Navigating Digital Democracy Conference – 8 to 9 January 2026

Navigating Digital Democracy Conference – BU’s Media School

You are warmly invited to submit papers for presentation at the joint annual conference of the Political Studies Association’s Media and Politics Group (MPG) & Technology, Information and Policy Group (TIP).

This year’s conference theme, ‘Navigating Digital Democracy’, will explore the intersection of technology, media and politics in shaping democratic practices and governance.

As the digital landscape continues to evolve, technology plays a central role in influencing political discourse, policy development, citizen engagement, and the broader democratic process. From the amplification of polarizing and anti-democratic voices to the facilitation of political campaigning and pro-democracy movements, the dynamics of digital technology are both challenging and enriching the foundations of democratic societies. This conference seeks to critically examine the opportunities and risks technology presents in these areas.

Download the in-person conference programme (.docx, 107kb)

Download the online conference programme (.docx, 98kb)

Topics for consideration

We welcome paper submissions that address any of the following topics*:

Do digital platforms impact citizen engagement and connection? How do digital platforms facilitate civic engagement, political participation, democratise political representation, and allow for access to the political process?
What is the role of digital platforms in political campaigning? How are digital technologies and platforms reshaping campaign strategies, political marketing, civic participants, and voter engagement?
The amplification of polarising and anti-democratic voices through digital platforms: how do social media platform rules and algorithms impact political discussion, polarisation, and harmful rhetoric?
What role do digital platforms play in informing or misinforming citizens? What are the ethical implications of misinformation, what are the consequences of misinformation on political trust and accountability?
What role do deepfake and AI-generated images play in shaping political narratives?
How are digital platforms impacting social movements and democratic engagement? Are digital platforms providing spaces for pro-democracy movements in otherwise hostile states, are they havens of free speech or do they offer limited offline impact?
The impact of generative technology on policy development; how does this simplify complex issues, perpetuate inequalities, or aid swift and dynamic changes to legislation?
What is the role of digital games in contemporary politics? How can digital games be used to promote civic engagement and political awareness? How have online multiplayer games become spaces for political discussion and activism?

We encourage submissions from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, including but not limited to political science, media studies, communication, sociology, law, and technology studies. Submissions are welcomed from scholars at all career stages, including PhD candidates and early-career researchers, as well as practitioners engaged in media, politics or related fields.

*While the main theme of this conference is navigating digital democracy, the MPG and TIP operate an open and inclusive policy, and papers dealing with any aspect of media, technology and politics are welcomed. Papers may focus on areas from political communication and journalism to data, artificial intelligence, social media and tech policy; but also include a broader view of the political sphere within such areas as television, cinema and media arts, both factual and fictional. In addition to academic research, the conference will also welcome practice-based work in art, film and performance related to the area of media and politics.

Keynote speakers

Susan Banducci: Professor of Political Science, University of Birmingham

Susan completed her PhD at the University of California (Santa Barbara) before undertaking postdoctoral research with the New Zealand Election Study (Waikato University) and the European Election Study (ASCoR, University of Amsterdam). She was Professor of Politics at the University of Exeter from 2006 to 2024. Susan was the founding director of the Exeter Q-Step Centre, creating an interdisciplinary centre devoted to improving undergraduate provision of quantitative methods training. She was also a deputy director of the University of Exeter’s Institute for Data Science and AI (2018-2021).

Since 2010, Susan has participated in and led large international, interdisciplinary projects (five where she is/was PI) worth over €10 million in funding, leading to significant research outputs including research platforms for community building and large cross-national data sets. She has led or been a co-investigator on six UKRI/ESRC and five European-funded projects. Currently, Susan is leading TWICEASGOOD (an ERC Advanced Grant), which draws on ethnographic and computational methods to explore women’s experiences of sexism in election campaigns both offline and online.

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Visit Susan’s full profile on the University of Birmingham website

Jonathan Corpus Ong: Professor of Global Digital Media, UMass Amherst

Jonathan is a public intellectual engaged in international policy debates related to disinformation, mediated public participation, and digital humanitarianism, with a consistent record of advocacy work with diverse sectors of human rights, diasporic community media, and tech workers. He is the inaugural director of the Global Technology for Social Justice Lab; a creative hub that advances a community-driven model for tech studies and tech justice advocacy that centres the Global Majority.

His research and advocacy work is centrally concerned with the moral and political consequences of media and digital technologies, particularly technological interventions in the context of development, humanitarianism, and media and democracy in the Global Majority. Inspired by traditions of media ethics and media anthropology, he uses ethnographic and participatory research methods to center the voices of ordinary citizens and precarious workers when developing normative analysis of “good” and “bad” interventions and everyday practices.

His research projects and space-building initiatives have been funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Luminate Group, the Gates Foundation, the USA’s National Science Foundation, the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council, and The Asia Foundation.

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Read Jonathan's full profile on the University of Massachussets Amherst website

2025/2026 key dates

Friday 26 September: deadline for paper submissions
Early October: paper proposers notified of the decision by the conference committee. Conference registration opens
Friday 19 December: extended abstract deadline for James Thomas Memorial Prize applicants
Wednesday 7 January: online conference (if you’re unable to make in-person but would like to participate)

Register for the online conference via eventbrite

Thursday 8 January to Friday 9 January: in-person conference, The Media School, Bournemouth University.

Please note: this isn’t a hybrid conference and the in-person conference won’t be live streamed. Both will include a keynote presentation (to be announced).

Registration fees

For PSA members, the cost of in-person attendance is £125 for salaried academics and £75 for PGR/low waged
For non-PSA members, the cost of in-person attendance is £150 for salaried academics and £85 for PGR/low waged
This covers lunches, coffee breaks, a drinks reception and the annual dinner. It also includes access to the online conference
For the online conference the cost of attendance for participants is £30 for salaried academics and £20 for PGR/low waged.

Financial support

The PSA offers a limited number of travel subsidies (up to the value of £100) to support postgraduate student participation in this event. Postgraduate students interested in applying for these subsidies should please note this when submitting.

James Thomas Memorial Prize

Extended abstracts of a maximum of 2,000 words submitted by postgraduate students will be entered into the James Thomas Memorial Prize. This annual award is presented to the most outstanding paper by a postgraduate student at the Media & Politics Group Annual Conference. Postgraduate students wishing to be considered for this prize should send extended abstracts to Dan Jackson: [email protected] by Friday 19 December 2025.