Disinformation, Propaganda & Soft Power Research Lab (DPS-Lab)

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Inaugurated in 2023, our newly established research lab studies various forms of ideologically driven communications and their long-term influence, encompassing phenomena such as propaganda, disinformation and the exertion of soft power.

Our research is primarily directed towards the dynamics of contemporary media landscapes that are being profoundly shaped by the pervasive influence of emergent digital technologies and artificial intelligence (AI), while also considering their contextual and historical underpinnings.

We engage in the systematic refinement and development of theoretical frameworks and conceptual paradigms that deepen our understanding of ideology, propaganda and disinformation, along with their dynamic interactions, and then draw on these in our empirical research.

Our methodological approach is based on rigorous and theoretically informed empirical work that utilises a blend of mixed and computational methods. As an inherently interdisciplinary research group, our endeavours span four primary domains situated within the field of global communications.

Conference

Wed, 24.04.2024 at 13:00 - 16:00 EEST

Conference: Global communications, Propaganda and Disinformation

Lappeenranta campus, Auditorium 1316

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Hannele Seeck

Full professor (tenured)

Social Sciences

Hannele.Seeck@lut.fi

+358 50 563 6272

Research areas

Disinformation and propaganda pose formidable global challenges that are threatening the sustainability of our collective future (WEF 2023). We take these threats seriously and are resolutely committed to addressing these problems through computational social science methods in close collaboration with computer science professionals., Our aim in this domain is the development of innovative methods for the detection and mitigation of news-related propaganda in various contexts, such as climate change, conflicts and health, that draw on solid theoretical development of the underpinning concepts of ideology and propaganda and their interrelations. Beyond academic outputs, we seek to extend the impact of this work into society through practice-oriented applications and social innovations.

Global politics is displaying a continuing trend towards a future of entrenched and reinforcing ideological rivalries. Within this context, we explore the field of ideological propaganda and its longer-term impacts/influence and systematically develop theoretical and conceptual approaches to enhance its study. Overall, our work contributes to empirical research by outlining how the diverse functions of ideology manifest in real-world contexts and shape the various techniques of propaganda within the communications domain.

The rapid evolution of generative AI models presents unprecedented challenges to news organisations, their stakeholders, governing bodies and audiences alike. This affects communications at local and global levels, ranging from social media platforms to AI-generated propaganda that can be created and distributed at exponentially increasing quantities and speeds. In our Lab, we seek to understand these changes by studying the technological, cultural and institutional conditions that shape the emergent digital communication environments, with a specific emphasis on the roles of global actors and the forms of ideologically driven communications, both globally and locally.

In today’s world, wars, crises and critical events are frequently characterised by the insertion of disinformation and propaganda in news. Given the current geopolitical environment, news and media organisations need to stay aware of – in both the shorter and longer terms – ideological propaganda and how it may disseminate into their news coverage. We tackle this issue by studying the changing media landscape of news production and the architectural dynamics that influence the evolution of media organisations in response to such challenges. Our projects in this domain will involve active cooperation with both international news organisations and local media organisations, as well as think tanks and startups.

Interested in becoming affiliated with the group?

Visiting Professors (on sabbatical from their home institutions)

Please contact Professor Seeck directly, hannele.seeck@lut.fi

Postdoctoral Fellows

We are currently accepting Marie Curie post-doctoral fellows: https://marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu/actions/postdoctora…. If you are planning to apply, please contact the group during the application period.
If you are interested in becoming a longer-term postdoctoral fellow with external funding (such as the Academy of Finland funding) that you intend to apply for, please contact the group well in advance DPS-lab@lut.fi.
Visiting postdoctoral researchers, please contact DPS-lab@lut.fi
Note that you are expected to bring your own funding in full and your research needs to fit to key research interests of the group.

Doctoral Students

Potential Doctoral Researchers/PhD candidates: If you are interested in conducting PhD at LUT in Communication Sciences, Department of Social Sciences and in this research group, please contact us DPS-lab@lut.fi. Please note that the application period is continuous.
- However, please note that just during the past six months, the group has received over 160 applications from potential PhD students.
- For general PhD/doctoral studies related information please see: https://www.lut.fi/en/research/doctoral-school/doctoral-programme-engin… (then select social sciences).
Visiting doctoral students: You may request a visitor position in our research group, but please note that due to limited supervision resources, we seldom take on visiting PhD students to the group.