[Air-L] Call for the I Latin American Forum for Intelligence Studies (inteLA)

[André Ramiro]

Dear AoIR members,

We are delighted to share with you the call for the

*I Latin American Forum for Intelligence Studies (inteLA)*

*Date*: 25-26 March, 2026
*Location:* Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUC-RS)
*Organization:* University of Hamburg (UHH), Federal University of Rio
Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUC-RS),
Latin American Network for Surveillance, Technology and Society Studies
(Lavits), School of Applied Sciences – Unicamp, and Legiscraft

*About:* The Latin American Forum on Intelligence Studies (inteLA) is an
initiative created to address a practical gap: the need to establish, in
Latin America, a regional hub that continuously brings together emerging
and ongoing debates across a broad academic and critical field on
intelligence and democracy.

As a way of building and advancing capacities for analyzing risks,
priorities, and institutional options in the region — avoiding a fragmented
and geopolitically isolated scenario — the proposal is to move forward with
best practices for formulating proposals grounded in Latin American
institutional, technological, and socioeconomic realities. Dialogue with
other regions is equally important, both because of the international
nature of the subject and through multilateral strategies. inteLA therefore
brings together researchers, public officials, and civil society actors to
build a regional point of reference: a forum capable of sustaining
high-quality research while maintaining close ties with institutional
practice.

In doing so, inteLA paves the way for Latin American scholarship and
perspectives to engage more directly with international debates. Rather
than treating the region as a marginal case, the Forum seeks to ensure that
its experiences — from democratic transitions to institutional constraints
and governance dilemmas — are taken seriously in the way intelligence is
studied and understood.

The first edition of inteLA is dedicated to the oversight of intelligence
in democracy. On the one hand, technological change is rapidly expanding
the intrusive capacities of the State. On the other hand, traditional
oversight mechanisms remain limited, creating an environment in which
serious abuses can flourish and democratic safeguards may gradually erode
over time. In this context, institutional, multi-stakeholder, and
multilateral dialogues are central to the democratic development of the
field. With this concern in mind, inteLA 2026 will bring together
participants from academia, the public sector, and civil society to deepen
the diagnosis and map out pathways for reform.


*Day 1 (morning)*

*Keynote speaker:* José Manuel Ugarte (University of Buenos Aires) [*in
Spanish]*

*First Panel: "Systems of Control, the Rule of Law, and New Technologies" *[*in
English]*

Prof. Dr. Marion Albers (University of Hamburg)

Prof. Dr. Alcides Perón (Unicamp)

Dr. Thorsten Wetzling (interface)

Anna Cruz (ESINT - Brazilian School of Intelligence)

Moderation: André Ramiro (University of Hamburg/Lavits)

*Second Panel: "The future of intelligence oversight in Brazil" **[in
Portuguese]*

Fernanda Melchionna (Brazilian National Congress, PSOL-RS)

Waldemar Gonçalves (Brazilian National Data Protection Authority)

Dr. Fernanda Vilares (Brazilian Office of the Federal Attorney General)

Dr. José Fernando Chuy (Internal Inspector of the Brazilian Intelligence
Agency - Abin)

Natália Viana (Agência Pública)

Moderation: Conrado Klöckner (Legiscraft)


*Presentation:* *"The architecture of an efficient oversight system."* White
paper about a new Brazilian intelligence external oversight (Conrado
Klöckner) *[in Portuguese]*


*- Lunch break -*


*Working Groups (afternoon) **[in Portuguese]**:*

*1 - *Intelligence and Sovereignty

*2 - *Limits of Intelligence Activities

*3 - *Emerging Technologies and Data Protection

*4 - *Institutional Architecture and Oversight


*Day 2 (morning) - *[*in English]*

*Hybrid Panel: Global Tendencies in Intelligence Oversight: Gaps and
Benchmarks*

Amir Cahane (Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

Prof. Dr. Paul McGarr (King's College London)

Prof. Dr. José Manuel Ugarte (University of Buenos Aires)

Conrado Klöckner (Legiscraft)

Moderation: Prof. Dr. Maísa Edwards (King's College London)


Free registrations at: https://www.legiscraft.org/event-details/intela-2026

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to send a message. Looking
forward to seeing you there!
-- 
*André Ramiro*
PhD Candidate in Informational and Public Law at Hamburg University.
Stanford University's Digital Civil Society Lab Fellow - Center on
Philanthropy and Civil Society (PACS) (24-25).
Fellow Researcher at Weizenbaum Institute - "Technology, Power, and
Domination" Research Group (23).
Visiting Researcher at the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet
and Society - Alexander von Humboldt Foundation's Fellow (22-23).
Member of LAVITS - Latin American Network of Surveillance, Technology and
Society Studies.
Co-Founder and former Director of IP.rec - Law and Technology Research
Institute of Recife.