Information Operations in the Digital Age: Influence, Decision-Making, and Strategic Competition.
This conference examines Information Operations (over two days) as a central feature of contemporary conflict, national security, policing, intelligence, and strategic communication. As states, non-state actors, extremist groups, corporations, and online communities increasingly operate within contested information environments, the ability to understand, detect, counter, and ethically engage with IO has become a critical professional capability.
The event brings together scholars, practitioners, policymakers, analysts, defence personnel, law enforcement professionals, cybersecurity specialists, and communication experts to explore how information is used to influence perceptions, disrupt decision-making, manipulate public narratives, and generate strategic advantage. Particular attention is given to the convergence of cyber operations, social media, psychological influence, artificial intelligence, open-source intelligence, and disinformation within modern information environments.
The workshop is designed to move beyond narrow definitions of IO as simply propaganda or cyber activity. Instead, it presents IO as a multi-domain and interdisciplinary practice that operates across technology, cognition, institutions, culture, and society. Participants will critically examine the evolution of IO, its doctrinal foundations, its operational uses, its ethical implications, and its future trajectory in an era shaped by artificial intelligence, automation, algorithmic amplification, and strategic uncertainty.
The aim of this event is to develop a sophisticated understanding of Information Operations as both a strategic practice and an analytical framework for interpreting contemporary conflict, influence, and decision-making in digitally networked societies.
The event will focus on the following major themes:
The evolution of Information Operations from traditional military doctrine to contemporary digital, political, and social environments.
The information environment as a contested space made up of physical infrastructure, digital systems, human cognition, media ecosystems, and social networks.
Influence and perception management as central mechanisms through which actors shape behaviour, legitimacy, trust, morale, and decision-making.
Cyber-enabled Information Operations, including hacking-and-leaking, platform manipulation, bot activity, coordinated inauthentic behaviour, and data-driven targeting.Disinformation, misinformation, and narrative warfare as tools used to destabilise institutions, polarise societies, undermine public confidence, and shape strategic outcomes.
Artificial intelligence and automation in the future of IO, including generative AI, synthetic media, automated influence campaigns, algorithmic persuasion, and scalable deception.
Ethics, governance, and democratic resilience, with attention to the risks of state overreach, censorship, surveillance, manipulation, and the protection of open societies.