Research
Call for papers ICON-S Benelux Chapter: Public Law in a Changing World
The ICON-S Benelux Chapter will hold its third General Conference on 26 and 27 October 2026. The conference will take place in Leiden (NL), hosted by Leiden Law School, with a fully in-person programme of plenary sessions and parallel panels.
Theme
The overarching theme of the conference is Trust in Transition: Public Law in a Changing World. Sub-Themes Submissions may address the overarching theme from a wide range of perspectives, including but not limited to the following sub-themes:
Trust and Technological Transformation
- Algorithmic governance and democratic accountability
- Regulation of artificial intelligence and automated decision-making
- Digital rights, privacy, and data protection
- Platform governance and the digital public sphere
Trust and Sustainability Transitions
- Climate governance and intergenerational justice
- Environmental law and corporate accountability
- Energy transitions and the regulatory state
- Migration, displacement, and environmental change
Trust in and Between Institutions
- Judicial legitimacy and the role of courts in contested policy areas
- Administrative justice and citizen–state relations
- Institutional cooperation and multi-level governance
- Transparency, participation, and procedural justice
- Populism, selective trust, and the politics of inclusion and exclusion
Trust, Truth, and Evidence
- Empirical studies of trust in legal institutions
- Misinformation, expertise, and evidence-based governance
- The role of information and communication in building trust
- Trust, distrust, and healthy skepticism in democratic societies
- Comparative perspectives on institutional trust
Submissions
In addition to plenary sessions, the third ICON-S Benelux Chapter General Conference will feature parallel panel sessions taking place over the two days of the conference. Panels will be composed of submissions selected through this Call for Papers. Submissions should relate to the overarching conference theme.
There are two types of submissions:
- Fully formed panel proposals (strongly encouraged)
- Individual paper proposals
All proposals must be submitted by 29 May 2026 via this link.