Hanna Denecke is a junior research fellow at the Brandenburg Institute for Society and Security in Potsdam since October 2020 and currently responsible for the project AIRCIS – Artificial Intelligence in Rescue Chains. Previously, she was involved in the projects fit4sec ("Building European Consortia for Security Research") and CyberFactory#1 (Key Capabilities for the Factory of the Future), as well as in the preparation of a report on "Lessons Learnt: Reallabor Corona - national experiences with early warning systems in the current pandemic crisis" for the Office of Technology Assessment at the German Bundestag (TAB). 
Hanna Denecke completed her MA in Security and Terrorism at the University of Kent in England. For her BA she studied International Studies with a focus on the Middle East and North Africa at Leiden University in the Netherlands. Her research interests focus on disinformation, radicalisation and extremism.

Policy Project: Don’t Spread the Message – Developing approaches to counter disinformation among (older) adults

Over the past decade, researchers, practitioners and educators have developed a number of programmes and gamified trainings, which aim to increase resilience to disinformation. The vast majority of these specifically target teenagers and young adults as the primary risk group. Even though older generations spend overall less time on social media, they remain vulnerable to online disinformation. Facebook, YouTube and WhatsApp are popular among older generations and at the same time frequent sources of dis- and misinformation. Low digital skills can further amplify the problem. It is therefore necessary to increase both digital as well as media literacy skills across all generations. Yet, simply rebranding existing trainings for older adults may not be effective as preferred learning methods are likely to differ across age groups. In addition, whereas educators can reach children and through programmes at schools or universities, alternative approaches are necessary for adults.