What would artificial intelligence (AI) governance look like if justice, rather than capital, efficiency or innovation, were its organising principle? The 2026 Just AI Conference: Grounding AI Governance in Justice takes this question seriously. Building on Research ICT Africa’s Just AI Framework of Inquiry, the conference, set to take place from 30-31 March 2026, in Johannesburg, South Africa, offers a meeting ground for leading scholars, policymakers, civil society actors, and technologists from across Africa and the Global South to explore how AI can be designed and governed to advance social, economic, and epistemic justice actively.
Building on the 2024 conference, this gathering moves from conceptual development to applied learning, offering a space to share ongoing research and a collaborative laboratory for evolving the Framework of Inquiry – ensuring that justice in AI becomes a living, practice-based tool for shaping equitable and sustainable AI futures.
Conference Themes
Submissions should address one (or more) of the following four themes, aligning with the Just AI Framework of Inquiry and its focus on justice as the foundation for AI governance.
Theme 1: Democratic Futures in the Algorithmic Age
This theme explores how algorithmic systems are transforming democratic institutions, participation, and accountability. It invites analyses that connect AI governance to human rights, public oversight, and civic agency.
Theme 2: Building Just AI in Digital Public Infrastructure
As African states and regions invest in digital public infrastructure, this theme examines how justice can be embedded from the start in data governance, identity systems, and economic architecture. It considers how AI can be designed and deployed to promote data justice, economic equity, and inclusion by design rather than deepen dependencies and structural inequalities.
Theme 3: From AI Extraction to AI Restoration
This theme interrogates the political economy of AI, from data extraction and labour exploitation to new models of reciprocity, redistribution, and ecological sustainability. It connects to inquiries of economic justice, structural inequality, and sustainability, asking what restorative approaches could rebalance power and value in AI’s global value chains.
Theme 4: Relational Ethics and Contextual Knowledges in AI Design
This theme centres human experience, care, and context in the development and governance of AI. It invites contributions that examine how embodied data, local epistemologies, and intersectional ethics can inform AI design, ensuring systems reflect and respect the diversity of human life and knowledge.
Extended Abstract Guidelines
Length:
1 200–1 500 words (excluding references)
Required sections:
- Title of paper
- Author(s), affiliation(s), and contact information
- Theme / Track (choose one of the four listed above)
- Problem statement and research question(s)
- Methodology or conceptual approach
- Key (anticipated or preliminary) findings or insights
- Implications for policy, practice, or future research
- Short reference list (maximum 10 references)
Formatting:
- 12-point font, single spacing, standard margins
Submit your extended abstract in a Word (.docx) or .pdf format here
Key dates
Submission deadline: 15 December 2025, midnight SAST
Confirmation of acceptance: 19 January 2025
Conference dates: 30-31 March 2026
For any queries, please email: justaiconference@researchictafrica.net
