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What has actually worked against disinformation, and who is responsible for it?Coordinated disinformation campaigns target elections, trust in democratic institutions, and questions of identity and memory. Ukraine and Republic of Moldova have faced this pressure for years, and their experience matters for Germany and for all of Europe.
On 27 November, the international conference of the TrueLeak Academy brings together experts from civil society, media, research and state institutions in Germany, Poland, Ukraine and Moldova.
Three panels, each ending in an open fishbowl discussion with the audience:
Cognitive resilience: security and society
Hybrid threats and the militarisation of the information space. What does resilience mean in practice, and who carries responsibility: the state or society?
Culture as a battlefield: memory and identity
Cultural products as carriers of political narratives, attacks on cultural heritage, and memory politics. If disinformation targets identity, can fact-checking be the main answer?
Elections and sovereignty under pressure
Influence operations around elections and the EU path. Which narratives cross borders, and what has held the line?
Throughout the day, civil society initiatives present their work in short pitches and at the Marketplace of Opportunities. The conference closes with an evening reception for networking.
27 November 2026, 09:10 to 18:00
smartvillage Köln, Schanzenstr. 6-20, Gebäude 2.19 / Kupferwerke, 51063 Köln
Language: English
Participation: free
Full programme: https://www.duwir.org/trueleak-academy/cologne-conference
Registration: https://www.duwir.org/trueleak-academy/anmeldung?event=konferenz-koeln-duesseldorf-2026-12
Organised by DUWir gGmbH. In cooperation with the Institute for National Resilience and Security (INRS), WatchDog.MD, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom and the Gerhart-Hauptmann-Haus Foundation, Düsseldorf. Funded by the German Federal Foreign Office.
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Event venue
smartvillage Köln, Schanzenstr. 6-20, Gebäude 2.19 / Kupferwerke, 51063 Köln, Schanzenstraße 10, 51063 Köln, Deutschland, Cologne, Germany
Tickets
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups — all the happenings, one place.