The Doctrine of Information Security of Ukraine states that the national interests of Ukraine in the information sphere include the vital interests of an individual, as well as society and the state. Therefore, protection from destructive aggressive information and psychological influences and destructive propaganda is an important interest of the state.
Each of us experiences emotional swings every day. The society swings from firm confidence in its abilities to despair and disbelief, and so on and so forth. The entire experience of recent history has shown that information can become a source of political and social threats. Simply put, the situation should always be assessed objectively. And having assessed it, act to improve it, based on legal norms and laws.
Legal principles. Young scientists of Kyiv Polytechnic joined the study of the legal framework for ensuring information security in society. In particular, Oksana Samchynska, a PhD student at the Department of Information, Economic and Administrative Law of the FSP, is researching the legal basis for protecting the vital interests of a person, society and the state from negative information and psychological influence. "Ukraine has been the target of special information and psychological operations by the aggressor country for more than 10 years," she says, "so the formation of an effective system of countering and preventing disinformation is one of the priorities of our state.
In general, the task is not easy. The difficulty of solving this problem is due to the fact that the fight against destructive information influences should not violate the constitutional rights and freedoms of citizens, including the right to freedom of speech and free expression. "This only emphasizes the importance of developing an appropriate administrative and legal framework that will strike a balance between protecting national interests and security and guaranteeing fundamental human and civil rights," the researcher adds.
The path to KPI. O. Samchynska came to Kyiv Polytechnic 10 years ago. It was love at first sight, from the first meeting - a sense of "her" atmosphere and a whirlwind of emotions. "I clearly realized that I wanted to study here and only here," the graduate student recalls. In 2019, she earned a master's degree in law. And in 2020, she continued her work at Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute as a lecturer. "Since my first year of study, I have been interested in a detailed study of the theoretical foundations of jurisprudence," says Oksana Andriivna, "so I took an active part in various scientific and practical conferences where I presented my work on current legal issues.
Thus, her master's thesis was about the legal protection of Ukrainian citizens from information and psychological influence in modern conditions. Having realized the relevance and demand for research on this topic, she decided to continue her scientific search. In 2021, she entered graduate school and is working on her dissertation on "Administrative and Legal Support for Preventing the Negative Effects of Information Influence" under the guidance of Svitlana Bevz, Doctor of Law, Head of the Department of Information, Economic and Administrative Law. Moreover, her research interests include personal data protection and legal regulation of advertising and PR.
Achievements. To date, the results of the young scientist's research have been published in almost 20 scientific publications, 5 of which were published in professional publications of Ukraine of category "B".
Of course, teaching and research activities take a lot of time, but the researcher continues to study, improve her skills, and participate in various scientific and educational events. For example, in 2022, she completed a course in European Studies "Sustainable language education and media: bridging the gap between EU-Ukraine" taught under the European Commission's Erasmus+ grant program. Subsequently, based on the results of the competitive selection, she took part in the Privacy Academy educational camp organized by the Privacy HUB NGO and in the II All-Ukrainian competition of scientific works of higher education students and young scientists "Business and Human Rights in Ukraine: Problems and Solutions during the War and Post-War Recovery", preparing a paper on "Personal Data Protection as a Prerequisite for Effective Post-War Recovery". By the decision of the Organizing Committee and the Contest Committee, she was awarded an incentive award for successful scientific work and a diploma for successful scientific research.
In addition, in the fall of 2023, she completed a remote internship at the United Nations Information Service in Vienna as part of the Shadowing Program. Last year she was also awarded an academic scholarship from the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.
For the future. "During the classes, I set myself the task of not only conveying theoretical knowledge to students, but also developing practical skills in their application, critical thinking and independent research," the scholar says. "In addition, to engage higher education students in finding scientifically sound solutions to legal problems of ensuring the life and development of society and the state in the context of digital transformation, together with a colleague, I manage a student group of the scientific direction "Law in the Age of Digitalization. During the meetings, students of all specialties have the opportunity to discuss in-depth the issues of realization of information human rights, national policy in the field of information security and explore such phenomena as "disinformation", "destructive propaganda" and "manipulation".
I sincerely believe in the statement that a student is not a vessel to be filled with knowledge, but a torch to be lit. Therefore, in the future, we hope to attract and inspire even more students to participate in scientific activities."