| Willy Brandt School of Public Policy, Development and Socio-Economic Policies

Call for papers: Green and Digital Futures (Point Sud Workshop, Kampala)

Brandt School faculty, Prof. Dr Achim Kemmerling and Dr Evans Awuni, are collaborating with an international team of scholars to convene the Point Sud workshop, "Green and Digital Futures Rethinking the Twin Transition in Africa in an Era of Multiple Crises," hosted by the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Makerere University, Kampala, from 18-22 May 2026. Applications are open now until 10 February.

workshop focuses on two interlinked tensions that are especially salient in African political economies. First, decarbonisation strategies reconfigure development pathways through industrial policy choices, land and resource governance, energy pricing, and new dependencies tied to critical minerals and global value chains (Boafo et al., 2024). Second, digitalisation can widen socioeconomic and spatial inequalities through data extraction, surveillance infrastructures, platform-mediated labour, and exclusionary identification and service-delivery systems, raising urgent questions about rights, sovereignty, and governance capacity (Couldry and Mejias, 2018).

How to apply 
Submit your application as a single PDF containing three components. First, include an abstract of no more than 500 words (in English or French) that states the research question and core argument, outlines the data and method (or conceptual approach), specifies the empirical focus (e.g., country, region, or case), indicates the most relevant workshop panel(s), and notes the stage of the paper (e.g. idea, ongoing analysis, draft manuscript, or published).

Second, include a short motivation for participation that also explains briefly how the contribution speaks to the twin transition (green and digital), even if one dimension is primary. Third, include a CV of no more than two pages with your affiliation, disciplinary background, research interests, and relevant outputs. Please note that applications from Lusophone Africa are strongly encouraged, but participants should be able to present and engage in either English or French. Send the single PDF to evans.awuni@uni-erfurt.de (Cc elvisa@uj.ac.za) with the subject line “Point Sud 2026 Green and Digital Futures Submission”. Please direct enquiries to: evans.awuni@uni-erfurt.de.

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