Climate Mis/Disinformation Workshop

Event Overview

Join us on Friday, January 31, 2025, for a virtual workshop addressing the urgent issue of climate mis/disinformation. This dynamic two-part event will bring together experts, practitioners, and stakeholders from diverse fields to explore actionable tools and strategies for combating false narratives, fostering trust in climate communication, and supporting informed climate action.

The workshop will provide a collaborative platform for participants to share research, perspectives, and experiences relevant to the Canadian context and work together to identify tools, strategies, frameworks, and initiatives that have been successful or show promise in addressing mis/disinformation. Moderated by the Centre for Information Integrity (CII) climate associate Andrew Heffernan, the event will draw on insights from his most recent paper examining the current state of climate mis/disinformation in Canada, offering a foundational perspective for discussions.

This workshop also serves as a key step in the lead-up to the Centre for Information Integrity's (CII) 2025 Climate Mis/Disinformation Summit, helping to shape its themes and priorities.

Schedule

About the Moderator

About the Panelists

Andrew Heffernan

Andrew Heffernan holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Ottawa where he is a part-time professor specializing in International Relations and comparative politics. He is also an Associate at the Centre for Information Integrity (CII), as well as a Postdoctoral Fellow with the Digital Policy Hub at the Centre for International Governance Innovation. His major research interests include climate disinformation, African politics, global environmental governance, community-based conservation, and the politics of food. Andrew is active in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning which he is continuously publishing on, presenting on at academic conferences, as well as implementing in his teaching in university classes. He has published with Palgrave MacMillan Environmental Management, Development Review, the Journal of Southern African Studies, Sport in Society, Canadian Journal of Political Science, and International Studies among others. Andrew is also Chair of the African Studies Association’s Emerging Scholar Network.

Chris Russill

Dr. Chris Russill is an Associate Professor in the School of Journalism and Communication and Academic Director at Re.Climate, a centre for climate communication and public engagement, both housed at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada. His current work focuses on problems of disinformation and denial in their relevance to climate action. Chris co-edited Critical Approaches to Climate Change and Civic Action with Anabela Carvalho and Julie Doyle, a collection exploring conceptual invention in public forms of climate action. He is an Associate Editor at Science and Environmental Communication and serves on the boards of Environmental Communication, Palgrave Studies in Media and Environmental Communication, and Communication Undisciplined

Sherilee Harper

Dr. Harper is a Canada Research Chair in Climate Change and Health and her research investigates associations between weather, environment, and health equity in the context of climate change, and she collaborates with partners across sectors to prioritise climate-related health actions, planning, interventions, and research. She was a Lead Author on two Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports; served on the Gender Task Group for the IPCC; was a Lead Author on Health Canada’s 2022 Climate Change and Health Assessment; and Co-chaired the Government of Canada’s Health and Wellbeing Advisory Table for the National Adaptation Strategy. She is currently an IPCC Vice Chair (WGI).

Marie-Eve Carignan

Dr. Marie-Eve Carignan is a full professor in the Department of Communication in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at the Université de Sherbrooke. Her research focuses mainly on media content analysis, the impact of media on society, misinformation, risk and crisis communication, and communication strategies. She is also Director of the Media Center and co-holder of the UNESCO Chair in the Prevention of Violent Radicalization and Extremism.

Gareth Gransaull

Gareth Gransaull is the Co-Executive Director of re•generation, a youth climate advocacy organization focused on accelerating the clean economy, as well as a researcher with the Institute for Integrated Energy Systems at the University of Victoria. His published scholarship explores the intersection of climate policy and the political economy of the energy transition, and he has professional experience in clean energy and urban ecology. He has degrees from Western University and the Richard Ivey School of Business.

Michael Khoo

Michael Khoo is co-founder of UpShift Strategies, a strategic communications firm focused on a diversity of issues, including: climate disinformation, plastic pollution, and transhealth rights. He is co-chair of the Climate Action Against Disinformation Coalition at Friends of the Earth.

With Friends of the Earth, Khoo pioneered its climate disinformation campaign in 2018, and built a 50+ organization coalition to advocate for technology policies to rein in big tech. He has published research on the intersection of climate denial and QAnon, documented the spread of climate disinformation on Facebook, and on Twitter at COP27, and written about transparency policies for social media companies and the regulation of Artificial Intelligence.

Over 2021-2022, these campaigns successfully pressured Twitter and Google to announce policies to demonetize climate disinformation, and helped Pinterest develop its climate disinformation policy which was cited by President Obama as “a good example about how social media companies can respond to disinformation when they want to”.

Originally from Canada and of Malaysian & British descent, Michael lives in Washington, D.C.

Heidi Tworek

Dr. Heidi Tworek is Canada Research Chair and Professor at University of British Columbia, Vancouver. She directs the Centre for the Study of Democratic Institutions; one of the Centre’s current projects examines municipal climate misinformation in Canada. Tworek has published widely on the history and policy of communications; she has advised governments around the world about online safety, disinformation, and the digital economy. She is a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation.

Sonja Solomun

Sonja Solomun is an Assistant Professor (Research) at the Max Bell School of Public Policy, McGill University, and Deputy Director of the Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy. Her work focuses on platform governance, climate justice, and the environmental impact of digital platforms. She holds multiple fellowships and affiliations with leading organizations including the Center for Democracy & Technology, Data & Society, and the Climate Social Science Network (CSSN) at Brown University.

Anatoliy Gruzd

Dr. Anatoliy Gruzd is a Professor at the Ted Rogers School of Management and the Director of Research at the Social Media Lab at Toronto Metropolitan University. As a computational social science researcher, he investigates how social media transforms how people and organizations communicate, collaborate, and share information and misinformation. His expertise lies in studying online communities and social networks and in developing new computational methods and tools to analyze public discourse across various domains. Most recently, he has been examining the spread of pro-Kremlin narratives, propaganda and disinformation related to the Russia-Ukraine war. Anatoliy's innovative approach to studying social media has led him to be named a Canada Research Chair in 2015 and inducted into the Royal Society of Canada College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists in 2017.

Why Participate?

• Engage with researchers, policymakers, and community leaders in a collaborative space designed to exchange ideas and strengthen networks.
• Identify/share tools and approaches for addressing false narratives and fostering trust in climate communication.
• Play a key role in shaping the the Centre for Information Integrity's (CII) 2025 Climate Mis/Disinformation Summit by helping define its themes and priorities through your contributions.