DATAGOV Kickoff 2026

Data infrastructures like digital identity systems and biometric technologies increasingly decide who is seen, sorted, and served — yet they remain largely out of public view. The DATAGOV kick-off invites you to pull these systems into the open and join a cross-sector conversation on how data-driven regulation is reshaping democracy, rights, and inequality worldwide.

🗓️ Date: March 27, 2026
🕦 Time: 9:30 - 15:00, tentative programme available below
📍Location: Framer Framed (Oranje-Vrijstaatkade 71 1093 KS, Amsterdam)
📃 Sign up here

DATAGOV investigates the impact and social costs of regulatory data infrastructures: data-grabbing systems that actively shape the polity, from monitoring and automated decision-making to mediating access to public services, rights, and welfare. The project, funded by the European Research Council (ERC), takes a comparative approach investigating the European Union, Brazil, India, and South Africa, to examine how these infrastructures transform governance and what they mean for the future of democracy in an era of pervasive datafication. To start with, our empirical focus is on four technology families: biometrics, digital identity, and health and education technologies, and how these reconfigure citizenship, sovereignty, and inequality. The kick-off will feature keynote presentations, conversations, and a borrel, bringing together a diverse group of participants from academia, policymaking, industry, civil society, and the arts. 

The event will also leave ample time for conversation, (net)working, and enjoying each other’s company. While the program is still taking shape, we already have an exciting list of speakers who will be joining us from around the world: Louise Amoore (Durham University), Fernando Filgueiras (Brazilian Ministry of Education), Mirca Madianou (Goldsmiths, University of London), Rocco Bellanova (Vrije Universiteit Brussel), Cecilia Passanti (Université Paris Cité), Rob van Kranenburg (IEEE Standards Association), and colleagues from the UvA. 

(Tentative) Schedule
9:30 - 10:00 Arrival & Coffee
10:00 - 10:45 Welcome & Introduction
10:45 - 12:15 Panel 1 Governing by Data Infrastructure: Tensions and Fault Lines
12:15 - 13:15 Lunch
13:15 - 14:45 Panel 2 Global Perspectives on Governance by Data Infrastructure
14:45 onwards Closing Reflections & Borrrel