GEIS 2025: A Year of Growth and Impact in Election Security Research
As 2025 draws to a close, GEIS is proud to look back on its inaugural year. Launched with a mission to protect democratic systems and foster high-quality information ecosystems, GEIS has worked to established itself as a hub for junior faculty and early-career researchers in the DMV area.
In our first year, we have moved from a concept to a collaborative network, delivering tangible results in scholarly publication, community building, and grant funding.
2025 Impact by the Numbers
Our first year was focused on establishing a foundation, but the output has been significant. Here is a snapshot of GEIS’s impact in 2025:
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14 Members: We grew our core cohort to 14 active members across 4 institutions (UMD, Georgetown, GWU, and American University).
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15+ Publications: Members collectively published over 15 articles, 12 of which attribute GEIS support.
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4 Academic Workshops: We organized major gatherings, including a GEIS Workshop at WebSci 2025 and the NLP4Democracy Workshop at COLM 2025.
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4 Grant Proposals: Our collaborative environment fostered the authoring of four proposals, securing funding for initiatives like the “Rooster Recognition Project” and the Maryland Democracy Initiative extension.
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7 Social Events: We hosted seven monthly happy hours to facilitate organic collaboration and support.
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4 Research Groups: We established four active project groups tackling issues from the TikTok ban to AI chatbots in elections.
Advancing Research & Collaboration
GEIS is exploring space where “new and crazy ideas” could find traction. This year, that philosophy translated into high-impact research. Our members published work on critical topics, including:
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Platform De-platforming: Investigating the impact of the TikTok ban and “alt-tech” migration.
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AI in Democracy: Studies like the VIOLETS project, which explores using AI chatbots to enhance perceptions of election integrity.
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Online Harassment: Analyzing trolling, sadism, and misogynistic targeting of women in power.
Building a Community of Scholars
Beyond the metrics, GEIS’s greatest success in 2025 has been the creation of a supportive local community. We provided a “landing place” for new faculty joining universities in the region, offering them immediate access to shared data, expertise, and social support. Through our “expertise-sharing seminars” and a new peer-review network on Slack, we are ensuring that researchers don’t just work in silos but benefit from the collective knowledge of the group.
Looking Ahead
With a successful foundation laid, GEIS is ready for 2026. We plan to expand our engagement with state leadership in Annapolis, launch a public tech demo day for our student election-monitoring network, and continue our rigorous schedule of workshops and collaborative research.
Thank you to everyone who made 2025 a year of impactful science and community. Here’s to strengthening democracy together in the years to come.
