On October 9 and 10, 2025, researchers from a wide range of disciplines will gather at the Makerspace of Ruhr University Bochum to discuss how digital public spaces, learning spaces, and data spaces can be designed to be transparent, fair, and sustainable. The conference provides a platform to analyze and reflect on overarching societal developments as well as everyday practices, and how these shape the interplay between digital spaces and concrete actions. Central questions include how digital spaces are perceived, what possibilities for action users have within them, and how new digital spaces emerge in different contexts.
Registration
Registration for the conference is now open.
Please note: Participation is limited to 100 people – early registration is strongly recommended.
Program
The diverse conference program, featuring talks, workshops, and lightning talks, is now available online: https://www.cais-research.de/creating-spaces-for-digital-futures-program/
The keynote address of this interdisciplinary conference will be given by Prof. Juliane Jarke (University of Graz) on the topic “Digital Futures-in-the-Making: Challenging Regimes of Anticipation.”
Particular highlights of the conference include two panel discussions:
- The panel “Academic Freedom: Foundations for the Future” addresses current challenges to academic freedom. We are delighted to welcome Ina Brandes, Minister for Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, as a participant. She will join Dr. Katrin Weller (Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf) and Prof. Tim Majchrzak (CAIS Bochum) in discussing strategies to strengthen academic resilience in times of political and financial uncertainty.
- In the panel “Keeping It Real(lab) – Living Labs as Platforms for Digital Transformation,” Prof. Markus Specht (FernUniversität in Hagen), Prof. Juliane Jarke (University of Graz), and Dr. Mirko Schaefer (Utrecht University) will explore living labs as innovative platforms for transdisciplinary research and societal transformation.
Conference Submissions
The conference features contributions from researchers based in, amongst others, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, France, the United Kingdom, the United States, Finland, Israel, Nigeria, and Portugal.
The final acceptance rate of 60.65% reflects the high academic quality, thematic diversity, and societal relevance of the selected contributions. All submissions underwent a rigorous multi-stage peer review process and were evaluated by two independent experts.
More detailed information on the review process: https://www.cais-research.de/creating-spaces-for-digital-futures/#submissions
Further Information:
Program: https://www.cais-research.de/creating-spaces-for-digital-futures-program/
Registration: https://www.cais-research.de/creating-spaces-for-digital-futures/#registration
Conference Website: https://www.cais-research.de/