On Friday the 21st of October, over 400 students from universities across the globe came up with innovative ideas to tackle disinformation campaigns. Jan Otte, Ivo Andriessen and Thomas Swelheim developed a proposal enhancing prebunking campaigns with the proven benefits of using pop cultural elements to inform vulnerable demographics before the disinformation damage has been done. After pitching to professionals within the cybersecurity and foreign affairs sector, the alliance chose our PPE students as the winners! This is a great example of how well PPE students are prepared to respond to real world challenges and the need to bring the academic and policy worlds closer together.
VU's John Stuart Mill College provided the tools needed to solve problems like this one and NATO HQ and the William & Mary Global Innovation Challenge (WMGIC) to make them known. An excellent collaboration!