[Air-L] SCIENCE · PEACE · SECURITY ’23 - Call for Contributions (15th of March 2023)

[Laura Guntrum]

*SCIENCE · PEACE · SECURITY ’23 - Technology and the Transformation of 
Political Violence*

3^rd Interdisciplinary Conference on Technical Peace Research - 
https://sps.peasec.de/ <https://sps.peasec.de/>

Wednesday 20.- Friday 22. September 2023, Darmstadt, Germany

=============== *CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS *===============**

The interdisciplinary conference examines the impact, control and design 
of technologies which influence peace and security. Existing approaches 
towards arms control need to adapt to the changing security landscape, 
while new civilian and military technologies are changing forms of 
violence and warfare. Particularly striking areas are *cyber warfare* 
and the rapid development of *unmanned weapons systems*. Issues of 
*nuclear disarmament*, *missile technology* or *space weaponry*, as well 
as *chemical and biological weapons*, are gaining renewed urgency. In 
addition to the development of new *weapons systems*, information 
technology also plays a significant role in the oppression and *digital 
surveillance *of civilians during conflicts.

Aiming to network under authoritarian actors, civil society is 
increasingly using social media as a resource to organize *cyber 
protests* and to fight for human rights. Apart from acute use in 
conflict-related contexts, many cases illustrate that technology is 
increasingly being used by different actors for *conflict 
transformation* and to promote peace, aiming to reduce (political) 
violence in the long term.

Furthermore, the geopolitics of *infrastructure*, e.g., (*renewable) 
energy and climate change *is an urgent topic. Infrastructures are 
relevant in conflicts, can be manifestations of global injustice, 
strategic objects in armed conflicts as well as part of a peaceful 
conflict transformation. Thus, the conference seeks contributions which 
reflect on the geopolitics of infrastructure and their role

In general, all of these issues raise the question of the regulation and 
proliferation of security-relevant technologies as well as their design. 
These aspects influence who has access to certain technologies, who can 
benefit or faces risk by their use.

The interdisciplinary conference *Science *·*Peace *·*Security '23* aims 
to facilitate fruitful discussions on current and future challenges in 
the field of technical peace and conflict research. We seek 
contributions from the natural and technical science, the social and 
legal sciences, and ethics and humanities.

=============== *SUBMISSIONS *===============**

We are looking for contributions on the intersection of science, 
technology, peace and security, e.g., on

  * Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Weapons and Disarmament
  * Cyber and Information Warfare, Artificial Intelligence and Unmanned
    Weapon Systems
  * Geopolitics of Infrastructure, e.g. (Renewable) Energy and Climate
    Change
  * (Urban) Protest and Violence

We are looking for *different types of contributions*:

  * Idea pitches (5 minutes), e.g. of early stage research ideas, with
    subsequent discussion
  * Talks (10-20 minutes)
  * Posters to be presented with a 2-minute pitch and during a 90minutes
    interactive poster session
  * Ideas for panel discussions or workshops of 30-90minutes

*Submissions*are possible in our submission system 
(https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=sps23 
<https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=sps23>) until the *15^th of 
March 2023*.

  * All authors of accepted contributions will be allowed to submit a
    paper for the conference proceedings, which are planned to be
    published electronically in open access (without costs) with
    TUprints <https://tuprints.ulb.tu-darmstadt.de/>.

=============== *CONFERENCE SERIES* ===============

The Science · Peace · Security conference series, maintained by *FONAS* 
(Research Network on Science, Disarmament and International Security), 
was launched in Darmstadt in 2019 <https://sps.peasec.de/sps19/>and 
subsequently held in Aachen in 2021 <https://sps.peasec.de/sps21/>. In 
2023, it will be hosted in Darmstadt again; followed by Jülich in 2025. 
In 2023 is co-organized as part of the research project *TraCe* 
(BMBF-funded research center "Transformations of Political Violence"), 
following the tradition of *IANUS* (natural science and technical peace 
research) at Technical University of Darmstadt.

Contact: sps23 at peasec.de