GARR CONFERENCE 2026

Call for proposal

The shape of change:

Between digital ethics and shared roots

Bring your contribution to the GARR Conference 2026 and take part as a speaker, sharing experiences, projects and reflections on the use and evolution of digital infrastructures, services and skills in research, higher education and innovation.

The 2026 edition invites reflection on the ongoing transformation of digital technologies and knowledge infrastructures, placing at its core the relationship between digital autonomy, the ethics and law of artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomous systems, infrastructure security and resilience, the federation of resources and services, the opportunities and challenges of cloud computing, the new frontiers of quantum computing, the enhancement of digital cultural heritage, open-source and free software as a common good, and the responsible use of data for research.

PARTECIPATE

This call for proposals aims to collect contributions offering perspectives, use cases and practical experiences on:

The use and sharing of data over research networks
Development strategies and policies for digital infrastructures
Interoperability and access to data and services
ICT services supporting research and education infrastructures
Training and technology transfer

Contributions that address this year’s conference themes in a critical and interdisciplinary way will be particularly welcomed.

Thematic Areas

Contributions may fall within one or more of the following areas:

Interdisciplinary contributions will be particularly appreciated.

Proposals, related to the conference theme, may cover:

Digital sovereignty, the geopolitics of infrastructures, and alternatives to closed systems
AI ethics, autonomous systems and regulation
Digital resilience, sustainability and system vulnerabilities
Digital infrastructures, cloud computing and the federation of services
Authentication and authorisation infrastructures
Quantum computing and the Quantum Internet
Digital cultural heritage
Open source and Software Heritage
Research data governance

Disciplinary Areas

Contributions may relate to: scientific and biomedical research, cultural heritage, universities and training, schools, art and music.

Multidisciplinary contributions will be especially appreciated.

Deadlines

Call Opens

17 February 2026
Call Closes

23 March 2026
Acceptance notifications and programme announcement

22 April 2026
Conference dates

19-21 May 2026

Rules

Submissions must be sent in PDF format, in Italian or English, and must be 1 to 3 pages in length (2,500–9,000 characters, excluding the biography). Authors may attach multimedia materials (images, videos, demos). Submission requires registration and completion of the online online form.

Alongside quality, innovation and interest for the research and education community, relevance to the conference’s key themes will be a central evaluation criterion.

Authors of selected contributions will have the opportunity to produce an extended version of their work, to be published by GARR in a volume of Selected Papers with ISBN, DOI, and a Creative Commons CC BY licence.

Promote the Conference

Download the available resources and help us spread the word about the event.

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