Clemson University in South Carolina has announced a $3.8 million grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation in support of research and education programs at the school’s Media Forensics Hub to combat online disinformation.

The grant will be matched by the university for an investment totaling $7.6 million over four years in support of the Hub, an interdisciplinary team of researchers working to study disinformation online and develop tools that help people recognize it and stop its spread. The funding will enable the Hub to hire four additional faculty in different disciplines—psychology, communication, marketing, and computer science—to bring unique perspectives and expertise to the issue. In addition, the grant will fund graduate assistants and postdoctoral researchers as well as technology infrastructure enhancements.

“I think the world is still getting used to functioning in a digital space,” said Clemson associate professor of communication Darren Linvill. “Bad actors are taking advantage of people who aren’t digital natives, who didn’t grow up using computers....This funding is going to allow us to significantly expand our capacity, to move our work into new disciplines, to build greater expertise here at Clemson and in this field as we teach the next generation of scholars and practitioners studying disinformation.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Denis Tangney, Jr.)