Moderators

Dr Sebastian Fitzek (National University of Political Studies and Public Administrations in Bucharest)

PhD, Lecturer Professor at the Faculty of Communication and Public Relations, National University of Political Studies and Public Administrations in Bucharest, where he delivers courses and seminars on Leadership and Political Communication, Political Anthropology and Public Image of Political Leaders. Since 2018, coordinating professor for the Masters programme Leadership and Political Communication. A member of the Faculty of Communication and Public Relations’ Research Centre as part of the Image and Identity Study Laboratory. Senior Researcher at the Institute for Quality of Life Research, Romanian Academy. Recent publication: The sacred and political power. Psychosocial approaches of the collective imagination, Bucharest: Pro Universitaria, 2020.

Joanna Orłoś (European Network Remembrance and Solidarity)

Holds a Master degree in English Philology from the University of Warsaw. She has completed postgraduate courses in Business Management and Psychology at the Warsaw School of Economics and the Maria Grzegorzewska University. Currently, she is Head of Project Department at the ENRS in charge of carrying out projects such as exhibitions (After the Great War. A New Europe 1918–1923 and Between Life and Death. Stories of Rescue during the Holocaust), European Remembrance Symposium, the Hi-story Lessons educational portal or a study visit scheme called In Between? Joanna Orłoś translates English literature into Polish and is a member of the Polish Literary Translators’ Association.

Panelists

Prof. Eiríkur Bergmann (Bifröst University in Iceland)

Professor of Politics (Bifrost University, Iceland) and Director of Centre for European Studies (Bifrost University, Iceland). A former member of Iceland’s Constitutional Council. Fields of research: nationalism, populism, European integration, Icelandic politics and participatory democracy. Recently published: Neo-Nationalism: The Rise of Nativist Populism, London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2020; ‘Populism and the politics of misinformation’, Safudi. The Journal of South African and American Studies. Vol. 21, 2020, p. 251–265. Forthcoming: E. Bergmann, A. Astapova, A. Dyrendal, K. Grotle, A. Rabo, H. Þórsdóttir, and A. Önnerfors, Conspiracy Theories in the Nordic Countries, London, Routledge, 2021; E. Bergmann, ‘The Eurabia Conspiracy Theory’, in A. Krouwel and A. Önnerfors, Europe: A Continent of Conspiracies. Conspiracy Theories in and about Europe, London, Routledge, 2021.

Prof. Marcin Napiórkowski (University of Warsaw)

Assistant Professor at the Institute of Polish Culture, University of Warsaw. Fields of research: semiotics, memory studies and contemporary mythologies. Recently published: Kod kapitalizmu [The code of capitalism], Warsaw, Krytyki Polityczna, 2019; Turbopatriotyzm [Turbopatriotism], Wołowiec, Czarne, 2019.

Todd Leventhal (Global Engagement Center, U.S. Department of State)

Graduated from Georgetown and Harvard universities, Todd Leventhal is a specialist of countering disinformation, misinformation, conspiracy theories and urban legends. From 2007 until 2010 Director of the Interagency Strategic Communication Network. He has spent more than 30 years of his life in the U.S Department of State (Counter-Misinformation Officer, Senior Policy and Planning Officer, Lead for Academic and NGO Input). Since 2018, Senior-Counter-Disinformation Adviser in the Global Engagement Center (U.S Department of State). He has published, among others, with the Global Engagement Center: GEC Counter-Disinformation Dispatches #9: Clandestine Disinformation and Agents of Influence, 23 March 2021 and GEC Counter-Disinformation Dispatches #2, Three Ways to Counter Disinformation, 11 February 2020.