Digital Society Conference 2021

After a year of absence due to the COVID pandemic, the Association of Universities in the Netherlands, consisting of fourteen Dutch universities, is back, with a new edition of the Digital Society Conference.

On Monday 29 November and Tuesday 30 November 2021, the Digital Society Conference will take place in a fully digital setting. The Digital Society Conference is all about connecting citizens, researchers, policy advisors, civil society organisations, industry and entrepreneurs, so we can work together towards a common goal: to create a better digital society which is beneficial for all. We are pleased to invite you to join us during these two inspirational afternoons with both national and international speakers.

Central theme: FAIR

FAIRness is this year's central theme. FAIR stands for impartiality and equal opportunities. It is also an acronym for Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability and Reusability. People increasingly rely on computational support to deal with data as a result of the increase in volume, complexity, and creation speed of data. The FAIR principles emphasize the actions of machines; the ability of computer systems to find, access, share, and reuse data with minimal human intervention or no human intervention at all. How do we ensure that FAIR data do not reproduce past inequities and injustices? How can we use data and digital technologies to make society more fair. And how do we apply these principles in research and in society?

Top scholars and scientists from the Digital Society research program will explain and show the latest digital trends and developments around this theme, together with special guests from all over the globe, including Genevieve Bell (Australian National University) and Tarleton Gillespie (Microsoft/Cornell).

Program

The program lasts from 1:00 PM until 5:00 PM on both days. There will be internationally recognized keynote speakers, breakout sessions and networking opportunities.