CPDP 2026 Call for Panels

Around the world, diverse approaches to governing digital society are evolving. From Brazil and California to the UK, Australia, the US, and China - each reflects different traditions, values, and visions. In Brussels, meanwhile, landmark legislation—ranging from the General Data Protection Regulation to new rules on digital services, markets, data, and artificial intelligence—has helped set global standards. Together, these efforts illustrate how different visions can compete, overlap, and converge—shaping both national strategies and international debates.

2026 is a moment of reflection for CPDP. Marking the tenth anniversary of the GDPR, it invites stock-taking of its achievements and limitations, amid growing calls for “simplification” in the name of innovation and competitiveness. At the same time, the stakes extend far beyond legislation. They surface in questions of digital sovereignty, in trade disputes, and in the governance of infrastructures that structure everyday life. They are visible in the datafication of war as much as in the design of public services, and they affect how individuals experience rights, risks, and resilience in a digital society.

These tensions provide the backdrop for CPDP 2026. True to its tradition, the conference will not seek to eliminate disagreement but to harness competing visions as a democratic strength for facing the future. CPDP’s global approach ensures it resonates within the Brussels ecosystem without being reduced to it: its international scope makes it a platform where law, policy, technology, markets, and civil society can engage across borders. Panels will be designed to surface diverse perspectives—not as obstacles to consensus, but as vital to shared understanding and democratic resilience, to create a space where expertise and experience from different fields can engage directly, critically, and constructively.

List of suggested topics  

1. Ten years of the GDPR – what has it achieved, where has it fallen short, and how should it evolve in light of enforcement challenges and the simplification agenda?
2. Children and online rights – in a digital world marked by surveillance, pervasive tracking, and regulatory fragmentation, how can children’s rights be effectively safeguarded?
3. Beyond the Brussels Effect–  how do approaches from Brazil, California, China, and the Global South challenge or complement European frameworks, and what lessons can be learned from diverse regulatory traditions?
4. The geopolitics of digital governance – how do trade disputes, strategic alliances, and global competition over standards and infrastructures shape the future of rights and digital sovereignty?
5. Financial services – what are implications for personal data protection and digital rights as these services increasingly interact with daily digital life through decentralisation, digital currencies, and embedded services?
6. Digital sovereignty – beyond politics, what legal, industrial, and infrastructural capacities are needed to secure autonomy, from supply chains to cloud infrastructure to initiatives like EuroStack?
7. Technology in war and conflict – from Starlink dependency to drones and the gamification of the battlefield, how are digitalisation, surveillance technologies, and artificial intelligence reshaping the conduct of war and global security?
8. Data infrastructures and democracy – as data infrastructures become central to governing markets and rights, how are they reshaping political processes, democratic resilience, and the boundaries of oversight?
9. Competition in the digital economy – how can frameworks within the EU’s digital rulebook work in harmony while balancing accountability, competition, and fundamental rights in the face of rapid technological and market change?
10. Coherence and accountability in Europe’s digital rulebook – how do the GDPR, DSA, DMA, Data Act, and AI Act interact, and what mechanisms can ensure enforcement and oversight while avoiding deregulation or weaker protections?
11. Data Protection Officers – how can DPOs avoid marginalisation, safeguard independence, and be empowered as strategic partners for responsible innovation?
12. Privacy and security in times of crises – how can technical measures such as encryption, anonymisation, and secure data retention be balanced with demands for lawful access?
13. Artificial intelligence beyond the hype – what do environmental costs, ethical dilemmas, and realistic business models reveal about its future?
14. Surveillance by Design – as data infrastructures regulating our lives, from identity to finance, health, education and even warfare, embed tools for tracking and profiling, how can we prevent pervasive surveillance from becoming an irreversible feature of the everyday? 

• Each panel is organised by one institution (“Panel Organiser”) and presented in the conference programme as organised by [organiser’s name].
• One Contact Person must be designated for all communications.
• Each organisation may ordinarily host one panel at CPDP 2026.
• Panel proposals may only be submitted by research organisations, public bodies, or civil-society groups; for-profit organisations are not eligible.
• Each panel must demonstrate sectoral and disciplinary diversity, including one speaker from industry, legal practice, or another private-sector domain to ensure multistakeholder representation. CPDP’s new pool of speakers is available to support organisers in meeting these requirements.
• Panels remain under the editorial responsibility of their organisers. The CPDP Programming Committee may review, request changes, or reject panels that do not meet CPDP’s standards of quality, independence, diversity, and balance.
• The quality of discussion and audience participation is a key priority; at least 30 minutes of every 75-minute session must be reserved for Q&A, in line with CPDP’s ethos of open, participatory debate.
• Alternative or experimental formats are encouraged if they ensure fairness among panellists and meaningful audience participation.
• Organisers are responsible for compliance with all procedural, financial, and diversity rules.

• Panels consist of one moderator and four speakers (“panellists”); no more than two may come from the organising institution.
• Panels must be diverse in:
  • Gender: balanced and inclusive, recognising non-binary and fluid identities.
  • Geography: no more than two panellists from the same country and at least three countries represented.
  • Discipline and sector: balanced perspectives from academia, regulation, law, civil society, and industry (organisers can draw on the CPDP speaker pool to find industry speakers).
• Panellists may appear on a maximum of two panels, and not in the same role twice – i.e. a panellist can moderate and speak once, but not moderate twice or speak twice. The CPDP Programming Committee may propose or confirm moderators.
• It is up to panel organisers to confirm with invited panellists that they do not appear in the same role elsewhere in the conference before proposing them. Where this happens, CPDP reserves the right to step in, and to give preference to the panel the panellist in question accepted first.
• One of the four speakers may be drawn from the curated CPDP pool of industry speakers. Access to the speaker pool will open in November.
• The speaker from the pool is chosen by the panel organiser and confirmed in a collaborative process with the CPDP Programming Committee and the speaker.
• If you wish to find your own industry speaker, have difficulties finding a speaker from the pool, or need to deviate from these composition rules, please indicate this in your submission or contact info@cpdpconferences.org.
• Panel organisers and participants must be transparent about financing, affiliations, and networks. The CPDP Programming Committee, in collaboration with the CPDP Oversight Committee reserve the right to refuse a panel in case of serious doubts about independence. 

• Proposals must be submitted via the official webform and include panel title, abstract, organiser and contact person, (provisional) list & bio of panellists, and format.
• Deadlines:
  • Submission of panel proposal: 8 December 2025
  • Notification sent to panel organisers: 22 December 2025
  • Panel composition finalised: 15 February 2026 (after which the Committee may intervene if issues persist)
• Failure to meet deadlines may result in rescheduling, reorganisation, or in exceptional cases cancellation.

• Each panel requires a contribution of €1,650 (excl. VAT), covering venue, audiovisual and recording facilities, catering, general conference costs, and full CPDP access for the moderator and three speakers, plus a CPDP book for them.
• Panels including a speaker from the CPDP speaker pool receive one additional complimentary registration for a colleague of the organising institution, bringing the total to a maximum of five registrations covered by the contribution.
• Organisers bear the travel and accommodation costs of their invited speakers and moderator. Costs associated with the speaker selected from the CPDP pool of speakers are not the responsibility of the panel organiser
• Payment must be made by direct bank transfer upon invoice.

• A fifth speaker may be added with prior approval and a €450 fee.
• One remote panellist is allowed per panel, subject to a €300 technical surcharge.
• Both options require advance confirmation and are generally discouraged, as they can reduce the quality of the dialogue.

• Cover the panel contribution fee.
• Confirm panellists and ensure their active participation.
• Provide information, final titles, abstracts, and bios by deadlines.
• Ensure compliance with the CPDP Code of Conduct.
• Cover travel and accommodation for their panellists.
• Please ensure that panellists represent differing perspectives and viewpoints on the chosen panel topic.
• Guarantee balanced speaking time among panellists and reserve at least 30 minutes of each 75-minute session for audience Q&A, in line with CPDP’s ethos of open, participatory debate.
• Alternative formats that integrate audience questions from the start are welcome, provided they ensure equal opportunity for interaction. Any proposed alternative format needs to be indicated in the panel submission form.