Eduard Sviridenko: Decoding Propaganda, Defending Truth

*This article is published on Western Fims Website (Comms profile)

Eduard's hometown: Nizhny Tagil, Russia

Media Studies PhD candidate Eduard Sviridenko studies how Russian propaganda shapes public perception.

Eduard Sviridenko has always been fascinated by the power of language.

Yet, it wasn’t until he started researching Russian government propaganda for his PhD that he fully realized how deeply media can shape public perception, especially in suppressing dissent.

Originally from Russia, Eduard earned his bachelor’s degree in Linguistics with straight-A grades at Kazan Federal University in Kazan. In 2016, he moved to Canada to further his studies, completing his master’s degree in Linguistics at Western University.

Throughout his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, he published several academic papers, initially focusing on discourse analysis, which examines the interplay between languages and communication. However, his research has since evolved from language alone to language as a tool within the media landscape.

As his academic interests shifted, Eduard enrolled in the Media Studies PhD program offered by the Faculty of Information and Media Studies (FIMS) at Western University in 2021. Two years later, his research proposal on Russian propaganda earned him a prestigious Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) fellowship.

While narrowing his research focus during the first year of his doctoral program, Eduard witnessed Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. He saw, in real time, how disinformation was being spread to justify the war. “This is propaganda, and this is disseminated through media,” says Eduard.

However, his decision to study Russian propaganda wasn’t immediate. Initially, Eduard hesitated, fearing he might be exploiting a tragedy for academic gain. In fact, it took him about six months to come to terms with his role in this research.

Now, Eduard is fully committed to understanding and exposing the mechanics of state-sponsored propaganda. “You either do nothing or you do something to fight it,” he says. “And I chose the latter.”

Supervised by Professor Daniel Robinson, Eduard’s research takes a holistic approach, analyzing Russian propaganda across social media, television, entertainment, educational materials, and more. His goal is to deepen people’s understanding of how Russian government propaganda is constructed and maintained and to explore effective strategies to counter it. Ultimately, he hopes his work will contribute to broader efforts to defend democracy, both within Russia and internationally.

Eduard’s favourite part of the program is its flexibility, which allows him to conduct research at his own pace while staying on track with milestone timelines. FIMS also provides him with all the resources and support he needs to do this research.

Beyond his PhD, Eduard plays an active role in supporting students at Western. As a writing advisor and teaching assistant, he enjoys learning from other students’ research topics and their unique approaches to academic writing.

Looking ahead, he hopes to work in government or international organizations, using his expertise to combat propaganda and misinformation on a larger scale.

As someone who has grown throughout his academic journey at Western, Eduard offers this advice: “Be ambitious and never settle. There’s always something you can do to improve yourself and the world around you.”

His thesis, “War of Words and Worlds: Russian Propaganda in the Ukrainian Conflict,” is set for completion in 2026.