Jozef Michal Mintal

Hello.

I am an assistant professor in the Faculty of Political Science and International Relations at Matej Bel University, Co-Director and Co-Founder of the Institute for Democracy at UMB and the Data & Society Lab. My research centers around the role of information and communication technologies in political life, with a particular emphasis on the security aspects of digital media and the emerging socio-technical dynamics of the cyberspace domain.

In addition to my involvement in various smaller projects, I am currently co-coordinating the 1.5 million € Horizon Europe project BRRIDGE, which aims to strengthen research capacities in the field of democracy and policy and contribute to a deeper understanding of the current democratic disconnect that stems from changes in technologies, inequalities, culture and governance.

In my work, I strive to cross disciplinary boundaries as well as work together with people across sectors to create meaningful and impactful change for the benefit of society — for my work I was named on the Forbes’ 30 under 30 list.

Education and Experience

I graduated from Matej Bel University and King’s College London, and hold an IBM-funded PhD (with distinction) in International Relations. In addition to my graduate degree education, I completed further research training in political methodology at Harvard University.

My academic experience, in addition to my current appointments at UMB, includes a past appointment at Central European University, where I was a CMDS fellow at the Center for Media, Data and Society. Additionally, I have also held visiting professorships at UBS’s Faculty of Sciences and Engineering in France and ZYU in China, as well as a visiting graduate student fellowship at the University of Vienna. I am a member of multiple professional associations including the International Studies Association in which I previously served as an at-large member of the STAIR executive committee. In 2023, I became an affiliate of the Technological Change and Society Cluster at the European University Institute and Regional Manager for Central Europe at the Digital Society Project. My work has been supported by IBM, the European Union (Horizon Europe), and Open Society Foundations, among others. I have consulted for several international and national organizations including Meta Platforms Inc., the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of Slovakia, and the Ministry of Defense of Slovakia. My research has been cited by the European Parliament, and featured in national and european media.

Prior to academia, I worked in various NGOs in the fields of foreign and security policy, and innovation. My NGO journey started in the Euro-Atlantic Center (EAC), a student-led non-governmental organization. Later, I co-founded the Central European Start-up Center, an NGO that was dedicated to the support and development of innovative business ideas in the regions of Slovakia. Besides my non-governmental experience I also had a half year stint at the Slovak Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, where I worked in the Department for Horizontal Coordination as a Liaison officer for the UK.

Grants

This section is a work in progress, so please bear with me as I upload content.

Development of a feasibility study for the implementation of the new civil protection system of the Slovak Republic

Conducting a feasibility study, including a proposal and implementation plan, for the establishment of a new civil protection system for the Slovak Republic. The study will be based on best practices from selected civil protection and crisis management systems, with a focus on the role of the armed forces.

Possibilities of cognitive analysis of security threats on social networking services

COVID disinformation and their negative impact on ability to prevent the pandemic

The project aims to address the growing issue of mis/disinformation, particularly related to COVID-19, by raising awareness and proposing prevention strategies. The project also emphasizes the impact of behavioral biases on the dissemination of disinformation and highlights the importance of media consumption patterns in preventing its spread, especially in vulnerable groups and V4 countries.

BRRIDGE

BRRIDGE aims to build research excellence in the domain of democracy and policy at UMB, while generating knowledge that contributes to the quality of democracy in Slovakia and in Europe as a whole.

Cognitive Analytics for Real World Security Threats

The Business of Misinformation

The Business of Misinformation project at CMDS at Central European University aims at mapping the companies and individuals owning, controlling or running mis/disinformation websites. Such a map, presenting the ownership, sources of funding and links with other entities, will help understand the scope of the problem and the actual power fueling dis/misinformation online.

Fakespotting

The goal of Fakespotting is to provide advanced digital literacy skills to higher education students, teachers, unemployed adults, and adult education organizations. The project comprises four outputs, which include a web-based learning tool, a toolkit, a guideline, and a digital assessment tool designed to evaluate students’ ability to identify misinformation.

Featured Publications

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Jozef Michal Mintal, Anna Macko, Marko Paľa, Františka Pirosková, Pavlo Yakubets, Jaroslav Ušiak, Karol Fabián (2022). Examining the Tech Stacks of Czech and Slovak Untrustworthy Websites. In Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies.

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Jozef Michal Mintal, Michal Kalman, Karol Fabián (2021). Hide and Seek in Slovakia: Utilizing Tracking Code Data to Uncover Untrustworthy Website Networks. In Lecture Notes in Computer Science.

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Jozef Michal Mintal, Róbert Vancel (2019). (Un)Trendy Japan: Twitter bots and the 2017 Japanese general election. In Politics in Central Europe.

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Jozef Michal Mintal (2019). Slovakia: Snake Oil Spills Onto the Web. Report. Center for Media, Data and Society at Central European University.

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