MDPI Global Media & Information Literacy Week Webinar 2025
Meet Our Speakers
Dr. Sara Pereira
University of Minho, Portugal;
Dr. Sara Pereira is an Associate Professor with Habilitation at the Institute of Social Sciences, Department of Communication Sciences, and a researcher at the Communication and Society Research Centre, University of Minho, Portugal.
Her main areas of research include media literacy, the relationship between children and young people and the media, and their rights of expression and participation. She has coordinated national and European projects and is the author of several publications in these areas. She recently directed the project ‘bYOU - Study on children and young people's experiences and expressions of the media’, funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology. She is the author of the Media Education Reference Framework for Pre-school, Primary and Secondary Education of the Portuguese Ministry of Education. She coordinates the MILObs–Observatory on Media, Information and Literacy.
Mr. Abu Kamruzzaman
The City University of New York (CUNY), United States of America;
Dr. Abu Kamruzzaman is a researcher, practitioner, and educator specializing in Cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Data Science, Machine Learning, Quantum Computing, and Cloud Computing. He holds a PhD in Computer Science from Pace University, NY, where he conducted research on advanced Deep Learning methodologies. He served on the doctoral dissertation committees as well. With over two decades of experience in academia and IT leadership across CUNY campuses, Dr. Kamruzzaman has taught more than 40 computing courses and led enterprise-scale projects (specializing in Mobile applications, Enterprise applications, Web Applications, Databases, Business Intelligence, and Data Analytics both in Microsoft and Linux platforms), serving over 500,000 active users and 20 million historical users. He has published extensively in peer-reviewed journals and presented at international conferences on cybersecurity and AI discipline, with his multiple book contributions on cybersecurity discipline. Dr. Kamruzzaman also serves as a reviewer for IEEE and other scholarly publications.
Dr. Inês Amaral
University of Coimbra, Portugal;
Dr. Inês Amaral is an Associate Professor with a Habilitation in the Department of Philosophy, Communication and Information at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Coimbra. She is the coordinator of the PhD programme in Communication Sciences and a member of the coordinating committee for the PhD programme in Computational Media Design at III. She holds a PhD in Communication Sciences (specialising in Interactive Media) from the University of Minho and is a researcher at the Centre for Social Studies at the University of Coimbra. She is a member of the research team at Observatório Masculinidades.pt. She is a member of the CES Ethics Committee and the Editorial Board of the journal Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais. She has researched sociability in digital social networks, participation and social media, feminist media studies, masculinities, gender and media, media and digital literacy, technologies and active ageing, media audiences and consumption in the digital age, and disinformation.
Prof. Dr. Rashid Mehmood
Islamic University of Madinah, Saudi Arabia;
Prof. Dr. Rashid Mehmood is a Professor of High-Performance Data Analytics (HPDA) at the Islamic University of Madinah, Saudi Arabia, and directs the Centre for Technology Governance. He holds academic qualifications and professional experience from prestigious institutions, including the universities of Cambridge and Oxford. With nearly three decades of expertise in computational modeling and design, Rashid specializes in leveraging artificial intelligence, big data, high-performance computing (HPC), and distributed systems, with applications in smart cities and their various sectors. His interdisciplinary research aims to advance science and technology to improve quality of life and drive a smart economy. Rashid has an extensive publication record, with over 250 research papers and 11 edited books, and he has organized and chaired numerous international conferences and workshops across diverse fields. He has led and contributed to academia–industry collaborative projects with a combined funding value exceeding EUR 50 million, supported by organizations including EPSRC and the European Union.
Dr. Mathias-Felipe de-Lima-Santos
Macquarie University, Australia;
Dr. Mathias-Felipe de-Lima-Santos is a journalist, technologist, and researcher currently based in Australia. He has extensive international experience, having worked with organizations across Oceania, Europe, and Latin America. He is a Distinguished Researcher at Pompeu Fabra University, Spain, and an incoming Assistant Professor at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia. As a Senior Researcher with extensive experience in international projects on AI, media, and democracy, he has contributed to EU-funded initiatives such as AI4Media and JOLT, as well as projects with Google, Al Jazeera, Avaaz, ICFJ, and Internews. He has been recognized by The Australian and The Australian Academy of the Humanities as a rising star in the field of Communication and Cultural Studies. He has secured prestigious journalism awards for his work with industry partners. He has also consistently bridged the gap between academia and real-world impact, with his research on disinformation cited by policymakers and civil society organizations. de-Lima-Santos is the co-editor of Journalism, Data and Technology in Latin America and the forthcoming Fact-Checking in the Global South (Palgrave Macmillan).
Welcome to the MDPI Global Media & Information Literacy Week Webinar 2025!
Global Media and Information Literacy (MIL) Week 2025 will be observed from 24–31 October, underscoring the importance of MIL in today’s digital age. Global MIL Week unites governments, educators, media professionals, youth, and civil society to advance the skills needed to critically access, evaluate, and use information and media.
As a key competency, MIL helps address urgent challenges such as misinformation, disinformation, hate speech, declining trust in media, and the rapid growth of AI-driven digital transformations. By empowering citizens to think critically, act ethically, and understand their digital rights, Global MIL Week supports freedom of expression, diversity, peace, gender equality, and sustainable development.
We warmly invite you to join MDPI’s webinar on 28 October 2025 as part of this global celebration.
Date: 28 October 2025
Time: 4:00 pm CEST | 11:00 am EDT | 11:00 pm CST Asia
Webinar ID: 883 4418 2714
Webinar Secretariat: journal.webinar@mdpi.com
The webinar was hosted via Zoom and required registration to attend. The full recording can be found below. In order to learn about future webinars, you can sign up to our newsletter by clicking “Subscribe” at the top of the page.
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 January 2026