Our Experts

Experts displayed by Issue: Election Disinformation

Sasha Havlicek

Co-Founder and CEO

Sasha Havlicek is Co-Founder and CEO of ISD, having spearheaded ISD’s pioneering research and data analysis, digital education, policy advisory, training, tech and communications programmes.

Moustafa Ayad

Executive Director; Africa, the Middle East and Asia (AMEA)

Moustafa Ayad is Executive Director at ISD for Africa, the Middle East and Asia (AMEA).

Jiore Craig

Resident Senior Fellow, Digital Integrity

Jiore Craig, a Resident Senior Fellow at ISD, has extensive experience in measuring the impact of influence campaigns on public opinion, and how to respond to the threat disinformation poses to democracy.

Jacob Davey

Head of Research & Policy, Far-right and Hate Movements

Jacob Davey is Head of Research & Policy for Far-right and Hate Movements at ISD.

Melanie Smith

Head of Research, ISD US

Melanie Smith is the Head of Research for ISD US. Based in Washington DC, she leads a team of analysts focused on detecting, exposing and mitigating the threats associated with online information operations. Melanie was previously the Director of Analysis at the network analytics firm Graphika, re-joining ISD in 2021 to expand the organization’s research portfolio in the US. Her recent work has focused on topics like state-backed influence campaigns, public health misinformation and election-related violence.

Francesca Arcostanzo

Digital Analysis Unit Lead

Francesca Arcostanzo is the Lead of the Digital Analysis Unit at ISD, working to ensure our research methods, tools and approaches in the digital analysis space remain consistent and innovative.

Jared Holt

Senior Research Manager

Jared Holt is a Senior Research Manager overseeing ISD’s work on hate and extremist movements in the US. He draws on his experience as an investigative reporter to help explain extremism's influence on politics, safety and democracy.

Katherine Keneally

Senior Research Manager

Senior Research Manager Katherine Keneally has extensive experience conducting open-source investigations and research related to extremism and hate across the ideological spectrum, with an emphasis on identifying threats online.

Ciarán O’Connor

Senior Analyst

Ciarán is a Senior Analyst at ISD that specialises in using open-source research to track and monitor disinformation and extremism online, with a particular focus on far-right activity and communication across open and closed networks and platforms.

Julia Smirnova

Senior Analyst

Julia Smirnova is a Senior Analyst at ISD and ISD Germany, focusing on proliferation of disinformation, conspiracy myths, hate speech and extremist ideologies online.