Connected Life Summit

The Connected Life Summit is a one-day, student-led conference focused on what it means to live in an increasingly connected world. It is supported by the Oxford Internet Institute and will be hosted at the Oxford Union on Thursday, 25 June 2026.

The Summit will bring together researchers, business leaders, and policymakers to explore how technology shapes society, and how society shapes technology. Around 100 invited participants will take part in smaller, closed sessions during the day. From 4pm, the event opens to a wider audience in the Oxford Union Debate Chamber, where up to 400 attendees will join a public debate on the future of global AI governance.

For over nine centuries, Oxford has been a place where intellectual and technological transformations have been studied and debated. The Connected Life Summit builds on that tradition by examining how new forms of intelligence build on longstanding questions of governance, ethics, and social organisation. Themes include:

• Data & Insights – How new forms of intelligence reshape our understanding of society
• Tech & Culture – How digital systems transform everyday life and social norms
• Governance & Power – Who shapes emerging technologies, and who they serve
• Ethics & Inequality – How innovation can be pursued responsibly and fairly

Applications for the exclusive sessions will open soon. Public session tickets will also be released shortly on a first-come, first-served basis. If you’re interested in speaking at the event, please contact us at connectedlife@oii.ox.ac.uk. Join us to bridge cutting-edge research with real-world practice and help shape the future of technology and society!

The Oxford Internet Institute is a multidisciplinary research centre at the University of Oxford exploring how technology is transforming the way we live, work and govern

Connected Life is designed for dialogue between academia, industry, and policymakers. Rather than treating technology as abstract or inevitable, Connected Life creates space to examine how choices are made — and how they might be made better. This is not a passive conference. Sessions are designed to prioritise exchange and foster ideas that endure beyond the day itself.