CPDP 2026 Call for Papers

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.

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? 

Two tracks are available: Senior (postdoctoral and faculty researchers) and Junior (PhD and early-career). In multi-authored papers, the track should follow the first author. The organisers may merge tracks into joint sessions.

Each submission (link to the form below) must include:

• A full paper of 6,000–12,000 words, including notes and bibliography
• An abstract of 200–300 words (no footnotes or bibliography)
• Up to five keywords
• An indication of the relevant research discipline
• The paper in PDF file format titled “Surname(s) – Short Title.pdf,” fully anonymised (see below)

Papers can be re-submitted until the call closes.

All submissions are double-blind peer-reviewed by members of the CPDP 2026 Scientific Committee and invited experts. Selection is based on academic quality, originality, and relevance to the conference.

At least one author of each accepted paper must register for the conference and present the findings on site. One author per accepted paper will receive free access to the entire conference. Selected authors are encouraged to prepare dynamic presentations to foster discussion.

Papers must be written in English of publishable academic quality and will undergo a double-blind peer review. The manuscript must not contain any information that could identify the author(s), including names (except in the file name), affiliations, acknowledgments, self-references, project titles, or funding information. Submissions that do not meet these anonymisation or language standards may be rejected without review.

Authors must use the Chicago Manual of Style, 17th edition (Notes–Bibliography system) for the footnotes and a complete bibliography at the end of the paper: https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide/citation-guide-1.html  

Authors may use generative AI tools for surface-level linguistic improvements (e.g. spelling, grammar, or minor stylistic refinement). Such use must be explicitly disclosed in the paper, in a short paragraph at the end of the paper describing how and for what purpose the tool was used. All papers will be checked with an AI-detection tool as part of the submission process. Authors remain fully responsible for verifying the correctness of AI suggestions and ensuring that the submitted work reflects their own academic insight. The use of AI beyond minor stylistic improvements, such as rephrasing full paragraphs or generating ideas is not permitted.

Papers must be unpublished and not under review elsewhere before the conference.

Limited support may be available for PhD candidates and early career researchers who cannot cover travel costs. Requests can be made to info@cpdpconferences.org after acceptance of papers.

Papers presented at the conference will automatically be put forward for publication in this year’s Conference Book, subject to editorial review and the publisher’s decision. 

Seventeen books based on papers presented at previous CPDP conferences have been published, and the 18th edition is currently in production.

Please direct the questions about format and eligibility to A.J.Kucharska@tilburguniversity.edu