We invite PhD students and staff across all disciplines to submit proposals for our upcoming research symposium on Digital Sovereignty. Whether you research literature, engineering, medicine, social sciences, law, arts, business, or any other field, the topic of Digital Sovereignty pertains to you as a researcher.
Open to post-graduate, early-career and established researchers from any organisation, as well as non-affiliated individuals at all career stages. No prior expertise in digital sovereignty required, just curiosity about how digital power structures affect your work.
Presentations: Each presentation should be 15 – 20 minutes
What to submit: Abstracts up to 300 words and a short biography
Submission Deadline: 1st June 2026, midnight
Submit your proposal here: Call for proposals: Digital Sovereignty cross Disciplines – fill in form
We will review abstracts on a rolling basis and may close the call earlier depending on the volume of submissions, so we highly recommend submitting early.
Why Digital Sovereignty?
Digital sovereignty is about the capacity of individuals, organizations, and nations to control their digital destiny and it is reshaping our world in profound ways. It influences:
- How we conduct research: What platforms can you use? Where can your data be stored? Who owns your research outputs?
- What questions we can ask: Which datasets are accessible? What tools are available to us?
- Who benefits from knowledge: How is research data shared, monetized, or restricted across borders?
From cloud infrastructure dependencies to AI training datasets, from digital archives to laboratory equipment software, from publishing platforms to collaboration tools, every field of research operates within digital ecosystems that are governed, controlled, and shaped by questions of sovereignty.
Suggested topics include but are not limited to:
- Explore digital sovereignty from unexpected disciplinary angles
- Reveal hidden dependencies in research workflows
- Propose solutions for greater research autonomy
- Examine case studies where sovereignty issues created research barriers
- Connect digital sovereignty to broader questions of equity, access, and justice
- How your research has been or could be affected by digital sovereignty
Symposium Details
Location: Sussex Digital Humanities Lab, Silverstone Building Level 2 (SB211), and online.Date: 16 June 2026, 10:00-15:00
Confirmed speakers:
- Jim Killock, Executive Director of the Open Rights Group.
- Jonathan W.Y. Gray, Reader in Critical Infrastructure Studies at Kings College and author of Public Data Futures.
To book your place here to attend the symposium in person or online click here.
This research symposium is hosted by the Sussex Digital Humanities Lab as part of SHL Week 2026.