Call for Abstracts: Workshop on ‘Digital and AI Governance at a Time of Geopolitical Upheaval’
Leiden University College and the Erasmus Center of Law and Digitalization, with the support of the Sectorplan SSH-Breed on Digitalization and the Netherlands Network for Human Rights Research, are announcing a Call for Abstracts for a two-day workshop, Digital and AI Governance at a Time of Geopolitical Upheaval, on 15 - 16 October 2026.
Goal of Workshop
Geopolitical upheaval is not merely a backdrop to digital and AI governance: the two processes are mutually constitutive. Regulatory initiatives spanning the entire digital and AI value chain are being harnessed as instruments of geopolitical influence, while geopolitical tensions are simultaneously constraining, accelerating or undermining governance efforts between rival powers. Amidst the upheaval, the vocabulary of human rights has emerged as one focal area of contestation, simultaneously serving as a normative framework, a site of geopolitical instrumentalisation, and a terrain over which the meaning of rights themselves is fought over. Meanwhile, non-state entities and communities are mobilising to transform both geopolitical configurations and digital/AI governance.
This workshop seeks to examine these dynamics from a diversity of disciplinary and actor perspectives, bringing together scholars in law, international relations, anthropology, sociology, philosophy, media and communication studies, technology studies, and related fields. The aim is to nurture a multidisciplinary conversation that critically assesses the relationship between geopolitical upheaval and digital/AI governance.
For a complete description of the workshop themes and further practical information, please see the Call for Abstracts.
Overview of Themes
The workshop organisers invite abstract submissions addressing any of the following interconnected themes (for a complete description of the themes, please see the Call for Abstracts below):
1. Geopolitical Visions of Digital/AI Governance: How are different actors conceptualizing and advancing distinct regulatory visions for digital and AI governance?
2. Geopolitical Contestations over Digital/AI Governance: How are geopolitical contestations constraining, accelerating, or transforming digital and AI governance initiatives?
3. Geopolitical Conflicts and Digital/AI Governance: How are geopolitical conflicts, including armed conflicts, shaping and accelerating technological developments and exposing governance gaps?
Submission Details
Abstracts (max. 2,000 characters) should be submitted via the online form here no later than 12 June 2026. We aim to conclude the selection process by the middle of July 2026.