Benjamin Shultz

I serve as Lead Researcher at The American Sunlight Project, a bipartisan organization dedicated to countering online harms that undermine democracy. I am also affiliated with the Humboldt Institute for Internet & Society as a Junior Fellow and the Council of Europe Conference on Drug Control Networks as an Artificial Intelligence Expert.

I am a subject matter expert on foreign information manipulation and influence (FIMI). My research is focused on: 1) the efforts of the Kremlin to undermine democracy through disinformation campaigns; and 2) the digitalization of organized crime operations and recruitment.

My experience includes two years as a Lead Analyst on Deloitte's Counter-Foreign Malign Influence Team in Washington, D.C., and I served as a 2023 NATO Youth Summit Delegate. I hold an M.A. in International Relations from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University and a B.A. in Political Science from Sonoma State University. 

As a graduate student, I served as a Trainee at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France and worked with DebunkEU, a media literacy organization based in Vilnius, Lithuania. In my free time, I enjoy mapmaking, playing piano and skiing. I am also fluent in German, can read French and Spanish, and am learning Russian.