GATE Institute’s Information Environments Analysis team will host its First Annual Workshop, From Analysis to Action, on 20 October 2026, from 09:40 to 17:25.

The event will bring together researchers, journalists, technology specialists, educators, civil society practitioners and institutional representatives to examine Bulgaria’s information environment and explore how evidence can inform practical responses.

Designed as a connected scientific exchange rather than a series of standalone presentations, the workshop will move from identifying vulnerabilities to examining analytical methods, manipulation techniques, media-literacy approaches and governance. Through moderated discussions, research contributions and demonstrations, participants will compare evidence and experience, consider the limitations of different approaches, and identify shared questions and opportunities for further collaboration.

Language technology and social good

The workshop will open with a keynote by Prof. Ruslan Mitkov, titled With a Little Help from NLP: My Roadmap to Social Good. His talk will explore how natural language processing—technology for working with human language—can contribute to addressing societal challenges, providing a starting point for the discussions that follow.

The programme will then turn to Bulgaria’s local information ecosystems before exploring the role of artificial intelligence and large language models in disinformation analysis, the linguistic and cognitive techniques involved in manipulation, and practical approaches to media literacy. These include prebunking: helping audiences recognise misleading techniques before encountering them. The closing roundtable will connect the day’s discussions with questions of institutional responsibility, platform transparency and cooperation between sectors.

Throughout the day, the emphasis will be on what evidence supports, where important gaps remain, and how proposed tools and interventions can be assessed rather than simply assumed to work.

Programme

Time

Session

09:40–10:40

Opening keynote: With a Little Help from NLP: My Roadmap to Social Good

10:40–10:55

Coffee break

10:55–12:00

Track 1: The Vulnerability Audit — mapping Bulgaria’s local information ecosystems

12:00–13:00

Lunch and networking

13:00–14:00

Track 2: LLMs for Disinformation Analysis and Response

14:00–14:10

Short break

14:10–15:10

Track 3: The Manipulation Toolkit

15:10–15:25

Coffee break

15:25–16:25

Track 4: Prebunking and Media Literacy

16:30–17:25

Track 5: Regulating the Information Environment

Participation and registration

The workshop welcomes researchers and students; journalists, editors and fact-checkers; civil society organisations; educators and media-literacy practitioners; language-technology specialists; and institutional and policy stakeholders. It offers an opportunity to connect expertise across fields and consider what informed, collaborative action might look like next.

Date: 20 October 2026
Time: 09:40–17:25
Venue: GATE Institute, 5 James Bourchier Blvd, Lozenets, Sofia

Participation is subject to registration.

Register here!