Laurier’s Technology and Human Security Speaker Series kicks off with Oct. 19 lecture focusing on disinformation

Oct. 19, 2022
For Immediate Release

BRANTFORD — Wilfrid Laurier University invites the community to the Technology and Human Security Speaker Series hosted by the Centre for Research on Security Practices (CRSP). The inaugural public lecture in the series takes place Oct. 19 at 7 p.m.

Professor Martin Innes, director of the Crime and Security Research Institute and the Police Science Institute at Cardiff University, will speak about the social and political challenge of disinformation campaigns.

“Disinform, Distort, Deceive” will be presented both virtually and in person on Oct. 19, from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Research and Academic Centre East, Room RCE202, located at 20 Charlotte St. in Brantford. In-person attendance is limited to 100 people. Register online at researchcentres.wlu.ca/centre-for-research-on-security-practices/events.

“With the rise of digital information, there is growing concern about ‘disinformation,’ which blends intent and action to deceive and dissemble. For example, anti-vaccine, anti-lockdown and anti-mask protests across the globe illustrate how digital disinformation and political polarization online can translate into offline behaviors,” says Carrie Sanders, director of CRSP and a professor of Criminology at Laurier. “Dr. Innes and his research team work with governments, police and security services across the globe to identify and address disinformation campaigns.”

Disinform, Distort, Deceive will explore how disinformation is one of the most pressing and urgent social and political challenges of our time, as well as investigate what is known about how disinformation campaigns are organized and conducted.

Informed by a large-scale, international research program exploring disinformation and its impacts across diverse settings and situations, the lecture will use several “real world” examples to illuminate the key components of how digital disinformation campaigns are run – and what can be done to limit their harms.

This public lecture is funded by the McLean Foundation and Wilfrid Laurier University. For more information about the lecture and future lectures in the Technology and Human Security Speaker Series, visit researchcentres.wlu.ca/centre-for-research-on-security-practices or email CRSP@wlu.ca.