Call for Papers: Virtual Worlds, Real Challenges: How to Govern the Online Public Sphere?, 9-10 July 2026
Together with my colleagues Sunimal Mendis and Anuj Puri, I am pleased to announce an open call for abstracts and panel proposals for our upcoming conference:
๐ 9 July โ In person (Tilburg University Campus)
๐ 10 July โ Online
As digital and virtual environments increasingly shape public discourse, markets, governance structures, and fundamental rights, urgent questions arise: ๐๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ช๐ค ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ? ๐๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ต๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด? ๐๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ? ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐ง๐ฆ๐จ๐ถ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ค๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ค ๐ท๐ข๐ญ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ท๐ช๐ณ๐ต๐ถ๐ข๐ญ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ช๐จ๐ช๐ต๐ข๐ญ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ด?
We warmly welcome submissions from scholars, practitioners, and activists across all disciplines working on governance-related aspects of virtual and digital spheres.
Suggested topics include:
๐น Public discourse in virtual & digital platforms
๐น User-centred approaches to platform governance
๐น Economics and business models of digital platforms
๐น Privacy and data protection in virtual environments
๐น Other regulatory and governance-related questions
Participation is free of charge (registration required; details to follow). Please note that we are unable to reimburse travel or other attendance costs.
We look forward to bringing together diverse perspectives to critically reflect on the governance of virtual worlds and digital public spaces.
For more detail, refer here
