Call for Applications: 2026 Oxford AI and Media Policy Summer Institute

Applications are now open for the 2026 Oxford AI and Media Policy Summer Institute, taking place from 20–31 July 2026 at Jesus College, Oxford.

The Institute arrives at a moment when the legal and institutional foundations of digital governance are being actively tested. Emergency regulatory measures, evolving security claims, and the growing strategic importance of information infrastructures are reshaping longstanding assumptions about the international system. Rules across technology, trade, and media policy are being rewritten, even as the contours of any emerging global order remain uncertain.

This year’s theme explores how sovereignty and multilateral cooperation are evolving within 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 examine how power and legitimacy are asserted through platform governance, content regulation, and AI supply chains. Case discussions will explore issues ranging from internet shutdowns during elections in Uganda and network disruptions in Iran to debates around sovereign AI, cloud dependence, standards, and cross-border data architectures in contexts such as Ethiopia, France, and India. The programme will also consider regulatory negotiations shaped by infrastructural constraints and inequality, with examples drawn from Brazil and South Africa.

Drawing on Oxford’s interdisciplinary strengths, the Institute brings together academics alongside leaders from policy, government, civil society, and industry. From a UK and European vantage point, sessions will reflect on regional developments including EU digital regulation and national approaches to online harms, while maintaining a decisively global outlook with strong engagement from Global South perspectives.

For more than twenty-five years, the Institute has fostered an international community of alumni across academia, policy, civil society, and industry. The programme is designed around active discussion and collaborative exchange, offering participants the opportunity to step back from day-to-day pressures and engage deeply with emerging debates in AI and media governance.

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 through the wider intellectual and cultural life of Oxford.

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

We encourage early applications, particularly for those who require a visa to travel to the UK. The early decision deadline is 14 March 2026, and the final application deadline is 21 April 2026. Apply here.