At the closing ceremony of DisInfoHack 2026, held at the GATE Institute of Sofia University on Monday, Prof. Georgi Valchev, the university’s rector, emphasized the necessity for young individuals to cultivate strong critical thinking skills. He stated that these abilities are crucial for distinguishing verifiable information from misleading or manipulated content in the contemporary media landscape.
According to the rector, initiatives like DisInfoHack play a vital role in narrowing the gap between established facts and disinformation. Valchev urged the youth to prepare for the complexities of the modern world by taking an active role in constructing a sustainable information ecosystem. He cautioned that the challenge extends beyond outright falsehoods, noting that even seemingly reliable information can sometimes be co-opted and utilized as disinformation.
DisInfoHack itself is an initiative stemming from the three-year project, Countering Disinformation Environment (Ecosystem) in Bulgaria (CoDE). The project aims to strengthen information resilience through rigorous scientific methodologies. The execution of this program involves Sofia University, specifically through the GATE Institute, the European Studies Department of the Faculty of Philosophy, and the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
These efforts are conducted in collaboration with the Institute of Information and Communication Technologies at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and the European Software Institute. The event underscored the academic commitment of the university to combating the challenges of information integrity.
Topics: #university #rector #critical
Critical thinking skills seem more vital now than ever in today’s complex information environment.