We are delighted by the enthusiastic response to our recent call for papers for the Engaging with Conspiracy Theories, Fostering Democracy conference we will hold on 9th & 10th April 2026 at Charles University in Prague.
With great pleasure, we can confirm the keynote speakers will be:
- Michael Butter (Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Germany): Conspiracy Theory and Democracy
- Karen Douglas (University of Kent, UK): The psychology of conspiracy theories
- Eva Hausteiner (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität, Germany): Too bad: On the affinity between dystopianism and conspiracism
- Andreas Önnefors (Fojo Media Institute, Sweden): ‘ To see is to believe’: the visual communication of conspiracy ideation
Furthermore, we can now reveal the complete list of abstracts which will be presented during the conference:
- Decolonizing Epistemic Injustice: Conspiracy Theories, Vernacular Geopolitics, and the Weaponization of the North/South Divide in the Gaza War. Fatima Ezzahra Abi (Mohammed V University, Rabat, Morocco)
- Conspiracy Regimes: A Comparative Study of the Correlates of Conspiracy Beliefs Across Europe. Marta Antonova (University of Bern, Switzerland)
- Conspiratorial Reasoning and Narrative Closure in Everyday Explanations of Crime. Aaron Bielejewski (Center for Criminological Research Saxony, Germany)
- Conspiracy Narratives as a Type of Social Myth. Radek Chlup (Charles University, Prague, Czechia)
- First Results from Comparative Analysis: Factors Inhibiting and Promoting Conspiracism Across Europe. Stefan Christoph (Universität Passau, Germany)
- Motivation, positionality, and recommendations in the accounts of truth-defenders in Bulgaria. Shaban Darakchi (Slovak Academy of Sciences/Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Slovakia – Bulgaria)
- The Democratic Cost of Conspiracy Thinking: Evidence for a Conspiracy-Juror Bias. Iwan Dinnick, Daniel Jolley, Lee Curley (University of Nottingham, Glasgow Caledonian University, UK)
- Manipulating Conspiracy Traits: Identifying the Most Democratically Harmful Components of Conspiratorial Narratives. Carol Galais, Marc Guinjoan and Alejandro Fernández (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain)
- Conspiracy Theories in Immediate Social Environments – Effects on Partnership, Parenthood and Friendship. Georg Gläser and Gudrun Hentges (University of Cologne, Germany)
- Dealing With Distrust: How the Mainstream Media Respond to Conspiracy Theories. Jaron Harambam (University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
- Who (still) laughs at conspiracy theorists? Katerina Hatzikidi (University of Tübingen, Germany)
- Democracy Between Resilience and Self-efficacy – Conspiracist Ideologies as a Challenge to Political Education. Oliver Hidalgo – Stefan Christoph (Universität Passau, Germany)
- From Rumour to Vernacular Mythology: Comparison of Typology of Conspiracy Theories by Ethnology and Political Science. Petr Janeček (Charles University, Prague, Czechia)
- An echo-chamber of conspiracies: how users of Slovak Telegram communicated Covid-19 and Russo-Ukraine war. Lukáš Janovič (Masaryk University, Brno, Czechia)
- Can Contact Improve Police–Citizen Relations? Effects on Police Conspiracy Beliefs and Violence Toward the Police. Daniel Jolley, Matthew King-Parker, Christina Conolly, Eleanor Farmer, and Martha Seeney (University of Nottingham, University of Lincoln, UK)
- Instruments available to democratic states for combating disinformation in the public sphere in the age of artificial intelligence. Tomáš Kolomazník (Metropolitan University Prague, Czechia)
- Understanding Police Distrust: The Impact of Conspiracy Mentality and Belief in a Dangerous World. Aileen Krumma (Center for Criminological Research Saxony, Germany)
- The role of women in conspiracy narratives and corresponding movements according to worldwide research findings – A systematic review. Elisabeth Faria Lopes, Dr. Lisa Tölle, Georg Gläser, Dr. Franka Metzner (University of Cologne, Germany)
- “Do I Believe?”: Three Aspects of “Belief” in Conspiracy Theories. Abraham Maurer and Matyáš Lednický (Charles University, Prague, Czechia)
- Ichor (ΙΧΩΡ): Myth, Blood, and the Making of Conspiratorial Nationalistic theories in Contemporary Greece. Aphrodite- Lidia Nounanaki (Academy of Athens, Greece)
- Fragile semi-peripheries: From Suitcase Science to Suitcase Conspiracy Theories. Andrzej W. Nowak (Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland)
- Climate controversy and the politics of meaning: The cultural work behind climate counternarratives. Lara de Poorter (University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
- Demography-Based Conspiracy Narratives and the Politics of Distrust in Authoritarian Russia. Andrei Prudnikov (University of Lisbon, Portugal)
- Liberation through Conspiracy. Conspiracy Thinking and the Disdain for Democracy in East Germany and in Ourselves. Falk Rößler (Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany)
- Conspirituality – Conspireligion? Entanglements Between Conspiracy Belief, Religiosity, and Esotericism. Verena Schneider (Leipzig University, Germany)
- The State of the Art in countering Conspiracies: proven and potential Pathways. Sebastian Schwarzweller (University of Passau, Germany)
- Using explainable AI to manipulate the results of text-based fake news detection LLMs. Sevastian Shakin (University of Applied Sciences Regensburg, Germany)
- Cultural Narratives, Identity and Power. Conspiracy Theories and Gender. Gonzalo Soltero (National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico)
- (Un)Intended Effects: The Consequences of Dutch Disinformation Interventions. Emma van der Tak (University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
- From Distrust to Community: Legitimacy, Skepticism, and Ritual in Conspiracy Theory Networks. Nik Turšič and Natalija Tanić (University of Ljubljana, Slovenia)
- Socio-Cultural Practices of Countering Conspiracy Theories in Germany: Structures, Aims and Current Challenges in Times of Far-Right Normalization Processes. Angelina Uhl (Lund University, Sweden)
- From Fake News to Conspiracy Narratives: Digital Disinformation and the Strain on Democratic Resilience. Ann-Katrin Voit (FOM University for Applied Science, Essen, Germany)
- From Ideology to Imitation: The “Great Replacement” Narrative and the Transnational Fandom of Right-Wing Terrorism. Kristin Weber (Center for Criminological Research Saxony, Germany)
- Childhood adversity, COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs and the authoritarian syndrome: Modelling pathways to radicalization and right-wing extremism in Austria. Alexander Yendell and Michelle C. Schweitzer (Leipzig University, Germany)
- PANEL PROPOSAL: Elements of Pseudo-Science and Conspiracy Theories within Identity Politics and Theories. This panel will address the question of whether there are grounds for viewing identity politics and the theories that underpin them as at least partly pseudo-scientific and/or conspiratorial, or whether such allegations can be refuted. The first part of the discussion will cover the criteria for categorising a theory as pseudoscience or a conspiracy theory. Subsequent parts will examine whether different forms of identity politics and their underlying theories fulfil these criteria. All participants of this panel are members of the “Gesellschaft für kritische Bildung” (Society for Critical Education).
- Criteria for Pseudo-Science and Conspiracy Theories within the Social Sciences. Jan Eufinger (Fern Universität in Hagen, Germany)
- The discourse on abolitionism as an example for pseudo-science. Thomas Land (Max Weber Kolleg Erfurt, Germany)
- Intersectional social theory and conspiracy thinking. Robin Forstenhäusler (Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, Germany)
The full text of the abstracts is available here.
The members of the scientific committee of the conference are:
- Stefan Christoph (Universität Passau, Germany)
- Hannes Birnkammerer (Universität Passau, Germany)
- Patrick Urlbauer (Universität Passau, Germany)
- Oliver Hidalgo (Universität Passau, Germany)
- Carol Galais (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain)
- Kristína Šefčíková (PSSI, Czechia)
- Petr Janeček (Univerzita Karlova, Czechia)
- Leonardo Schiocchet (Univerzita Karlova, Czechia)
We are very much looking forward to what promises to be a highly interesting and thought-provoking two days!
Further information, including programme and registration details, will follow.
