CPDP 2027 Call for Papers

The governance of the digital world is fragmented and faces difficult challenges. Technologies that shape our lives develop faster than the means – or even the will – to regulate them for the protection of privacy and other fundamental rights. 

What We Owe the Future invites reflection on this contribution. Building on this, it looks ahead to what the future demands of us. What will the next twenty or more years need, and how should we help to build it? What do we owe to those who will inherit the world we shape today? Which principles must endure, which protections cannot be bargained away even when the pressure to relax them is strong, and what responsibilities do the custodians of the present bear towards the future?

The year 2027 marks the twentieth anniversary of CPDP. For twenty years, the conferences have stood at the forefront of efforts to understand and contribute to improving the prospect for governance in this fast-moving digital age. As a community of academics, regulators and policymakers, civil society, industry and legal practitioners, CPDP has cast a bright light on issues, practices and rules, and has offered a forum for debate and the exchange of knowledge across a global landscape. What is worth celebrating is not the annual conference itself, but twenty years of bringing this community together and sustaining it through a period of momentous change.  

The people whose lives will extend far into that future should help to design the way forward. CPDP 2027 therefore launches CPDP 20: The Next Generation, which include a team of early-career researchers from across disciplines who will co-curate the programme and help identify its most pressing questions. This team will identify connections across fields and help to explore issues on the horizon, bringing knowledge and fresh perspectives to bear on developments and their likely consequences that will need to be addressed by policy, governance and other action.

The GDPR in transition – As the EU is reopening parts of the data protection framework, what will be the next developments?

Cybersecurity and resilience –How are cybersecurity obligations reshaping responsibility, markets, resilience, and the technological methods used to ensure compliance in the EU and beyond?

EdTech and the digitalization of education –  How can we balance the use of technology for the benefit of students and teachers while protecting their fundamental rights? 

Digital sovereignty and power relations – How is digital sovereignty reshaping relations between the EU, other states and private actors, and what are the implications for society and technological development?

The rights of the next generation – As child-focused digital regulation expands, how can protection, privacy, participation, and parental responsibility be balanced?

Law enforcement and data – As AI, facial recognition, and cross-border access to data transform criminal investigations, can data protection and oversight keep pace? 

Artificial intelligence at a crossroads – As AI regulation, societal impacts, and business models evolve, what kind of AI development should we pursue?

Technology in war and conflict – As technology reshapes warfare, surveillance, and intelligence, what are the implications for fundamental rights, the laws of war, and the responsibility of private actors?

Surveillance by Design –  As tracking and profiling become embedded in everyday digital infrastructures, how can pervasive surveillance be prevented from becoming the default?

Data Protection Officers in transition – What should the role of DPOs be, how do they interact with supervisory authorities, and how can independence and expertise be preserved?

The geopolitics of digital governance – As digital regulation becomes increasingly intertwined with trade, strategic interests, infrastructure, standards, and technological dependencies, how are geopolitical dynamics reshaping the global digital order and Europe’s place within it? 

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

The papers must be submitted through the link below. Papers can be re-submitted in the submission portal until the call closes.

Submission rules:

• The contribution must be a full paper of 6,000–9,000 words, excluding footnotes
• One paper per author can be submitted
• The papers must be anonymised (see below)
• Authors are required to follow the Bloomsbury's AI Policy: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/connect/contact-us/ai-policy-for-authors-and-illustrators/
• The paper in PDF file format titled “Author Surname(s) – Short Title.pdf”
• The submission must include an abstract of 200–300 words, up to five keywords and an indication of the relevant research discipline

All submissions are double-blind peer-reviewed by members of the CPDP 2027 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 during the Academic Sessions. One author per accepted paper will receive free access to the entire conference. Selected authors are encouraged to prepare dynamic 10-minute 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 be anonymised and 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 OSCOLA style of bibliographic description according to the Hart Publishing House Style Guidelines for Authors and Editors (OSCOLA 1.7 Short-title system) for citations and references, employing footnotes only; no bibliography should be included.

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

Authors are required to follow Bloomsbury's AI Policy, which permits assistive AI use (research, brainstorming, editing via private systems, image enhancement via Adobe Creative Cloud) but prohibits AI-generated content and requires disclosure of any non-trivial AI use.

Unfortunately, this year there is no possibility of financial support to cover the authors’ travel costs. 

Papers presented at the conference will automatically be considered for publication in this year’s Conference Book, subject to the author's interest and editorial review. The previous seventeen editions of the Conference Books can be found here: https://www.cpdpconferences.org/books

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