Call for Abstracts – Oxford-HKU Chinese Law Workshop for Junior Researchers (2026)

The Chinese Law Discussion Group (CLDG) at the University of Oxford, in collaboration with the Law and Technology Centre at the University of Hong Kong, is pleased to invite submissions of abstracts to be presented at the 2026 Chinese Law Workshop for Junior Researchers, scheduled to be held on 4th and 5th June 2026. As a student-run discussion group affiliated with the Faculty of Law, University of Oxford, the CLDG explores a full range of issues with respect to the intersection/comparison of Chinese, civil, and common law and legal traditions as well as international law issues relating to China. The CLDG has successfully organised two annual conferences in the summers of 2024 and 2025. The upcoming 2026 Chinese Law Workshop seeks to offer junior researchers a valuable opportunity to showcase their recent research and receive feedback from peers and more senior scholars, fostering academic growth and networking within this vibrant community.

For this year’s Workshop, we will adopt an intensive workshop format designed to create a more in-depth and interactive environment for each presentation. To facilitate this, we ask that submissions be situated within one of the following directions and address the accompanying guiding questions:

Artificial Intelligence: How is artificial intelligence governed in China through law, regulation, and Party policies, and what does this reveal about the relationship between state, society, and the market? How does the use of artificial intelligence transform the everyday operations of public and private entities, and what implications does it have on Chinese legal and regulatory frameworks?
Data Governance: How do evolving data-governance regimes in China reconcile competing objectives of security, innovation, privacy protection, and economic development? How do China’s data-governance frameworks compare with those in the EU, U.S., or other jurisdictions, and what lessons do these comparisons offer for regulatory coherence and interoperability?
Frontiers of International Law Practice: What important developments/issues have emerged in the International Court of Justice’s recent jurisprudence and current docket, as well as the International Law Commission’s recently adopted texts and current programme of work, and what may be the critiques thereof? What role has China played in shaping this practice, and what implications may such practice have for China?
Investor-State and Commercial Dispute Resolution: What are some significant legal developments/issues in China regarding the resolution of investor-state and commercial disputes in recent years, and what are the implications thereof? Conversely, what (procedural and substantive) developments/issues in the global practice of mixed or private dispute resolution may have significant implications for Chinese corporations, investors and regulators, and what may be the way(s) forward?
Regulation and Regulatory Instruments: How do emerging regulatory instruments respond to rising regulatory problems? How can traditional legal principles such as transparency, due process, and reason-giving be upheld when regulators increasingly rely on knowledge-based regulatory instruments? How do regulatory instruments influence public law doctrines and shape the future of the Administrative State?
Judicial Politics: How do political institutions—such as Party organs, legislative bodies, or administrative agencies—shape judicial decision-making and judicial behaviour in China? What comparative insights can be drawn from other jurisdictions where courts operate under strong political influence, and how might these inform the study of Chinese judicial politics?
Law, Time and Community: How do law and legal institutions participate in the construction, contestation, and transmission of collective memories and historical narratives over time? In what ways do archives, legal records, or judicial judgments function as sites of memory for particular communities in China or Chinese communities abroad?

The keynote speaker at this workshop will be Professor Aziz Huq, Frank and Bernice J. Greenberg Professor of Law at the University of Chicago.

Eligibility

Postgraduate students, post-doctoral researchers, and other early career researchers who are not tenure-track faculty members are eligible to apply. We recognise the significance of interdisciplinary perspectives and warmly welcome applicants from diverse fields, including law, social science, and beyond.

Submission and Selection

For potential presenters, submissions should be made via this form by 15th February 2026. Notification of acceptance will be sent to all applicants at the beginning of March. Once selected, presenters must submit full papers by 15th May 2026. Selected applicants will be invited to present their work at the Workshop, give brief comments on other panellists’ work, and receive comments from discussants and other panellists.

All submissions must include (1) an abstract of up to 300 words and (2) the author’s CV (of no more than 2 pages). Both documents should be written in English and submitted in PDF format. Submissions will be evaluated based on their quality, relevance to the panel topics, and potential for scholarly contribution.

Logistical Information

The conference is scheduled to be held solely in-person on 4th and 5th June 2026 at the Faculty of Law, University of Oxford. All participants must guarantee their in-person attendance by the time of registration. Although limited travel bursaries may be available, they are not guaranteed. Presenters are therefore advised to make arrangements to cover their own travel and accommodation costs.

For non-presenting attendees, please fill out this form by 3rd June 2026.

Contact Information

For any enquiries, please contact us at oxfordchinalawdiscussiongroup@gmail.com. We look forward to meeting you at Oxford!

Please click here for the PDF version of the Call for Abstracts. For information about our conference in 2024 and 2025, please see here and here.