Exploring social justice in the age of datafication

The 4th International Data Justice Conference will be held at Cardiff University, UK, on 1-2 June 2026. Titled The Datafied State, it will explore the transformations of the state in an age of datafication and AI, new forms of state-business relations, and emerging popular responses. Keynote Speakers include: Sarah Myers West, AI Now, US; Oriana Bernasconi, UC Chile, Chile; Nick Srnicek, King’s College London, UK. You can submit an abstract (500 words max) to [email protected] by 31st of December, 2025.

What is data justice? How do we understand datafication from the perspective of social justice? Our book ‘Data Justice’ explores different dimensions of this question, looking at the data economy, politics, governance and policy, citizenship and activism, global and local impacts. Published with Sage in September 2022, the book is the first in a book series on Data Justice with Sage Publications, edited by the Data Justice Lab. For a quick glance at the issues addressed in the book, check out this short video!

The Data Justice Lab was created in 2017 at Cardiff University, UK, to explore the intrinsic relations between datafication and social justice. It quickly became a prominent institution in the growing academic field of Critical Data Studies. As several of its co-Directors moved on from Cardiff to other institutions, it is now a virtual hub spreading across Cardiff University, Goldsmiths / University of London (both UK), University of Western Ontario (Canada), and Universidade Santiago de Compostela (Spain).