Wolas Conference Series 3
Rights in the AI Race
WCS 2026 Call for Papers
Rights in the AI Race
4-5 December 2026, Istanbul University
How does one regulate a booming technological sector with worrying ramifications for human rights? Legal and regulatory frameworks struggle to catch up with the latest developments in Artificial Intelligence, creating a widening gap between technological capability and legal oversight. This mismatch leads to intrusions into the boundaries of legality across multiple domains. AI’s recent rise has ignored and violated IP rights, its unparalleled use in data technologies is a challenging encroachment on individual and social lives, and its active and potential uses in military technologies are alarming.
On the flip side, AI, as a general-purpose technology, presents a competitive terrain, one that is dominated by two prominent actors, namely China and the US. This competition is driving the securitization of AI supply chains, pressuring other states to position themselves within an emerging technological order. Amid this backdrop, legal responses are being shaped by corporations and governments to take part in the global AI race and protect individuals and societies.
This begets a critical question for law. Can legal frameworks both streamline technological development and offer individual and social protection? Does the protection of human rights limit technological expansion, or are legal frameworks being reconfigured to allow innovation at the expense of social and individual rights?
Expecting an interdisciplinary collective, Wolas Conference Series (WCS) 2026 invites scholars and experts from germane fields of law, social sciences and technology to ponder and converse over the potential legal implications of the AI race for “human” rights.
Themes
- Future Wars, Humanitarianism and Human Rights
- Regulating Daily life and AI: Individual Rights and Social Conditions
- Politics and Technology: Grappling with the AI Race’s Implications for the Global Order
- AI Decision-making and the Impact on Legality and Equality
- Privacy as a Long-standing Human Right and the AI Race
- Public Surveillance, Dataveillance and AI Governance: Individuals and Society
- AI Governance Beyond Privacy: From Data Protection to Power Regulation
- Biometric Sovereignty and the Datafication of Personhood
- Independent Oversight Mechanisms, Public Regulation and Global Governance
- Digital Colonialism and the rise of AI platforms
- Social Responsibility between Platforms and States
- Evidentiary Crisis and Legal Epistemology in the Age of AI
- AI and Armed Conflict: Targeting, Prediction, and Humanitarian Decision Systems
- Energy Resources, the Climate Crisis and AI Development
- Labour Rights, Human Welfare and Economic Inequalities
- Liability Regimes, Norms and AI Products
- IP Theft in AI Development: Power and the Future of IP
Speakers
- Keynote Speaker
M. Beheşti Aydoğan
Boğaziçi University
- Keynote Speaker
Hasan Basri Bülbül
Boğaziçi University
- Keynote Speaker
Hüseyin Dişli
WOLAS
- Keynote Speaker
Abdullah Yasir Atalan
CSIS
Organising Committee
M. Beheşti Aydoğan
- (Boğaziçi University - Head of the Organising Committee)
Abdullah Yasir Atalan
- (Center for Strategic&International Studies - CSIS)
Bayram Veli Yuvalı
- (WOLAS - Attorney)
Hasan Basri Bülbül
- (Bogazici University)
Hüseyin Dişli
- (WOLAS - University of Kent)
Mohammad Ali Madni
- (University of Warwick)
Mohsen al Attar
- (Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University - XJTLU)
Oktay Altun
- (Boğaziçi University)
Ömer Metehan Aynural
- (Istanbul University)
Burak Yuvalı
- (WOLAS - Marmara University)
Rebecca Clare Iszatt
- (University of Leeds)
Sıddık Kaman
- (Architecht)
Yang Guo
- (Newcastle University)
Natavan Huseynova
- (WOLAS - Istanbul Technical University)
Zeynep Oral
- (WOLAS - Ibn Haldun University)
Scientific Committee
Mohsen al Attar
- (Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University - XJTLU)
Ömer Erkut Bulut
- (Boğaziçi University)
Mehmet Ali Ergün
- (Istanbul Technical University)
Fethi Gedikli
- (Istanbul University)
Mustafa Emre Gökmenoğlu
- (Hacettepe University)
Kevin Jon Heller
- (University of Copenhagen)
Adnan Jafar
- (Boğaziçi University)
Mehmet Bedii Kaya
- (Bilgi University)
Heidi Matthews
- (York University)
Jasmin Johurun Nessa
- (University of Bristol)
Abdurrahman Savaş
- (Istanbul University)
Ayşe Didem Sezgin
- (Boğaziçi University)
Important Dates
- 12 October 2026
Application Deadline
- 20 October 2026
Notification of Acceptance
- 30 October 2026
Confirmation of Participation Deadline
- 10 November 2026
Announcement of the Final Program
- 4–5 December 2026
Conference Date
FAQs / Find Your Answers
Will the selected paper be published?
Selected papers will be published as chapters in an English-language edited volume by a prestigious international academic publisher.
Who can apply?
Applications are open to PhD candidates, postdoctoral researchers, academics, legal professionals, policy experts, civil society researchers, and practitioners working on artificial intelligence, law, politics, governance, human rights, humanitarian law, or related fields.
Istanbul University, Beyazıt Campus
VENUE & LOCATION
VENUE
Rights in the AI Race will be hosted at Istanbul University, Faculty of Law.
organiser & Supporters
SUBMISSION
Submit Your Abstract (300 words)
Submission Guidelines
- Abstracts should not exceed 300 words.
- Submissions must be in English.
- Please include your name, institutional affiliation, and a current CV.
- (WOLAS)