Zviad Adzinbaia

International Security and Digital Diplomacy Fellow

Zviad is a Country Lead for Georgia at Sayara International, a Washington D.C.-based global development firm. He also serves as a Founding Director of LEADx Change, a multinational leadership accelerator, in partnership with the Fletcher School’s International Security Studies Program. LEADx empowers multi-industry leaders from Europe, Eurasia, and North America with critical leadership, negotiation, and decision-making skills. In coordination with Microsoft, LEADx has already joined the 2018 Paris Call for Trust and Security in Cyberspace.

Zviad specializes in countering disinformation and propaganda strategies. Besides, he has extensively focused on creating security and strengthening democracy through digital diplomacy and tech-enabled solutions. In 2018, he coined a term – Temocracy – to emphasize the constructive role of modern technologies in bettering democracy.

Previously, Zviad has served as Assistant to a Member (MEP) at the European Parliament’s Security and Defense Subcommittee, where he covered security and political affairs in Central and Eastern Europe, Russia, as well as EU-US relations. In 2017, as a Research Fellow at the NATO Defense College in Rome, Zviad developed policy recommendations for NATO’s enhanced operations in the Black Sea.

Zviad advises corporate, government, and civilian society institutions on countering malign/mis information strategies, target audience analysis, strategic communication, tech-enabled solutions to conflict matters, and international partnerships. In 2019, he co-authored two key reports for the Georgian Parliament and the civil society on state and non-state policies to address disinformation, misinformation, and propaganda.

Among many international institutions, Zviad has collaborated with the European Parliament, Microsoft, United States Agency for International Development, Center for Asia Leadership, Institute for War and Peace Reporting, NewsGuard Technologies, FHI 360, the United Nations Association of Georgia, and the United States Embassy in Tbilisi.

In 2017-18, Zviad co-led two editions of the Eurasia Leadership Trek, with a Cambridge-based Center for Asia Leadership, exploring political, economic, and security climate in the wider Black Sea countries, with mid-career professionals from The Fletcher School, Harvard, and MIT. Besides, Zviad served on an organizing committee for the European Conference 2018 at Harvard, the largest of its kind in North America. In 2017, he was selected as one of fifteen New Security Leaders of the Warsaw Security Forum and received Forbes Georgia’s 30 Under 30 recognition in 2018. 

Zviad’s articles and comments have appeared on international analytical platforms, including The NATO Defense College, Institute for War and Peace Reporting, New Europe, KyivPost, The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs, Euronews and Radio Free Europe.

His recent policy and academic publications also include: “Responding to Russian Disinformation: A Case of Georgia,” USAID, UNA Georgia; East-West Management Institute (2019);  “Strengthening State Policy to Address Anti-Western Disinformation and Propaganda in Georgia,” Parliament of Georgia, USAID, Westminster Foundation for Democracy (2020); “Ten Ways to Advance U.S.-Georgia Bilateral Relations,” Rondeli Foundation/GFSIS (2018); “NATO in the Black Sea: What to Expect Next?”, NATO Defense College (2017).  

During the 2011-2016 period, Zviad’s positions included a Political Correspondent at Georgia Today newspaper, a Social Media Coordinator at the Open Society Foundation’s media development project in Georgia. He has also founded, and pro bono led youth NGOs to promote Georgia’s integration into Western institutions. 

Zviad Adzinbaia holds a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy degree from the Fletcher School with a focus on international security and Euro-Atlantic relations. He has earned his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science (with Honors) from the Sokhumi State University in Tbilisi. Firmly believing in the power of art in security and diplomacy, Zviad is passionate about hosting a jazz event in his hometown, Gali (Abkhazia), when Georgia is reunited.