Niklas Henderson

It’s a fairly hefty tome so not by any means bedtime reading, but there may be some sections which are of particular interest to connections and followers here on Bluesky. Please feel welcome to message me here or email me (n.henderson@uea.ac.uk) if you have any questions!

Very pleased to say that my PhD thesis “The Misinformation Game: The Effectiveness of Analogue Serious Games as an Inoculation Against Misinformation” is now available online. ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/10...

📢Greater transparency and discussion in these areas could better guide practitioners to make better informed and more engaging and effective interventions to inoculate against misinformation 🤞 (9/9)

📢This review not only recommends that researchers and game designers should seek to explore the efficacy of different platforms and genres – but encourages more transparency and discussion of game design processes adopted and better dialogue of inoculation’s interpretation in this context. (8/9)

📄(Serious) game design literature stresses the importance of design processes (see, for example, play-centric design and co-design). Yet, academic discussion surrounding game design decisions and processes are also (with some notable exceptions) often superficial in this context. (7/9)

📄We also review role of inoculation in these game-based interventions. We find that, despite papers framing inoculation as a foundational theory in these interventions, there is superficial discussion describing how the theory (esp. threat, a key mechanism in the theory) has informed design. (6/9)

🎨Despite diversity in topic and misinformation framework drawn upon, we find homogeneity in platform and genre. Reviewed games are mostly digital roleplaying text-adventures, and the affordances of different platforms (e.g., analogue or VR) or designs (e.g., co-op play) remains underexplored. (5/9)

🔎We reviewed 22 game-based inoculation interventions against misinformation, playtesting each intervention (where available) and analysing discussion and framing from corresponding publications. (4/9)

🎮A lot of research with these game-based interventions have shown interesting and promising results. However, no work has yet critically reviewed the current state of this research area (particularly important given recent ambiguity around 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘴 in game-based inoculation interventions). (3/9)

💉Inoculation theory (read more here: tinyurl.com/yrp3rjbt) is a pre-emptive approach to building resistance to persuasion, which has in the last few years informed the design for several ‘serious’ games improving player resilience to misinformation. (2/9)

Inoculation theory as a design approach to game-based misinformation interventions: a review Misinformation has been demonstrated to pose a great risk to society, demanding action from policymakers and educators. Inoculation theory is a theory of resistance to influence, which in recent ye...

🚨New paper in Popular Communication! 🚨 "Inoculation theory as a design approach to game-based misinformation interventions: a review". (1/9)🧵🔽
dx.doi.org/10.1080/1540....
#InoculationTheory #misinformation #socpsyc #design #seriousgames #learning

The Handbook of Inoculation Theory and Practice <p><b>Provides an in-depth&nbsp;</b><b>account</b><b> of inoculation theory across multiple disciplines and applied contexts worldwide</b></p> <p>Inoculation theory has become one of the most influen...

Out now with Wiley: The Handbook of Inoculation Theory and Practice, edited by Bobi Ivanov, Kimberly Parker, and me—the first handbook devoted entirely to inoculation theory. Grateful for my co-editors and contributors. #InoculationTheory

www.wiley.com/en-us/The+Ha...

Can confirm a recent anti-Trump post of mine there is blocked from viewing in the United States - my parents and US friends cannot see it when directly linked. Also, big anti Trump TikTok-ers have suddenly lost live viewership.

New paper: CAST's Dr John Kenny & Prof Steve Fisher's journal article on "Europeans’ climate consciousness: increased yet more politicised" was published last month, using the European Social Survey from 2016-17 and 2020-22 📣

Read the paper 👇 doi.org/10.1080/0964...

Key findings thread 🧵

If the EU and UK won’t stand up for international law in Venezuela, what exactly will they say or do when the US comes for Greenland?

Ha! Thanks Sander!

Thanks Josh!

Further thanks to @profsanderlinden.bsky.social, Jon Roozenbeek, and all the folks at the CSDMLab, from whom I learned so much during my time as a visiting scholar. Finally, thanks to those who took time to participate in the research. Here's to 2026 being a year of new and interesting research!

A huge thank you needs to be extended to my fantastic supervisor Helen Pallett, whose unwavering support and encouragement has made this mixed-methods project possible.

Thank you to my examiners @joshcompton.bsky.social and @harrytdyer.bsky.social, I really enjoyed discussing my research and "geeking out about inoculation theory, learning, and serious games"!

My project - "The Misinformation Game: The Effectiveness of Analogue Serious Games as an Inoculation Against Misinformation" - looked at how inoculation theory can be applied in (analogue) game-based interventions against misinformation, and the types of outcomes such interventions may stimulate.

Continuing the new year's cheer I'd like to share some exciting personal news. After four years of hard work my PhD journey has come to an end, passing my PhD viva with no corrections just before Christmas 🥳

As the Americans pull back, the maneuvering in Europe becomes more visible. France wants to lead but lacks the capacity. Germany has the capacity but lacks the will. And the frontline states bordering Russia are left to fend for themselves. And the UK is busy focusing on little boats.

"Meta and TikTok are obstructing researchers’ access to data, "the European Commission rules
Data are needed to study how social media spreads misinformation and influences elections, scientists say." www.science.org/content/arti...

I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.

They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1

Sky News does a great job here of showing that right wing voices get outsized amplification on X. The why of it is complicated (we have upcoming work on this). But the fact if it is undeniable. The platform is also full of clickbaity bullshit. Not unrelated.

Community Notes are Vulnerable to Rater Bias and Manipulation Social media platforms increasingly rely on crowdsourced moderation systems like Community Notes to combat misinformation at scale. However, these systems face challenges from rater bias and potential...

arxiv.org/abs/2511.02615 from @baottruong.bsky.social et al ...

Publics and UK parliamentarians underestimate the urgency of peaking global greenhouse gas emissions Communications Earth & Environment - UK members of parliament overestimate the time available to mitigate climate change, with notable partisan differences, and a similar lack of knowledge is...

New paper with @lucasgeese.bsky.social at @commsearth.nature.com

UK MPs + publics in Britain, Canada, Chile & Germany underestimated the urgency of peaking global GHG emissions when surveyed in 2023.

@tyndallcentre.bsky.social @cast-centre.bsky.social
@climateuea.bsky.social

rdcu.be/eI4J3

Just fuck off with this. How about start the conversation by highlighting how much immigrants contribute to the UK - not least by propping up the NHS and social care system!

Also - forced volunteering is not volunteering, it's unpaid labour.

Glad Science collected this data (though the results are entirely unsurprising). GenAI cannot accurately summarize scientific papers, sacrificing accuracy for simplicity.

And shame on publishers who are pushing genAI summaries on readers. Great way to accelerate an epistemic apocalypse.