ATHENA (Addressing Hate Speech Through Empathic Virtual Humans and AI)

Hate speech poses serious threats to both its immediate targets and democratic societies across Europe, especially with recent AI-driven technologies increasing its reach and impact. Despite the technical progress in the detection and analysis of hateful content, understanding the psychological and social mechanisms underlying how individuals perceive hate speech, those initiating it and their targets, remains limited. ATHENA (Addressing Hate Speech Through Empathic Virtual Humans and AI) brings together a European network of researchers seeking to uncover hate speech as a multimodal phenomenon and develop interventions utilising recent advancements in Virtual Humans (VHs), i.e., hyper-realistic, embodied, digital, intelligent agents, and Artificial Intelligence. 
The consortium comprises Breda University of Applied Sciences (lead), with expertise in virtual human and AI technologies, and the University of Bremen and the University of Warsaw, with expertise in psychophysiology, social psychology and particularly hate speech. The partners will lead collaborative efforts to build the foundation for a Horizon Europe application targeting call HORIZON-CL2-2027-01-DEMOCRACY-04: Addressing the impact of artificial intelligence, cyberviolence, and deepfakes on equality, democracy and inclusive societies. Some of the activities preceding the development of the final application include assessing the current consortium's capacity, identifying and recruiting new partners, and conducting a proof-of-concept study to generate strategic preliminary data for the final proposal. 
The interdisciplinary network bridges Dutch regional digital realities ambitions with the innovation capacity of EU researchers, strengthening Dutch participation in addressing societal challenges in European consortia. The project aligns with national and European priorities in AI ethics and digital societies by focusing on urgent societal challenges: countering hate speech, protecting vulnerable population groups, and safeguarding democratic values through the responsible deployment of AI.
Societal issueHate speech has become a persistent threat to democratic societies, with public concern reflecting the urgency to address it: the 2025 Eurobarometer survey shows that 68% of EU citizens identify hate speech as a major concern, alongside disinformation (69%) and AI-generated fake content (68%). Once episodic, hate speech is now pervasive and normalised, shaping discourses and reinforcing exclusion (e.g., Soral et al., 2018). The consequences extend beyond discourse. Exposure to hate speech has repeatedly been linked to increased levels of anxiety, depression, and PTSD symptoms (e.g., Wachs et al., 2022; Wypych & Bilewicz, 2024; Shmulewitz et al., 2025; Madriaza et al., 2025). The psychological consequences among young people are even more severe, with cyberbullying victimisation increasing the risks of self-harm and suicidal behaviour (John et al., 2018). Most importantly, hate speech often escalates into broader forms of cyberviolence (Wachs et al., 2022). 
Benefit for societyATHENA emerges precisely at this intersection – between technological possibility and democratic vulnerability. It is no coincidence that the project bears the name of the Greek goddess of wisdom and strategic warfare. Athena protected Athens, democracy’s birthplace, through reason and justice rather than brute force. The ATHENA project mirrors this approach by deploying VHs to address hate speech through empathy and understanding rather than blunt, suppressive measures. To achieve this, ATHENA builds a European network integrating VH development and social psychology expertise, laying the foundation for a Horizon Europe application targeting HORIZON-CL2-2027-01-DEMOCRACY-04 on the impact of AI, deepfakes, and cyberviolence on equality, democracy, and inclusive societies. The project prioritises EU partnership building and collaborative grant preparation over extensive research. ATHENA is therefore not only a research network; it is a commitment to defend democracy with wisdom, strategy and insight. 
Collaborative partnersUniversity of Bremen, University of Warsaw