Cambridge Disinformation Summit (2026)
8 Apr 2026
08:45 -21:00
9 Apr 2026
08:45 -22:00
10 Apr 2026
09:00 -16:45
Times are shown in local time
By invitation only
University of Cambridge
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Research on systemic risks from technology that affects information streams or the amplification or monetisation of disinformation
The 2026 Cambridge Disinformation Summit is designed to convene multi-discipline global academic, legislator, regulator, and professional thought leaders to explore and engage interventions on systemic risks from disinformation supported by technology such as AI and online social and search platforms.
Papers will be selected by an interdisciplinary scientific committee.
Programme
14:30-15:30
Cognitive hybrid warfare
Chad Briggs, Academic Program Director, Executive Master in Disaster Risk and Crisis Management, Asian Institute of Management
15:30-16:30
Investigative reporting in a threat environment for journalists
Robert Faturechi, Pulitzer Prize Reporter, ProPublica
08:45-09:00
Welcome and agenda
09:00-09:45
Systemic academic, science and climate risks
Michael Mann, Presidential Distinguished Professor, Director of Penn Center for Science, Sustainability and the Media, University of Pennsylvania
09:45-10:30
Systemic financial industry risks (banks and crypto)
Anat Admati, George GC Parker Professor of Finance and Economics, Stanford University Graduate School of Business
10:30-11:00
Break
11:00-12:30
Research workshop 1: Systemic risks from AI
- Algorithmic personalisation features and democratic values: what regulation initiatives are missing (Sharon Bassan)
- The impact of deepfake videos and the (elusive) search for effective interventions (Jeremy Fannin)
- The simulation of judgment in LLMs (Edoardo Loru)
12:30-13:30
Lunch
13:30-14:00
Countering hate
Imran Ahmed, CEO, Center for Countering Digital Hate [Zoom livestream]
14:00-15:30
Research workshop 2: Effects on vulnerable communities
- Safeguarding democracy: countering gendered disinformation in Canadian socio-political discourse (Janos Botschner)
- Rhetorical features from social media predict real-world violent outcomes of manifestos (Almog Simchon or Stephan Lewandowsky)
- Parasitic capital: disordered information and deception in decentralised finance (DeFi) ecosystems (Max Brichta)
15:30-16:00
Break
16:00-16:45
How social media is weakening trust
- Alan Jagolinzer, Professor of Financial Accounting and Co-Director, Cambridge Centre for Financial Reporting and Accountability, University of Cambridge Judge Business School (moderator)
- Spencer Cox, Governor, State of Utah [Zoom livestream]
16:45-17:30
Break
17:30-18:45
Buffet light dinner
19:00-21:00
A comedian’s guide to audience manipulation with [speaker announcement soon]
Presented by Sage & Jester
Award-winning comedian, writer and presenter [announcement soon] joins host [announcement soon] for a sharp fireside chat.
08:45-09:00
Welcome and agenda
09:00-09:45
Concentrated media and platform ownership and the implications for democracy and accountability
- Richard Sambrook, Professor Emeritus of Journalism, Cardiff University, and former Director of BBC Global News (moderator)
- Malcolm Turnbull, 29th Prime Minister of Australia (live virtual)
09:45-11:00
Concentrated platform ownership and digital sovereignty
- Gina Neff, Executive Director, Minderoo Centre for Technology & Democracy
- Michelle Inez Simon, Visual Investigations Producer, Sky News
- Mario Scharfbillig, Science for Policy Analyst, European Commission
- Kaitlin Tosh, Digital Investigations Journalist, Sky News
- Robin Berjon, Principal, Supramundane Agency
11:00-11:30
Break
11:30-12:30
Risks from para- and machine-social relationships
- SM Amadae, Director, University of Cambridge Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (moderator)
- Michael Asia, Secretary General, Data Laborers Association
- Jaime Banks, Katchmar-Wilhelm Professor, Syracuse University School of Information Studies
- Tilo Hartmann, Professor for Virtual Reality and Communication, Department of Communication Science, VU Amsterdam
- Joe Pierre, Health Sciences Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California at San Francisco
12:30-13:30
Lunch
13:30-14:30
Harms to targeted communities
- Meredith Clark, Associate Professor of Race and Political Communication, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (moderator)
- Esosa Osa, Founder and CEO, Onyx Impact
- Mobashra Tazamal, Associate Director, Bridge Initiative
14:30-15:00
Break
15:00-16:00
Manipulation of elections and the political agenda
- Anya Schiffrin, Co-Director, Technology Policy and Innovation concentration, Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs (moderator)
- Damian Collins, Former Member UK Parliament and Former Under-Secretary, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
- Anneliese Dodds, Member UK Parliament and Former Minister for Development at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Former Minster for Women and Equalities at the Department for Education
- Alexandra Geese, Member European Parliament and Rapporteur of the EU Digital Services Act
16:00-16:30
Break
16:30-17:30
Systemic economic risks
Joseph E Stiglitz, University Professor and Nobel Economist, Columbia University
17:30-18:30
Break
18:30-19:15
Pre-dinner drinks reception
19:30-20:15
Keynote dinner talk: Harms to targeted communities
- Julia Ebner, Co-Executive Director at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (moderator)
- Senior government official [name to announced soon]
20:15-22:00
Dinner served
09:00-10:15
Censorship and freedom of expression
- Emma Briant, Visiting Associate Professor, Lucy Family Institute for Data & Society, University of Notre Dame
- Nora Benavidez, Senior Counsel and Director of Digital Justice and Civil Rights, Free Press
- Jameel Jaffer, Director, Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University
- Jemimah Steinfeld, CEO, Index on Censorship
09:00-10:15
Elections and the role of algorithmic recommender systems
- Johannes Heidelberger, Head of German Digital Services Coordinator
- Chris Morris, Chief Executive, Full Fact
- Lukasz Olejnik, Visiting Senior Research Fellow, King’s College London
09:00-10:15
Digital information risks in conflict areas discussion (Roundtable)
- Gisella Lomax, Senior Advisor, Information Integrity and Digital Safety, UNHCR
- Joelle Rizk, Digital Risks Advisor, International Committee of the Red Cross
10:15-10:45
Break
10:45-12:15
Research presentations
- Widespread revisions of self-reported emissions by major US corporations (Ethan Rouen)
- AI, opinion ecosystems and finance (Lin Peng)
10:45-12:15
Research presentations
- AI’s survey-taking capabilities are surpassing those of humans (Folco Pinizza)
- Filtered for you: algorithmic bias on TikTok and Instagram in Germany (Camila Weinmann)
10:45-12:15
Lawmaker policy think tank
12:15-13:15
Lunch
13:15-14:45
Thomson Talks
Eliza Anyangwe, Editor in Chief, The Fuller Project
Effective responses to information manipulation: lessons for the West from fragile contexts
Information manipulation is now widely recognised as a challenge for Western democracies, yet journalists and communicators in fragile and conflict-affected contexts have been confronting the problem for many years. In this Thomson Talks event, speakers from the UNHCR, the Thomson Foundation, and Sudanese media, will share insights from working in humanitarian crises and highly polarised political environments, where purposefully misleading narratives can have immediate real-world consequences. Their brief opening remarks will be followed by an open, moderated audience discussion, which will explore what lessons these contexts offer for media, civil society and institutions in the West, and how strategies developed under pressure might help strengthen responses to information manipulation in societies that often consider themselves more resilient.
13:15-14:45
Research presentations
- Mapping controversy and polarisation through claim extraction: analysing online discourse following the assassination of Charlie Kirk (Mika Desblancs-Patel)
- Echo chambers and information brokers on Truth Social: a study of network dynamics and political discourse (Tim Weninger)
- Algorithms, biases and belief polarisation (Varad Deolanker)
13:15-14:45
Digital safety (Workshop)
Nina Jankowicz, CEO, The American Sunlight Project
Attacks on the field of disinformation research have been ongoing for 4 years. These smear campaigns against researchers and the institutions they represent can lead to significant physical security implications for those targeted. In this interactive workshop, Nina Jankowicz, who has dealt with sustained attacks and threats against her and her family, will give tips on how to proactively address these challenges, protecting your data, your safety, and your peace of mind.
14:45-15:15
Break
15:15-16:45
The weaponisation of faith (Panel discussion)
Christian Nationalism, digital authoritarianism and the social engineering of extremism
- Frank Schaeffer, Author, filmmaker, podcaster, and former evangelical insider
- Emma Briant, Visiting Associate Professor, Lucy Family Institute for Data & Society, University of Notre Dame
- Amanda Robb, Award-winning investigative journalist whose work currently focuses primarily on extremism and terrorism
- Peterson Feital, Anglican Vicar and theologian
- Alan Jagolinzer, Professor of Financial Accounting and Co-Director, Cambridge Centre for Financial Reporting and Accountability, University of Cambridge Judge Business School (moderator)
Across the world, faith communities are becoming one of the most powerful battlegrounds in the global information war.
Many believers do not realise they are targets of sophisticated influence systems that steer them toward narratives that amplify grievance, deepen division and fuse spiritual identity with political power.
Drawing on frontline reporting, academic research, and whistleblowers from inside these movements, this panel discussion will trace the historic roots and worldview of Christian Nationalism, reveal under-reported tech programmes that target and infiltrate communities of faith, and examine the reshaping of belief into new versions of religious and political identity rooted in authoritarianism.
15:15-16:45
Making trust stick: practical storytelling for information integrity (Workshop)
- Julia Bainbridge, Partner, Freuds and Founder of Freuds+
- Christoph Geiseler, Founder, One Minute Academy
- Dominique Lemon, Director, Freuds Group
- Hannah Pobar Woodward, Founder, Home Studio List
- Diagnose why trust breaks down – and why trustworthy narratives struggle to travel – in today’s information environment.
- Apply an audience‑first, behavioural approach to trust‑building.
- Design narrative responses that cut through noise without compromising integrity.
- Build practical confidence in influence‑led content creation.
Committee, speakers and call for papers
Scientific Committee members
The Scientific Committee includes:
Anat Admati
The George GC Parker Professor of Finance and Economics
Stanford University Graduate School of Business
Imran Ahmed
CEO
Center for Countering Digital Hate
Henry Adjer
Founder
Latent Space Advisory
Brad Badertscher
Deloitte Professor of Accountancy
University of Notre Dame Mendoza College of Business
Ruth Ben-Ghiat
Professor of History and Italian Studies
New York University School of Arts and Sciences
Beth Blankespoor
Professor of Accounting and Marguerite Reimers Endowed Faculty Fellow
University of Washington Foster School of Business
Emma Briant
Visiting Associate Professor
University of Notre Dame Lucy Family Institute for Data and Society
Meredith Clark
Associate Professor of Race and Political Communication
University of North Carolina Hussman School of Journalism and Media
Yonca Ertimur
Tandean Rustandy Esteemed Endowed Professor
University of Colorado Leeds School of Business
Alan Jagolinzer
Professor of Financial Accounting
Co-Director of the Cambridge Centre for Financial Reporting and Accountability
University of Cambridge Judge Business School
Christian Leuz
Charles F Pohl Distinguished Service Professor of Accounting and Finance
University of Chicago Booth School of Business
Stephan Lewandowsky
Chair in Cognitive Psychology
University of Bristol School of Psychological Science
Oliver Linton
Professor of Political Economy and Fellow of Trinity College
University of Cambridge
Kelvin Low
Professor of Law
The University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law
Alice Marwick
Director of Research, Data & Society Research Institute
Senior Faculty Researcher, Center for Information, Technology and Public Life (CITAP)
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Gina Neff
Professor of Responsible AI
Queen Mary University London
Executive Director
University of Cambridge Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy
Loriana Pelizzon
Deputy Scientific Director, Director Department of Financial Markets
SAFE/Goethe University
Co-Vice-Chair of the Advisory Scientific Committee
European Systemic Risk Board
Shiva Rajgopal
Roy Bernard Kester and TW Byrnes Professor of Accounting and Auditing
Columbia Business School
Yoel Roth
Vice President Trust and Safety
Match Group
Marietje Schaake
International Policy Director
Stanford University Cyber Policy Center
Jake Shapiro
Professor of Politics and International Affairs
Princeton University School of Public and International Affairs
Chester Spatt
Pamela R and Kenneth B Dunn Professor of Finance
Carnegie Mellon University Tepper School of Business
Former Chief Economist
US Securities and Exchange Commission
Kate Starbird
Professor of Human Centered Design and Engineering
University of Washington Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering
David Stillwell
Professor of Computational Social Science
Director of the Psychometrics Centre
University of Cambridge Judge Business School
Eric Talley
Marc and Eva Stern Professor of Law and Business
Columbia Law School
Shannon Vallor
Baillie Gifford Chair in the Ethics of Data and Artificial Intelligence
Director, Centre for Technomoral Futures
University of Edinburgh Futures Institute
Sander van der Linden
Professor of Social Psychology in Society
University of Cambridge Department of Psychology
Keynote speakers
Information about the keynote speakers will be released later. Please check back for more information.
Call for papers
Submissions have now closed.
Papers from any discipline or research methods will be considered that relate to the Summit’s theme:
Research on systemic risks from technology that affects information streams or the amplification or monetisation of disinformation.
Potential research focus might include (but is not limited to) the effects on global systemic economic, health, environmental, migration, human rights or human conflict risk from:
- social media message feed algorithms that amplify disinformation or suppress evidence-based narratives
- search advertising algorithms that incentivise expanded reach of disinformation or suppression of evidence-based narratives
- artificial intelligence information errors, bias or corruption
- crypto and meme asset trading, based on disinformation or to facilitate laundering
- psychological addiction or radicalisation inspired by artificially created or algorithmically amplified disinformation
Disinformation occurs when actors intentionally disseminate misleading narratives through selected dissemination channels to fulfill financial, power, physical or social-psychological incentives to exploit targeted audiences.
Systemic risk is defined as the potential for major or whole-system failure due to interconnected, cascading or spill-over effects from threats or events. In financial contexts, it, like systematic risk, cannot be mitigated through diversification.
Papers will be selected by the scientific committee to be invited for presentation at the events in Cambridge UK.
Priority will be given to newer working papers that can both inform and be informed by the Summit’s interdisciplinary audience.
For more information, reference the Summit website or email CFRA@jbs.cam.ac.uk.
The 2026 Cambridge Disinformation Summit is hosted by: the Cambridge Centre for Financial Reporting and Accountability, the Minderoo Centre for Technology & Democracy, the Cambridge Psychometrics Centre, and the University of Cambridge Social Decision-Making Lab
