Amplifying people, technology, and policy to defend democracies under pressure/fire.
The MIT Ukraine program is an international collaborative of researchers, practitioners, and institutions working together to strengthen democratic resilience, drawing from lessons learned in Ukraine. Through interdisciplinary research, technology development, and advocacy, we strive to amplify local capacities and global partnerships to address urgent challenges—from disinformation and humanitarian demining to infrastructure resilience and civil air defense—under conditions of conflict and systemic pressure.
Areas of Research & Engagement
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Participatory Democracy
This pillar strives to preserve the integrity of public discourse and democratic engagement in environments increasingly mediated through digital media and AI. It focuses on disinformation and knowledge manipulation research in the context of foreign information manipulations and interference (FIMI), and explores new technology primitives (e.g., decentralized social networks) that offer potential to safeguard human agency and community values.
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Civil Defense
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This pillar focuses on supporting projects that protect populations and essential services during emergencies. It covers supply chain security to ensure continuity of critical systems, air defense for safeguarding against aerial threats, and search and rescue operations to respond effectively to disasters. Together, these building blocks aim to support both national and community-level defense.
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Societal Resilience
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This pillar strives to facilitate the development of systems that can withstand and recover from crises. It emphasizes critical infrastructure such as energy and water systems, while promoting sustainable urban and regional redevelopment to adapt to environmental and social changes. Efforts include agricultural and land recovery for food security and ecological restoration.
How to participate?
STUDENTS
MIT: join an ongoing research project through UROP (apply now), IAP course, or MISITI program (apply now).
Non-MIT: join an ongoing research project to develop a thesis topic remotely or at one of our collaborating partner locations.
ORGANIZATIONS
Company/start-ups: consider sponsoring a research challenge in our year-round, winter, and summer programs
Research Institutions: reach out to us to identify common research interests and complementary expertise to scope a collaboration.
Contact: Svitlana Krasynka [svitkras@mit.edu]
People
As an interdisciplinary alliance, our team consists of on-campus faculty, students, and active collaborators drawn from a growing list of institutions:
