IMITATE3 marks its launch with workshop

IMITATE3 launched its first workshop to discuss the most pressing issues the UK and its allies face from state-backed information influence operations and how to respond to them.

Members of Cardiff, Bath and Coventry’s IMITATE3 research team welcomed more than 60 attendees from industry, academia and government to address the needs and priorities of an improved evidence-base for understanding information influence operations and responding to them.

The conference took place on 25 June at Churchill War Rooms in London and introduced IMITATE3 research on the evolution, organisation, and conduct of state-backed information influence operations, the efficacy of countermeasures, and ongoing work to derive better indicators and measures of information effect.

The workshop comprised a series of panels and roundtables to discuss how, in an increasingly complex operating environment, the UK and its allies should respond to information influence operations across Europe, what should be prioritised, and what forward-thinking interventions may effectively counter information influence operations.

Some key takeaways from these sessions include:

• A need for increased alignment between the UK, EU, and allies on balancing acute threats with long-term challenges.
• Strengthen social resilience against disinformation through education, community trust, and civil society.
• Prioritise "defending forward" by anticipating and preparing for likely influence campaign targets.
• Develop better impact and effect indicators for both adversary activities and defensive countermeasures.

A highlight of the conference was a keynote presentation delivered by Prof. Jacob Shapiro on the effectiveness of influence operations in which he presented a recent study conducted by Princeton University on US public engagement in state-backed foreign influence operations.

Funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), IMITATE3 is a three-year project led by Cardiff University, with expert partners at Bath, and Coventry universities.