This international, interdisciplinary academic conference is hosted by the University of Augsburg (Germany) in collaboration with the Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society, the German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ), and the German Political Science Association (DVPW).

In the face of massive global environmental and sustainability challenges, the potential of digital technologies to foster sustainable development has received increasing attention in recent years. However, the extent to which digitalization (including big data and artificial intelligence) can contribute to solving the world’s most pressing sustainability problems, ranging from biodiversity loss to the climate crisis and persistent pollution, remains an open question.

How digitalization can contribute to sustainable development is not just a technological question. It also depends on how the development and use of digital technologies is governed and socially embedded. Further, there is a risk of digital innovations perpetuating the status quo or inhibiting sustainability transformations instead of facilitating change towards sustainable development. These observations serve as starting points for exploring the changing knowledge base and real-world practices that impact sustainability politics and governance in times of digitalization.

The two overarching research questions of this conference are as follows:

1. How does digitalization transform the knowledge and practices of environmental and sustainability policymaking?
2. Which forms of digitalization governance are needed to harness its potential for sustainability transformations?

We invite scholars from a variety of disciplines, including political science, sociology, science and technology studies (STS), communication and media studies, human geography, law, philosophy, computer sciences, design research, and related disciplines to present their research at this conference.

We welcome disciplinary diversity and invite theoretical, empirical, and methodological contributions dealing with, but not limited to, the five main themes of the conference:

1. Understandings of the digitalization-sustainability nexus
2. Analysing the actors, discourses, and politics of the digitalization-sustainability nexus
3. Designing digitalization policies and technology to foster sustainability
4. Studying polity, power, institutions, and decision-making procedures
5. Using digital methods to understand sustainability transformations

How to apply

• Abstracts: 350-400 words should be submitted along with the complete contact information of the authors (full name, position, institutional affiliation(s), e-mail) here: https://cloud.weizenbaum-institut.de/apps/forms/RpWq9bPwZwHcdkfY
• Deadline for abstract submission: 30 April 2023
• Acceptance notifications: before the end of May
• Location: Centre for Climate Resilience, University of Augsburg (near Munich), Germany
• Date: 20 September 2023 (3 pm onwards) to 22 September 2023 (until 1 pm)
• Contact: if you have questions about the conference, please send an e-mail to: digital[at]ccr.uni-augsburg.de \ Main organizer and local host: Prof. Dr Angela Oels, Centre for Climate Resilience, University of Augsburg, Germany
• More detailed information can be found here.