[Commlist] #SSN2026 Call for Abstracts

On behalf of the Surveillance Studies Network (SSN) and local organizing 
committee for #SSN2026, we are happy to share the call for participation 
in the 2026 Surveillance Studies Network / Surveillance & Society 
Conference, to be held in Lille, France.

*Planetary Surveillance*

The 11th Biennial Surveillance Studies Network / Surveillance & Society 
Conference

#SSN2026 | 9-12 June 2026 | Lille, France

Hosted by Université Catholique de Lille, ETHICS, and ISTC

https://surveillance-studies.net/conference/ ; | 
 http://ssn2026.sciencesconf.org

*Call for Papers and Participation*
The condition of our world is increasingly framed through planetary 
metrics: temperature rise, biodiversity loss, financial instability, 
migration flows. Surveillance underpins these metrics, producing ways of 
seeing and managing the planet. We are promised a new era of planetary 
knowledge by using surveillance systems that can map, predict, and 
manage the risks of a fragile world. But these very systems also 
fragment, exclude, and reproduce old asymmetries. Planetary governance 
is shaped by historically entrenched inequalities, exclusions, and 
power. Surveillance is presented as the key to planetary survival, yet 
it often accelerates insecurity and injustice. #SSN2026 invites us to 
grapple with what it means to think of surveillance at the scale of the 
planet: from micro habitats to global ecosystems and processes.
Infrastructures of sensing, monitoring, control and computation now 
extend across scales: from satellites orbiting the Earth to predictive 
algorithms embedded in the most intimate aspects of everyday life. 
Surveillance technologies now claim planetary reach: global 
infrastructures, algorithmic systems trained on worldwide data, and 
satellites and networks that promise to know, predict, and govern 
different forms of life on Earth. Surveillance is a driver and a product 
of this planetary turn, as states, citizens and more-than-human others 
grapple with social and environmental change and crisis, and plan for 
the possibility of hostile and stable futures.
 From predictive policing to climate modeling, from espionage to 
artificial intelligence, surveillance is the connective tissue of our 
planetary intelligence. Surveillance lies at the heart of these 
transformations. It both enables and depends on new forms of planetary 
intelligence — whether through data extraction on a global scale, the 
training of artificial intelligence systems on the traces of human 
activity, or the monitoring of ecosystems, climate, crime, migration, 
and conflict through planetary infrastructures, some of which are 
located on and above the earth. Surveillance appears, spreads, and 
intensifies not only in the name of security but also in the name of 
planetary management: climate monitoring, global health, financial 
stability, digital platforms, or border regimes. Yet planetary 
intelligence also generates new possibilities for critique, resistance, 
and reimagining collective futures. It may also be harnessed for the 
production of ecosocial goods.
This planetary turn raises important questions:

  *
    Which forms of life are rendered visible, measurable, and
    governable, and which remain invisible or deliberately obscured?
  *
    What diverse role is surveillance playing in environmental mapping
    and governance?
  *
    How do geopolitical rivalries, colonial legacies, and global
    inequalities shape the emergence of planetary surveillance
    infrastructures?
  *
    What methods of resistance to authoritarian planetary surveillance
    exist? How can these methods be developed?
  *
    What are some of the relationships between nature and surveillance?

SSN 2026 seeks to engage with these entanglements of surveillance and 
planetary processes and governance We invite proposals for papers, 
panels, doctoral colloquium participation, artistic and activist 
interventions, and other contributions on all aspects of surveillance in 
and across the planetary condition.
*Venue, Accessibility & Streaming*
The main Conference will take place over 3 full days from 10-12 June 
2026, at the Université Catholique de Lille, France, with a 
pre-conference doctoral colloquium occurring on 9 June. All in-person 
sessions from the main conference will be streamed online, and there 
will also be a dedicated online track with remote presentations for 
presenters who cannot attend in-person (this will be limited, 
prioritizing virtual options for individuals from Majority World 
nations, people with disability requirements or (child) care 
responsibilities, and/or others without adequate funding to attend the 
conference in person). Some travel support will be available to a 
limited number of presenters upon application.
*Keynote Speakers and Special Sessions*
Several keynote sessions are under development and will be advertised as 
they are finalized.
*Doctoral Colloquium*
There will be an in-person colloquium for doctoral students on 9 June. 
Interested doctoral colloquium participants should indicate their 
interest in attending by submitting an expression of interest via the 
regular conference proposal submission portal. Applying for the 
colloquium will require applicants to submit a short expression of 
interest of up to 300 words that addresses the applicant’s professional 
background (e.g., their PhD program and research areas) and what they 
would hope to learn, do, or accomplish as part of the colloquium – and 
we invite creative proposals that think outside the box! Applicants are 
welcome to connect their interests to the conference theme, but there is 
no expectation or requirement to do so.
*Submissions (deadline: 10 January 2026, AoE)*
Please submit your paper, panel, or other abstract (including Doctoral 
Colloquium applications), via: *http://ssn2026.sciencesconf.org*. 
Presenters are limited to one first-author/primary presenter role but 
may be co-authors on multiple submissions.
_Submission Types:_

  *
    Papers/presentations (including artistic interventions) (up to
    300-word abstracts)
  *
    Panels (300-word abstract + additional text to identify proposed
    participants)
  *
    Doctoral Colloquium applications (statements of interest of 300 words)

*We look forward to receiving your proposals and to welcoming you to Lille!*
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