[Commlist] 2026 Oxford AI and Media Policy Summer Institute

2026 Oxford AI and Media Policy Summer Institute

Jesus College, Oxford, July 20-July 31, 2026

https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/oxford-ai-and-media-policy-summer-institute/2026-oxford-ai-and-media-policy-summer-institute 
<https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/oxford-ai-and-media-policy-summer-institute/2026-oxford-ai-and-media-policy-summer-institute>

//

Governing AI and Media in a World Between Orders:From Sovereignty to 
Multilateral Cooperation

The 2026 Oxford AI and Media Policy Summer Institute takes place at a 
moment when the legal and institutional foundations of digital 
governance are being tested, whether through emergency measures, 
shifting security claims, or the rising value of information 
infrastructures. Longstanding assumptions about the international system 
are under strain and are rapidly changing.  Rules are being rewritten 
across technology, trade, security, and infrastructure, even as the 
shape of any order that will replace the current one remains uncertain. 
This year’s theme centres on sovereignty and multilateral cooperation in 
AI and media policy, and the socio-legal questions that arise when 
authority is increasingly exercised – and contested – through digital 
systems.

Across two intensive weeks of the Summer Institute, we will examine how 
power and legitimacy are asserted and challenged, whether 
through platform governance, content regulation, or AI supply chains. We 
will explore cases where these dynamics have become especially visible 
ranging from the legitimacy of internet shutdowns during elections in 
Uganda or protests and network disruptions in Iran to the emerging 
politics of sovereign AI, including contestation over cloud dependence, 
standards, and cross-border data architectures reflected in the 
political concerns in Ethiopia, France or India.We will also explore how 
regulatory agendas are negotiated amid infrastructural constraints, with 
questions of development and widening inequality at the fore, as in 
Brazil and South Africa.

Drawing on Oxford’s interdisciplinary strengths, the Institute brings 
together speakers from across academia alongside leaders from policy, 
government, civil society, and the private sector. We will use our 
vantage point from the UK and Europe to consider regional 
priorities—such as the implementation and international impacts of 
the EU digital regulations and national approaches to online harms.

As with Institutes in the past, our approach remains decisivelyglobal, 
with focused attention on the perspectives and agendas of the Global 
South, including the ways middle and smaller powers are increasingly 
pushing back, navigating, bargaining, and operating across institutions 
in a contested landscape. We will focus on how global south countries 
are developing emerging modes of resistance to powerful actors, 
including BigTech, and are attempting to re-write rules in an effort to 
promote greater equality and inclusivity.

For more than twenty-five years, the Institute has supported a global 
community of alumni spanning academia, policy, civil society, and 
industry. Central to our approach is the active engagement of 
participants.  The programme is designed around group discussions and 
opportunities to draw, and reflect, on participants' professional 
experience and research agendas. It offers a unique opportunity to 
pause, gain distance from day-to-day routines, and engage with new and 
diverse perspectives from around the world. In a moment of flux and 
uncertainty, join us to debate urgent questions in global AI and media 
policy – both in the seminar room and in the conversations that unfold 
over breakfast, shared meals, and alongside the rich exciting cultural 
life Oxford offers.

Please get in touch with us if you have any questions at 
(pcmlp /at/ csls.ox.ac.uk) <mailto:(pcmlp /at/ csls.ox.ac.uk)>

We recommend applying early, particularly if you require a visa to 
travel to the UK.  Apply by March 14, 2026 for an early decision. The 
final application deadline is April 21, 2026. 
Applyhere:https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/content/news/call-applications-2026-oxford-ai-and-media-policy-summer-institute 
<https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/content/news/call-applications-2026-oxford-ai-and-media-policy-summer-institute>

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