On Tuesday, December 16, 2025, a workshop was held at the Health Informatics Laboratory of the Department of Nursing at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA), in which the preliminary results of the CIVIS European University OpenLab ‘Combating Health Misinformation’ were presented to undergraduate students of the Hellenic Military Nursing Academy (HMNA). The project is carried out as a collaboration between the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA), the Sapienza University of Rome, and the University of Bucharest.
The research team, represented by Dr. Emmanouil Zoulias (Laboratory Teaching Staff at the Health Informatics Laboratory) and PhD candidate Marianna Isaakidou, presented the deliverable entitled: “Combating Health Misinformation: A Systematic Literature Review on Key Trends, Gaps, and Challenges in the study of Misinformation” which is a systematic literature review in the field of health misinformation. The results were presented in a research paper entitled “Sick and Seeking: Vulnerability in the Age of Misinformation”, which investigates how vulnerable or not certain individuals are to health misinformation.
The workshop offered students the opportunity to engage in the process of literature review on health misinformation and to search for articles in relevant bibliographic databases (e.g. PubMed, Scopus) using appropriate keywords. In addition, students analyzed how health misinformation feeds broader manipulation and discussed ways to effectively communicate scientific knowledge to the wider public/citizens.
Furthermore, students actively contributed to the discussion, exploring the connections between misinformation, social vulnerability and trust in authorities. During the workshop, students gained insights into how health misinformation mainly affects vulnerable groups, people with anxiety or those facing insecurity, which, in turn, can lead to misguided health decisions. To this end, students identified social media, digital media and digital platforms as the primary sources for rapid and easy dissemination of misinformation. The workshop concluded with student-led proposals for implementing public policies and interventions to combat health misinformation. More specifically, students suggested: a) designing of interventions by healthcare professionals, b) creating new research pathways, and c) fostering ongoing dialogue between academia and society. Moreover, they highlighted the role of nurses as the primary point of contact between the health system and citizens.