Young Digital Law Conference 2024: Conflicts & Communities in Digital Law

Call for papers

Following 2023’s successful conference at the University of Vienna, the Law & Technology Research Group at Sciences Po Law School is calling for applications from early-career researchers (PhD stage or <5 years post-PhD) for the Young Digital Law conference 2024, on the theme of Conflicts & Communities in Digital Law.

Digital technologies are reputed to carry immense potential to improve social welfare, but are often sites of conflict, contestations and inequalities. We invite contributions exploring the presence of conflicts and ruptures and the role of communities in the regulation of digital technologies, as well as the implications of technological developments in such a perspective. We seek to stimulate conversations between diverse subject areas and theoretical and methodological perspectives, and welcome submissions engaging with the following non-exhaustive list of themes:

• Conflicts over how the benefits and harms of digital technologies are distributed, and the role of law in such conflicts – including perspectives from LPE, legal mobilisation, critical legal theory or STS
• Liability and other accountability and dispute resolution mechanisms in the context of digital technologies, such as AI
• The regulatory politics of technology governance, and the (lack of) representation and participation of different stakeholder communities
• The emergence of communities and governance structures in digital spaces
• The use of digital technologies in the context of security, surveillance, and political and military conflicts or emergencies
• Regulation through algorithms, data and metrics, as well as the digitalisation of public
  services and administration
• Perspectives and interests of historically marginalised communities in technology
  governance, including issues of exclusion and discrimination

The conference will run over two days (6th-7th June 2024) with two parallel tracks:

• (1) Panel presentations track: for presentation and discussion of research papers at an already advanced stage. Applicants are asked to submit a short working draft of their paper (6-8,000 words excluding references, accompanied by a 3-500 word abstract).
• (2) Writing workshops track: for in-depth discussion of research projects at an earlier stage. Each workshop will include two participants and one discussant who will provide detailed comments on the papers. Applicants are asked to submit an extended abstract (5-800 words) and to prepare a short working draft of their paper (6-8000 words excluding references) by the time of the conference.

Following the conference, we will invite participants to contribute to a blog symposium. Further details will follow in due course.

Deadlines & submission instructions

• 19th January 2024: submit draft papers [panel presentations track (1)] or extended abstracts [writing workshop track (2)]
• 16th February 2024: notification of acceptance decisions
• 10th May 2024: submit draft papers [writing workshop track (2)]
• 6th-7th June 2024: conference

Please submit non-anonymised abstracts/papers as Word (.docx) documents through this form.

Applicants can choose to submit to one or both tracks. Should you wish to submit to both tracks, please fill out the dedicated form twice. Papers and abstracts may be submitted in French, German or English. However, we ask all participants to be prepared to present their work in English, to facilitate exchange between an international group of participants.

The conference will take place primarily in person at Sciences Po Law School in Paris. Hybrid participation will be supported only for accepted participants who are unable to attend in person for funding, visa or other reasons.

Limited funding will be available to support in-person attendance by participants who do not have access to other travel funding, and will be allocated based on diversity considerations. Please let us know in the application form whether you need to apply for financial support.

In case of any practical questions, or to request any accommodations you might need as an applicant or participant, please contact rachel.griffin@sciencespo.fr or marta.arisi@sciencespo.fr.

Call for papers (PDF, 88 Ko)

Organising committee

Marta Arisi
Prof. Beatriz Botero Arcila
Lucas Costa Dos Anjos
Rachel Griffin
Teodora Groza
Prof. Rebecca Mignot-Mahdavi
Prof. Raphaële Xenidis