The AI + Society Initiative invite emerging scholars in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) and regulation to participate in a workshop where they will be granted the opportunity to present their draft paper to leading scholars in the field of AI and the law. Each participating emerging scholar will receive feedback from at least one designated experienced reviewer, as well as from the other participants of the workshop, such that feedback could be incorporated before the paper is submitted for publication. In addition, a Scotiabank Global AI + Regulation Emerging Scholar prize of C$1,500 will be awarded to the best paper. 

The workshop will be held virtually in Fall 2021.
Should public health guidelines allow it, a hybrid workshop may take place. In such a case, we will aim at providing some travel support to selected candidates that would require it.

Eligibility & Topic
The workshop is open to emerging scholars pursuing a law or public policy degree (e.g. graduate students at the master or PhD level, postdoctoral fellows as well visiting or acting professors that are not yet in tenure-track or permanent positions). Since the goal of the workshop is to provide feedback, only unpublished papers are eligible (however publication in scholarship networks such as SSRN is allowed). Participants will be free to publish their work on any platform or publication channel after the workshop.

Papers must be written in English, and their topics should address the regulation of AI from a comparative or global perspective. Different countries are engaged in shaping the appropriate legal frameworks to account for the unique characteristics of AI. Be it in areas of liability, explainability, accountability, privacy, fairness or others, different jurisdictions have come up with diverse proposals for the desired legal regime and regulatory measures to promote the beneficial and safe usage of AI. Eligible papers for the workshop are those that focus on the regulation of AI. Papers offering a comparative or international aspect will be preferred (either as the paper’s main characteristic, or as part of it). 

Eligible topics may relate to each of the principles mentioned above (fairness, accountability, etc.) and how they are regulated or ought to be regulated, as well as insights from relevant global experience. For example, topics may include:  Regulatory approaches taken by different jurisdictions with respect to AI, including AI development, design, deployment, usage or oversight; Analysis of current or proposed regulatory frameworks to govern AI; Analysis of incentives, disincentives and other considerations to be taken into account when shaping the appropriate AI-regulation policy.

Submission Procedure & Timeline
An abstract of up to 400 words, in English, is to be submitted by June 30, 2021, through our submission form.

Selected authors will then be asked to submit their full paper, of up to 7,000 words (inclusive of footnotes) by September 15, 2021. The workshop will take place in Fall 2021 (exact dates to be determined according to participants and reviewers’ availability).  The recipient(s) of the best paper(s) award will be announced during the workshop. (In case of co-authored papers, the prize will be equally split among all co-authors).  

Questions (notably should you want to verify eligibility) should be directed to aisociety@uottawa.ca.

Read more at: https://techlaw.uottawa.ca/aisociety/news/call-for-submissions-global-ai-regulation-emerging-scholar-workshop-and-paper-award