Call for Abstracts:

‘’Migration and Technologies of Un/Bordering’’ Workshop
June 6, 2025
Institute of Advanced Studies, University of Surrey, England [and online]
https://www.ias.surrey.ac.uk/event/migration-and-technologies-of-bordering/

Important Dates:
Deadline for submission of abstracts: March 21, 2025 (extended)
Notification of Outcome: March 28, 2025
Deadline to submit poster image (successful candidates only): April 19, 2025

Confirmed Keynote Speakers include: Dr Evgenia Iliadou (Independent Researcher)

We are delighted to announce this Call for Abstracts, for the hybrid and free, 1 day conference on ‘’Migration and technologies of Un/Bordering’’ on Friday 6th June 2025, at the University of Surrey.

Migrants are often presented as a ‘problem’ to be fixed through restrictive and technologically advanced border regimes, and criminalised through surveillance and public discourse online. But technology can also give migrants the chance to advocate for change and foster solidarity. This workshop will explore current developments at the intersection of technology, borders and human mobility to understand the processes and implications of bordering at the micro-, meso- and macro-level.

Migration has always been presented as a contested issue, especially so in particular political discourses that often racialize migrants, while presenting them as ‘problem’ to be managed through stricter immigration and border regimes.

Contemporary understandings of borders extend beyond their territorial manifestations, comprising complex constructs that materialise in physical, symbolic, and virtual spaces. The interplay of different forms (physical-geographical, temporal, symbolic-media, virtual) and various scales of bordering processes (international, regional, local, everyday etc.) exacerbate exclusion, halts mobility (for some, while facilitates it for others) as part of racial capitalism and colonial systems.

This occurs both within systemic frameworks and in public discourse, particularly through platforms like social media, providing a fertile ground for the rise of extremist ideologies, across the physical and digital spaces. Advanced technological developments have transformed processes of bordering and created interoperable, ‘smart’ border infrastructures and omnipresent border ecosystems, with onerous implications on the human rights and liberties of people on the move. Hand-in-hand with operations on the ground, technology is utilised in the shaping of migration pathways, the proliferation of surveillance and the criminalisation of migrants and migrant solidarity alike.

Against this backdrop, technology, digital media and platforms have proved means of resistance too, fostering spaces of hope and solidarities and highlighting migrant-led struggles for racial and social justice.

As our modern world seems to become ‘smaller’, and conservative, reactionary and far-right ideologies threaten to push communities further into the margins, we ask:

How can technology be used to escape, challenge, unmake and eventually obliterate borders?

This conference aims to explore current developments in the intersection of technology, borders, and human mobility to provide macro-meso-microlevel understandings of the processes and implications of un/bordering across levels and scales.  Understanding and addressing the role of technology is vital if we seek to dismantle systemic injustices while fostering inclusive and equitable societies. This is why, we invite academics, activists, artists and people with experiences of migration, to engage in discussions that explore the following themes (list is not exhaustive):

• Physical, temporal, symbolic and techno borders
• AI and the making of digital borders
• Big data and ethics in migration and technology studies
• Borders in Higher Education and resistance
• Migration, technology and Human Rights
• Creative, collaborative and online methodologies for the study of borders and technology
• Decolonial approaches to studying migration, borders and technology
• Big data and ethics in migration and technology studies
• Borders, migration and technology
• Border abolition and migrant justice activism (in digital, physical and hybrid environments) 

We invite participants to submit a poster presentation covering the main aspects of their research. Posters will be presented as a visual display both online and at thein-person conference and contributors will be invited to do a 10’ presentation of their board and discuss their work in more detail. Our aim is to facilitate discussions on the diverse research areas we explore and highlight the intersections across our various fields and themes.

The poster presentations will be followed by a roundtable discussion on key themes and ways of moving forward in establishing an international network of researchers from multiple disciplines and at different career stages.

Poster Requirements:

• The Visual should be easily readable from a distance (1-2 metres). Please ensure all the necessary details are clearly visible, and the overall texture matches your intention (avoid visual artefacts, blurs, pixelation, etc., if this is not part of your idea).
• If you plan to use text (for a title, clarifications, descriptions, etc.) – please use short sentences, simple words, and bullets to illustrate your points; use colours for emphasis, but do not overuse (2-3 colours are usually enough). Remember that this is a visual representation of your research, not a “classic” presentation with text.
• The file should be a pdf. Size: standard A2 (420 x 594 mm).
• If successful, please submit your poster image by: Friday 19 April 2025

For academic enquiries please contact: Dr Maria-Nerina Boursinou (m.boursinou /at/ surrey.ac.uk).

For administrative support please contact: Ms Silfana Nasri (s.nasri /at/ surrey.ac.uk).