2026 Oxford AI and Media Policy Summer Institute

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

About the Institute

The 2026 Oxford AI and Media Policy Summer Institute takes place at a pivotal moment for digital governance. The legal and institutional foundations that have shaped the digital age are being tested by geopolitical competition, evolving security claims, and the growing strategic importance of information infrastructures. As rules are rewritten across technology, trade, security, and communications, the future shape of global digital governance remains uncertain.

This year's Institute examines 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, participants will explore how power and legitimacy are asserted and challenged through platform governance, content regulation, AI supply chains, data infrastructures, and emerging regulatory frameworks.

Drawing on Oxford's interdisciplinary strengths, the programme brings together leading scholars alongside policymakers, regulators, civil society organisations, journalists, and industry practitioners from around the world.

Key Themes

• Sovereignty and digital governance
• AI supply chains and infrastructure politics
• Platform governance and content regulation
• Internet shutdowns and network disruptions
• Sovereign AI strategies
• Cloud dependence and cross-border data architectures
• EU digital regulation and its global implications
• Development, inequality, and digital transformation
• Global South perspectives on AI and media policy
• Emerging forms of multilateral cooperation

Global Perspectives

The Institute adopts a decisively global perspective, with particular attention to developments across Africa, Asia, Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East. Participants will examine cases ranging from internet shutdowns during elections in Uganda and network disruptions during protests in Iran to debates surrounding sovereign AI, cloud dependence, technical standards, and data governance in Ethiopia, France, and India.

We will also explore how regulatory agendas are negotiated amid infrastructural constraints and development priorities, including experiences from Brazil and South Africa. Particular attention will be paid to how countries across the Global South are developing new forms of resistance, negotiation, and coalition-building in response to powerful states and technology companies, while seeking to reshape global rules in ways that promote greater equality and inclusivity.

Learning Format

For more than twenty-five years, the Institute has supported a global community of alumni spanning academia, government, civil society, and industry. Central to our approach is active participation. The programme is designed around discussion-based seminars and opportunities for participants to engage with one another's professional experience and research agendas.

Alongside formal sessions, participants benefit from informal conversations over shared meals, college events, and the rich cultural life of Oxford. The Institute offers a unique opportunity to step back from day-to-day responsibilities and engage deeply with emerging challenges in global AI and media policy.

Who Should Attend?

The Institute welcomes applications from:

• Academics and researchers
• Policymakers and regulators
• Civil society leaders
• Journalists and media professionals
• Legal practitioners
• Industry professionals working in technology and digital governance
• Doctoral and advanced postgraduate students

Applications

Applications are now closed.

Contact

For enquiries, please contact: pcmlp@csls.ox.ac.uk