Connected Life 2025: C³ – Connect. Create. Compute.
In 2025, digital infrastructure is already a part of our everyday existence. From generative AI shaping communication to geopolitical cyberconflicts and climate-tech entanglements, our connected systems of the Internet carry unprecedented power and risks. The digital sphere is fragmented by platform politics, algorithmic opacity and widening access gaps, reinforcing existing inequalities in new forms. Within this complexity also lies opportunity – an opportunity to not just critique the systems we inherit, but also to actively rewire them.

At Connected Life 2025, we shift the conversation from critique to creation. Under the theme C³ – Connect. Create. Compute., we engage with three core dimensions of this transformation: how we connect across fragmented digital spaces; how we create tools, norms and cultures through design and policy; and how we compute the data and architecture that underpin our digital world. From global governance and grassroots innovation to virtual identities, we foreground interdisciplinary dialogue and practice-based research aimed at reimagining the digital sphere from the ground up.

The theme of Connect (1), Create (2) and Compute (3) includes:

“Connect” emphasises the importance of building networks and sharing insights across disciplines to enhance understanding of digital phenomena.
“Create” refers to the innovative methodologies and tools developed to study complex online environments and the novel ways social interactions manifest online.
“Compute” highlights the integral role of computational techniques and data analytics in extracting meaningful patterns and trends from vast amounts of digital data. 
Through keynote talks, panel discussions, and a poster exhibit, Connected Life offers a multi-dimensional engagement in this one-day conference — connecting people, creating ideas, and computing change. Join us in shaping how we live, design, and act in a deeply connected digital world.

Call for Speakers
Please apply using the link below by 2nd June 2025. Applications will be reviewed on rolling basis.

forms.office.com/e/NkgBuURGBh

To encourage diverse and uncommon perspectives, the organising committee of Connected Life 2025 welcomes both speaker and poster proposals from researchers, designers, policymakers, students, and faculty across disciplines, including but not limited to digital humanities, law and technology, critical data studies, science and technology studies, surveillance studies, international relations, design, media and communications, politics, sociology, economics, education, computer science, history, and philosophy. Proposals from individual speakers are welcomed alongside those from multiple contributors.

Registration
We are excited to announce that tickets for Connected Life 2025 are now live!

Join us on Thursday, 26th June 2025, in Oxford, UK for a one-day interdisciplinary conference exploring how we connect, create, and compute in an increasingly digital world.

Expect keynotes, panels and a poster sessions to cover topics across:

Governance and Infrastructure
Digital Society and Empowerment
Evolving digital Markets
Creativity and Humanities

Tickets costs £25.00 per person.
Date: 26 June 2025, 10:00
Venue: Jesus College, Turl Street OX1 3DW
Venue Details: Cheng Kar Shun Digital Hub, Jesus College, Turl Street, OX1 3DW
Speakers: Speaker to be announced
Organising department: Oxford Internet Institute
Organisers: Liam Bekirsky (Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford), Kelly Portscher (Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford), Safiyah Suleman (Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford), Farah Nanji (Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford), Anne Rollgen (Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford), Lenka Rueda Molins (Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford), Georgina Lubke (Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford), Ellen Yang (Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford)
Organiser contact email address: connectedlife@oii.ox.ac.uk
Booking required?: Required
Booking url: https://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/news-events/events/connected-life-2025-c%c2%b3-connect-create-compute/
Cost: £25
Audience: Public
Editor: Ellen Mobbs