As the VIGILANT project approaches the end, its results reflect three years of concentrated efforts of top experts on state-of-the-art technologies, and targeted engagement to help the Police Authorities monitor, analyse and investigate disinformation and other forms of harmful content leading to criminal activities. Here are its key achievements:
Strategic engagement
The project partners organised 11 closed, invitation-only workshops and networking events designed to engage law enforcement authorities, decision-makers and domain experts. These included a session at the GLOBSEC 2023 Forum: “Countering Illegal Disinformation”, a presentation of the VIGILANT Platform Minimum Viable Prototype at the GLOBSEC Prague Forum 2024, and online expert workshops.
To expand outreach and enhance the platform’s relevance, the project consortium members participated in 17 roundtables with expert communities across Europe and beyond, at presented at more than 20 security-focused conferences. Highlights include presentations to Irish Government officials and NATO personnel; sessions with the Ministry of Justice and Security of the Netherlands, the Europol Innovation Lab, and the European Civil Security Research Community; and expert workshops at the Arctic University of Norway and the European Digital Media Observatory.
The project’s White Paper on Data Access, published in May 2025, was presented at 5 events, including to three Members of the European Parliament. It identified structural barriers to data access for researchers and civil society, contributing to policy discussions around the Delegated Act on Data Access and the European Democracy Shield.
Collaboration with police authorities and law enforcement
VIGILANT worked closely with law enforcement and police authorities (PAs) throughout its lifecycle. Two police forces – Valencia Local Police and the Portuguese Public Security Police – officially joined the Community of Early Adopters (CoEA).
Thirteen police authorities are actively participating in the project by engaging in events and participating at workshops with a view to joining the CoEA once the VIGILANT tool is completed – these are the PAs from Austria, Belgium, Czechia, France, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Malta, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Poland, Scotland, and Slovenia.
In the last months of the project, we published a manual on Understanding and Countering Disinformation and delivered 4 trainings for police authorities using them.
Media, publications and visibility
The project was featured in seven industry articles and long-form pieces, including in The Irish Times. We also published a joint article with FERMI on protecting elections from disinformation.
VIGILANT was mentioned and referenced by key European Union institutions – the Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs (DG HOME) wrote about the project in an article referencing the joined article with FERMI and in its newsletter; and the European Research Executive Agency (REA) in its Science for Democracy newsletter. We were also represented in a Community Research and Development Information Service (CORDIS) podcast titled "Meeting the challenges of cyber disinformation."
Academic highlights
VIGILANT made a significant contribution to the academic community, being presented in at least 20 conferences and seminars across the world.
In total, 26 academic papers were published or submitted as part of the project. Topics covered multilingual disinformation detection, synthetic content analysis, and ethical challenges in AI.
VIGILANT researchers were also regular participants in CERIS (Community for European Research and Innovation for Security) events, helping to strengthen connections with other EU researchers and innovators.
Sustainability and partnerships
To support long-term exploitation, the project held meetings with policymakers and decision-makers from Canada, Czechia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Sweden, and the United States, as well as from the European Commission and European Parliament.
VIGILANT partnered with seven Horizon Europe projects – CEASEFIRE, TRANSCEND, EU-HYBNET, REGROUP, GEMS, FERMI, CYCLOPES – and joined the Hybrid Threats Cluster to coordinate with five additional projects.
With project activities wrapping up, final engagement with institutions and end users is ongoing – including a follow-up roundtable on the European Democracy Shield, scheduled for November 2025 to continue the dialogue on data access and hybrid threat response.
You can find more information about VIGILANT in this video and on the project website.