Disinformation Summer Institute
Disinformation
Disinformation is false or misleading information created and spread to advance policy, political, economic or ideological goals. It is sometimes used by industries, governments, and other entities to undermine the public good and the knowledge institutions crucial to a functioning democracy. A recent survey of 1400 experts by the World Economic Forum ranked disinformation together with misinformation as a top global risk in the next two years.
DSI Goals
The Disinformation Summer Institute (DSI) is organized around two goals: (1) to break down barriers between fields of scholarship tackling disinformation and (2) to prepare the next generation of scholars with the interdisciplinary skills necessary to tackle the challenges associated with this topic of study.
Program Details
Applications are now open for the inaugural Disinformation Summer Institute. This inaugural 3-day will take place June 3-6, 2025, at the Martin Johnson House, Scripps Institute for Oceanography, UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA.
The Institute will bring together early career researchers (advanced phd students, postdocs, junior assistant professors) and senior experts to share concepts, techniques, history, and theories useful in studying disinformation. Drawing upon quantitative and qualitative social science, history, philosophy of science, public health, data science, and more, each day of the summer school will combine lectures by experts, group panels, and open discussion. Potential topics include: theory of disinformation, research methods, case studies, expert testimony, FOIA requests, archival research, AI, and more.
Applications are due January 31st, 2025.
About us
We are a group of faculty that have studied disinformation in one form of another. We come from different fields of study–philosophy, social science, history, computer science, environmental science, political science, and others.
We thank the following institutions for financial support: Institute for Practical Ethics at UC San Diego, the Climate Social Science Network at Brown University, and the Center for an Informed Public at the University of Washington.
Core Faculty (2025)
- Craig Callender, UC San Diego
- Jennifer Jacquet, University of Miami
- Naomi Oreskes, Harvard University
- Jevin West, University of Washington
Guest Faculty (2025)
- Ben Franta, Oxford University
- Robert Proctor, Stanford University
- Cailin O’Connor, UC Irvine
- Gerry Markowitz, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY
- David Rosner, Columbia University
- Kate Starbird, University of Washington
- Jim Weatherall, UC Irvine
- Steven Livingston, George Washington University
- And others
Contact us
If you have any questions, you can us: [email protected]