Global Digital Geographies: Digitalising the Territorial / Territorialising the Digital

By global digital geographies, we aim to foreground two interconnected dimensions of the global. First, we engage with geography’s long-standing critique of the binary conception of territory and network in the context of globalization—a debate that has gained renewed urgency and complexity with the advent of digitalisation and information technology. Second, we envision this as a global platform for scholarly exchange, bringing together diverse perspectives and insights on these topics from different regions around the world. With that in mind, the online symposium will be organized across three regional sections—Asia, Europe, and Africa—to better accommodate global participation.

Confirmed speakers 

• Paul C Adams, University of Texas at Austin
• Azadeh Akbari, University of Twente
• Jordan Branch, Claremont McKenna College
• Mirjam de Bruijn, University of Leiden
• Ayona Datta, University College London
• Iginio Gagliardone, University of the Witwatersrand
• Georg Glasze, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität
• Sam Kinsley, University of Exeter
• Alexandru-Codru Preda, Lingnan University
• Norma Möllers — Queen’s University
• Carwyn Morris, University of Leiden
• Luke Munn, University of Queensland
• Jiang Xu, Chinese University of Hong Kong

Contributions are welcome on, but not limited to, the following themes:

• Digital sovereignty, cybersecurity, and data governance;
• Digital technologies and their re-presentation of territories;
• Digital infrastructures;
• New patterns of territorial development (circulation, logistics, and enclosure ) shaped by digitalization;
• Techno-nationalism and digital statecraft on all fronts, from the jurisdiction of data and digital infrastructure to citizen-subjects;
• Ontological approaches to digital territories and (geo)politics.

Call for contributions

We are seeking the following types of contributions to the symposium:

• Individual Paper –please compose your abstracts of 250–300 words that outline the paper’s core arguments, methods, and contributions. Please include the paper title, author name(s), and affiliations.
• Practice-based Session – An opportunity to showcase innovative and alternative approaches. These may be interactive, skills-based, practical or workshop-type contributions.
• Pre-organised Panel/Session – Three to five individual papers speaking to a coherent theme concerning digital territories. Or combined Practice-based Sessions, run by three to six attendees.
• Digital shorts – digital shorts are short videos (between 2 and 5 minutes in length) that introduce, or summarise, an aspect of your research. Your recorded video could discuss:
  • Recent research findings
  • An emerging research idea or interest
  • A new or upcoming research output, publication, creative work, etc.
  • Research methodology
  • Approaches to teaching
  • Uses of digital technologies within academia

This format has been deliberately designed to require limited preparation, so is ideal for postgraduates, early career researchers, those with caring responsibilities, or other commitments. You can view examples of digital shorts on the DGRG YouTube channel. For accessibility purposes, please provide a transcript when submitting a digital short so that your video can be accurately subtitled.

Deadline for Abstracts/sessions/digital shorts:  30 April 2025
Notification of Acceptance: 15 May 2025
Symposium Date and Venue:  19-20 June 2025, online 

Symposium Organising Committee of DGRG

June Wang, Tess Osborne, Sammia C Poveda Villalba, Adam Packer, Harrison Smith, Sam Kinsley, Olivia Fletcher

Submissions and Inquiries: 

Please submit your abstract to the link below:

https://qualtricsxmn4sh2rv6f.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9YuL5yhVu5fhhyK