack 2025 The narratives of the “Revival” Party Against Bulgaria’s Entry into the Eurozone Anton Nachev & Yasmin Kamh, team “Eleventh Hour Team”, fourth place, DisInfoHack 2025 Moderator: Todor Kiriakov, Identrics CoDE Hackathon 2026: The why, the how, and the what Dr. Borislav Bankov, Defence Project Lead, GATE Institute CoDE Collaboration Platform and OSINT support Yordan Terziev, PhD Candidate, IICT-Bulgarian Academy of Sciences COGNOS: AI-assisted Counter Disinformation Exercise-as-a-Service Dr. George Sharkov, Assoc. Professor, IICT-Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Moderator: Velizar Shalamanov, IICT-BAS |
Media Literacy Coalition
Media Literacy as Lifelong Learning Media Literacy for Children aged 4–12 Iskra Djanabetska, Founder, Knigovishte Media Literacy for Teenagers aged 12–18 Tsvetelina Hristova, Coordinator, Scoolmedia.com Media Literacy for Parents Georgi Elenkov, Director, Policies for Children, National Network for Children Media Literacy for Seniors Aged 55+ Mirela Petkova, Programme Coordinator, Media Literacy Coalition Moderator: Kristina Hristova, Media Literacy Coalition |
| 12:30 |
Frontlines of Influence and Innovation Why we should listen to Russian propaganda Ilya Shepelin, Independent Journalist Perception, Communication, and Integrity of Wartime Narratives: The Ukrainian Case and Western Balkans Implications Dr. Katerina Veljanovska Blazhevska, Professor in Political Science & Geopolitics, MIT University – Skopje Monetizing Bulgaria’s OMSAI Ecosystem through Cluster Development: From Innovation to Value to Security Dobril Radoslavov, PhD Candidate & State Expert, Ministry of Defence – Bulgaria AI and emotionally manipulative content Aleksandra Atanasova, OSINT Investigator Moderator: TBA |
Workshop
Logical Fallacies Detection Exercise Seminar organized by the GATE Institute in the form of a crisis management simulation in conditions of an information operation based on logical fallacies. |
| 14:00 | Closing | |
Atanas Zapryanov, Minister of Defence of the Republic of Bulgaria
Dana Spinant, Director-General, Directorate-General for Communication, European Commission
Todor Galev, Director of Research, Center for the Study of Democracy
Dimitar Vatsov, President, HSS Foundation - Sofia
Keith Peter Kiely, GATE Institute, Sofia University “St. Kiment Ohridski”
Watch session's video
Mark Galeotti, Mayak Intelligence
Moderator: Dimitar Vatsov, HSSF
How to Win the Information War. Russia and its Network in Germany
Susanne Spahn, Political Scientist, Historian and Journalist
"The Global South against the Collective West" - Do We Have a New Discursive Front
Dimitar Vatsov, HSSF
The Propaganda Crescendo and the Spiral of Silence!
Milena Yakimova, HSSF
Moderator: Veronika Dimitrova, HSSF
Media capture in CEE: models of emerging news ecologies and safeguarding epistemic rights
Marius Dragomir, Director, Media and Journalism Research Center
Central Europe between the imperial Scylla of "Russkiy mir" and the Charybdis of "post-national European identity"
Przemmyslaw Zurawski vel Grajewski, Security, Defence and Foreign Policy Section Coordinator, Chancellery of the President, Poland
Building resilience to Russian information manipulation and electoral interference in Moldova
Andrei Curăraru, Co-founder & Policy and security expert, Watchdog.md
Transforming Europe’s Media Landscape: Building Resilience and Safeguarding Independence
Maria Stoyanova, Analyst, Center for the Study of Democracy
Anti-EU disinformation in Romania in the context of good governance: narratives, impact and solutions
Bianca Toma, Project Manager, Romanian Center for European Policies
Building Europe's Media Democracy Shield: Countering Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference
Amaury Lesplingart, CTO, Checkfirst Network
Moderator: Goran Georgiev, Analyst, Center for the Study of Democracy
China's efforts to construct its narrative infrastructure in Southeast Europe
Vladimir Shopov, European Council on Foreign Relations
Resilience Against Disinformation in Wartime: Lessons from Ukraine
Halyna Tanai, LMF, NGO Lviv Media Forum
Why is Serbia embracing Russia - and is it actually doing it at all?
Milorad Ivanovic, Balkan Investigative Reporting Network
Moderator: Ralitsa Stoycheva, Media Programme South East Europe, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung
Andy Carvin, DFRLab (online)
Moderator: Ruslan Trad, DFRLab
Battlefield Brain: Cognitive Turf Wars
Andy Stoycheff, NTCenter
Listening to youth – the value of based interventions
Cristina Lupu, Center for Independent Journalism
Disinformation narratives in the Romanian and Moldova context and Media Literacy
Laura Burtan, Funky Citizens
Moderator: Irina Nedeva, AEJ
Understanding Disinformation: The Pivotal Role of Media Analysis in Ensuring Information Integrity
Mariya Yurukova, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”
Information Disorder: Getting Ahead of Hindsight
Nesin Veli, Identrics
vera.ai Tools for Detecting Synthetic Content
Olga Papadopoulou, Centre for Research & Technology, Hellas (CERTH)
vera.ai Tools for Textual Content and Meme Analysis
Olesya Razuvayevskaya, The University of Sheffield
Moderator: Nikola Tulechki, Ontotext
MIL in Bulgarian education through every subject
Angel Georgiev, Sindeo
Wikipedia as an example of Participatory Governance: A Study of Information Resilience and Public Information Resources
Iglika Ivanova, GATE & Media Literacy Coalition
Politics and Truth – Uses and Abuses of LLMs
Garvan Walshe, Article7 – Intelligence for Democrats
Myths & monsters: disinformation as a storytelling technique
Joanna Elmy, Toest (online)
Moderator: Irina Nedeva, AEJ
Strategic Communications and (Counter-)Disinformation: Simply a Question of Language?
Dr. Neville Bolt, Sympodium Institute for Strategic Communications
Russia and China FIMI activities in the Western Balkan region
Miroslav Sazdovski, The European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats
Moderators: Dimitar Vatsov and Veronika Dimitrova, HSSF
Beyond messaging: Telegram's role since February 2022 invasion of Ukraine
Sayyara Mammadova, DFRLab
Exposing Russian information warfare: tactics, tricks and elections
Valentin Chatelet, DFRLab
Final words before the storm
Ruslan Trad, DFRLab
Moderator: Ruslan Trad, DFRLab
Gendered disinformation against Ukrainian women refugees in Bulgaria
Kristina Tsabala, Analyst, Center for the Study of Democracy
Gender and Identity Disinformation: The case study of Armenia
Kate Llewellyn, Zinc Network
TFGBV against women in politics and public life in Georgia
Teona Dalakishvili, Senior Program Officer, Transform Program, IREX
Uncovering gendered disinformation in Polish cyberspace
Eliza Kotowska, Project Coordinator & Analyst, Instytut Kościuszki, (online)
Anti-LGBTI+ rhetoric as a tool for encroachment on civic space
Boyan Zahariev, Programme Director, Open Society Institute
Anna Arevadze, ForSet
Moderator: Gloria Trifonova, Center for the Study of Democracy
Building Resilience in Public Administration and Society
Georgi Georgiev, Ministry of Defense
Social and Collective Drivers of Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference
Alexander Politov, Center for the Study of Democracy
AI against disinformation
Dmytro Bilash, Co-founder and CBDO, Osavul
Achieving Information Integrity Through Cognitive Security
Ludmilla Huntsman, Cognitive Security Alliance
Algorithms of Deception: How Platforms are Struggling to Combat AI-Generated Disinformation
Andrii Paziuk, National Aviation University, Ukraine
Moderator: Todor Galev, Center for the Study of Democracy
Challenges for Communication: Health Issues in the Face of Refugee Crisis and the Exacerbation of Disinformation
Ludmila Hamplová, Strategic Communications at the Czech Department of Public Health Protection
Decoding the Damage: Uncovering the Hidden Complexities of Disinformation in Emergency Responses
Jaroslav Valuch, Transitions
Moderator: Ruslan Trad, DFRLab
Cyber Shockwave Exercises: Countering Cybrid Operations and Disinformation Campaigns
George Sharkov, IICT-BAS
Disinformation and the Institutional Response: Deficiency analysis
Iliyana Marinkova, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”
Institutional weakness as a key determinant in the “imported” fake news spreading strategies: Case study of North Macedonia
Mitko Arnaudov, Institute of International Politics and Economics, Belgrade
Malign foreign influence in Armenia and possibilities to tackle it
Armen Grigoryan, Centre for Policy Studies
Moderator: Velizar Shalamanov, IICT-BAS
Gen AI for social media analysis: game changer or a buzzword?
Andriy Kusyy, LetsData
AI in Action: Revealing the hidden structure of disinformation narratives
Andrey Tagarev, Ontotext
Transformer models and generative AI applications: A case study on stakeholder and narrative analysis of traditional and social media coverage in the context of armed conflict in the Middle East
Elena Mihalska, Commetric
Day Zero Dynamics: Narrative Formation and Algorithmic Influence in the first 24 Hours of the Southport Stabbings
Vassil Velichkov, Sensika
Moderators: Todor Kiriakov, A Data Pro & Yolina Petrova, Identrics
Collective Subconsciousness and Economic Disinformation
Krassen Stanchev, Institute for Market Economics
Russian narratives and the social vulnerability of Bulgarians
Boryana Dimitrova, Alfa Research
Manipulations of Public Communication Beyond “Fake News”. (Meta)deliberation as Antidote
Plamen Makariev, Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”
Main Narratives of Propaganda and Disinformation against EU
Veronika Dimitrova, Luborir Donchev, Valentin Valkanov, Maya Dimitrova, Deyan Paskalev, HSSF
The Digital Concentration Camp: How Anti-Democratic Propaganda Uses Conspiracy Theory
Valentin Valkanov, HSSF
Moderator: Milena Yakimova, HSSF
Navigating the Informational Landscape: Gramsci's Hegemony and the Multitude in Post-Communist Bulgaria
Keith Peter Kiely, GATE Institute
Qualitative and quantitative framework for tackling disinformation
Boyan Dafov, GATE Institute
Historical revisionism as TikTok propaganda, Grand Pro-Putin Narratives in the Black Sea Region
Madalina Voinea, Expert Forum
The future, the spread of information and democratic values - Are we using the right approach?! - Perspectives of the Western Balkans
Katerina Veljanovska, MIT University – Skopje, Faculty of Security Sciences
Moderator: Todor Galev, Center for the Study of Democracy
Sayyara Mammadova, DFRLab
Moderator: Dimitar Vatsov, HSSF
How our Early Warning System Helps Newsrooms Stay Ahead of Disinformation Trends
Maksym Eristavi, Disinfo Task Force
Boosting our Partners’ Editorial Strategies and Harnessing Expertise across Borders
Ludmila Hamplová, Science+
What we’ve Learned about the most Disinfo-vulnerable Audiences and how to Reach Them
Mykola Okhotnik, Science+
How a Successful Project with Science+ Transformed one Newsroom’s Approach to Audience Engagement
Cătălin Gomboș, Science+
Discussion Moderator: Maksym Eristavi, Disinfo Task Force
This event took place with the financial support of the following initiatives, projects and programmes: BROD (Digital Europe Programme under contract No: 101226153), FactCRICIS (Horizon Europe Preparatory Action under contract No: LC-02869427), “Social Vulnerability and Propaganda” (financed by America for Bulgaria Foundation) and the Media Programme South East Europe of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung. The views and opinions expressed were solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union, the European Research Executive Agency, America for Bulgaria Foundation or the Media Programme South East Europe of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.The Forum is part of the program of the European Solidarity Festival.
