On September 24, IMI and its members hosted their annual event at EPFL that drew together researchers and media professionals, as well as anyone interested in the transformation of the media sector and the role of institutions, under the theme of “Helping media fight misinformation and restore the public’s trust”.

This event highlighted the results from our first call for projects on this very topic, presented by our fellow scientists and media experts. We also had the privilege of discussing this issue, alongside that of the current pandemic, with Paul-Olivier Dehaye, an internationally renowned Belgian mathematician and data protection expert.

Through such events, the IMI aims to be a forum for the exchange of ideas and knowledge, as well as the development of partnerships between the academic world and the media sector. Moreover, this is a rare opportunity to meet many experts and stakeholders active in this field within our region.

Thank you to all the speakers and attendees who contributed to the success of this event, in which approximately 110 people attended in person and 25 remotely.

Program

• 16h30: Registration
• 17h00: Welcome address – Prof. Yves Flückiger
  Rector of UNIGE and Chairman of the IMI Board as the Triangle Azur representative
• 17h10: Word from the Director – Mounir Krichane
  Director of the IMI
• 17h25: Interview & panel discussion – Paul-Olivier Dehaye
  Belgian mathematician and data protection expert
• 17h55: Presentation of IMI projects
  • Fake News, Audiences and Journalism – Prof. Nathalie Pignard-Cheynel (UniNE), Sébastien Salerno (UNIGE)
  • Media Observatory Initiative – Jérémie Rappaz (EPFL)
  • Scientific Expertise and Media Discourse – Agathe Chevalier (Universities of Western Switzerland – RTS)
  • Social network Architectures of Disinformation (#sad) – Benjamin Ricaud (EPFL)
  • Traceable Original Journalistic Content (TOJC) – Matthieu Delaloye (HES-SO Valais-Wallis), Sébastien Hersant (ESH Médias)
  • Trust Over Time – Nicolas Henchoz (EPFL), Prof. Daniel Gatica-Perez (Idiap Research Institute)
• 19h00: Demo of IMI projects, informal networking & cocktail reception
• 20h30: End of the event

Moderation: Nathalie Ducommun, Journalist and producer of the TV program “Mise au Point” at RTS

Special guest

Paul-Olivier Dehaye

Paul-Olivier is a Mathematician and the Founder of PersonalData.IO, a nonprofit organization based in Geneva that focuses on data protection with the aim of empowering the civil society to actively respond to threats to our personal data. He was a SNSF Assistant Professor at the University of Zurich until 2016, before becoming a data protection advocate and social entrepreneur. He conducted research for several widely circulated newspaper articles, including with journalist Carole Cadwalladr in exposing the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data scandal. This work also led him to appear in Netflix’s documentary The Great Hack and to testify before the British and European Parliaments. He is also a Board Member of MyData Global and the Founder of MyData Geneva, two nonprofit organizations promoting the ethical use of personal data.

paulolivier@personaldata.io | @podehaye

Profile

“Paul-Olivier Dehaye, le matheux ennemi de Facebook” (Le Temps)