Research Project Coordinated by Özyeğin University Faculty Member Associate Prof. Akın Ünver Receives EU Funding

The project DE-CONSPIRATOR (Detecting and Countering Information Suppression from a Transnational Perspective) to be conducted under the coordination of Associate Prof. H. Akın Ünver from the International Relations Department at Özyeğin University has received 3 million Euros of funding from Horizon Europe, the European Union’s 9th Framework Program for Research and Innovation. Funded under the Cluster-2 of the Horizon Europe Program to which Europe's leading universities apply, the project DE-CONSPIRATOR is of paramount importance as it is the second multi-partner project coordinated by a Turkish institution under the “Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Societies” Cluster of Horizon Europe.

The DE-CONSPIRATOR project aims to measure the impact of Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI) strategies, which have been increasingly employed in digital communication tools in recent years, on political, social and societal incidents in 25 EU member states and 3 partner countries, including Turkey, and to develop counter-strategies to combat this. At the end of the project, it is planned to develop definitive solution proposals by understanding more broadly and comparatively the causes, means, and consequences of foreign information manipulation strategies observed in international politics. The project also aims to increase the resilience and awareness of Turkey and EU member states about international disinformation with the ultimate goal of protecting the freedom to receive and consume information.

The DE-CONSPIRATOR project will be coordinated at Özyeğin University and will be jointly conducted by 12 partner organizations, including Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI), an Italian international relations think tank, Riga Stradiņš University, University of Groningen, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), University of Amsterdam, Heidelberg University, Lithuanian Center for Advanced Cognitive Studies (AdCogito), Barcelona Center for International Affairs (CIDOB), Center for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies (EDAM Istanbul) and Georgia’s Reforms Associates (GRASS).