Zoom registration: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_lSchlpTJT_CX2RPS8KTJkw

Lecture Description: The final lecture examines why academic freedom is a strategic target in AI-Enhanced Reflexive Control (AIRC) operations—and a cornerstone of democratic resilience. Using the Bulgarian case study, participants see how influence campaigns exploit institutional weaknesses: fragile rule of law, compromised media systems, low media literacy, and fragmented information spaces.   When academic freedom erodes, the conditions AIRC requires to succeed are already in place. This session presents actionable frameworks from GCRD–Sensika Disinformation Observatory civic renewal work, including contemplative leadership for managing polarization anxiety and narrative healing labs that rebuild democratic trust. Participants leave with strategies for identifying AIRC signatures, strengthening institutional cultures against manipulation, and defending the intellectual freedom that makes societies cognitively resilient.

Dr. Jacob Udo-Udo Jacob is Founding Executive Director of the Global Centre for Rehumanising Democracy (GCRD), where he leads initiatives including the Democracy Discourse Index, Disinformation Observatory, and civic renewal programs. His recent research on AI-Enhanced Reflexive Control, including analysis of Russia’s Pravda network in Bulgaria (co-authored with Georgi Angelov), reveals how artificial intelligence transforms Soviet-era psychological warfare into systematic manipulation of vulnerable democracies. His work spans peace journalism in conflict zones, communication for social change with UNICEF and the UN, and globally connected pedagogy linking students across continents. A scholar and a Benedictine Spiritual Director, Dr. Jacob brings both technical expertise and personal urgency to questions of democracy’s survival and education’s role in defending democracy.