Since our last Independent Technology Researchers’ Summit in June 2024, the global landscape for independent technology researchers has undergone a significant shift. From government and corporate pressure, to lack of platform transparency and access to data, to funding crises, a rise in lawfare to discourage public interest research, and emerging technologies like AI changing the tech research discipline and practices – we’re faced with urgent questions about how we must navigate this moment to come out stronger.
Some of these changes have been steadily gaining momentum over the years, while others have erupted almost overnight. And while some are unique to our field, many others are not: they are the results of complex and interconnected challenges facing civil society around the globe. From geopolitical conflicts to funding crises to authoritarian crackdowns to attacks on science and academic freedom, many independent technology researchers are navigating compounding challenges at the personal, political and professional levels.
This is a critical moment that demands commitment to move forward together.
As a Coalition of nearly 500 researchers working across 47 countries, the circumstances we work within are often as diverse as our research areas. Yet, we stand united together in our resolve to work together to advance, defend, and sustain the right to study the societal impacts of technology—because we know that the public needs this information more than ever before. As a coalition, our power lies in our common goals, and in our commitment to choose solidarity over division, and action over inaction.
We’re too often outnumbered and outfinanced by the massive influence of the technology industry, but we know that when we choose to come together to work through our differences, support one another, and co-build strategies, we can win critical fights and provide mutual aid that helps us sustain critical work in the face of challenges.
Summit 2025
At our Berlin Summit on 16-17 September, we’ll work through essential strategic considerations that we need to move forward on as a field: Under what conditions will we collaborate and interact with tech companies in light of recent actions against researchers? What safeguards do we already have in place, and what do we need to have in place, to navigate new pressures? How will we move forward to secure access to critical data as platforms shut down existing channels and resist legal mandates? What lessons can we learn and borrow from researchers across regional contexts and research disciplines about how to resist and persist against retaliation? How do we maintain our independence and sustainability when funding opportunities for our work are shrinking?
The Summit is about surfacing perspectives on these critical topics and more, working through differences and finding common ground within them that allows us to move forward together as a coalition. It’s also a space where we will begin to draft blueprints for how we can mobilise to meet the challenges and opportunities facing public interest researchers head on..
As many Coalition members won’t be able to join the Berlin Summit, in the months following, we’ll be hosting additional strategic conversations and creating pathways for more Coalition members to get involved in the work we co-create together at the Summit. And in the meantime, we’ll hope for (and actively work towards) a future when the whole Coalition can come together in person without visa challenges, security threats and funding cuts standing in our way!
The Independent Tech Researchers’ Summit is a flagship, invite-only event hosted by the Coalition for Independent Technology Research. To learn more and join the Coalition, click here.
Register and find more about the event here!
Stay tuned for the final agenda shaped by members’ insights.