The IDEA Consortium is pleased to invite submissions for the IDEA Final Conference, which will take place on 21–22 October 2026 at the Learning Theater of the Learning and Innovation Center (LIC) at Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium.
The conference will present the scientific and technological results of the IDEA (I-tools to Design and Enhance Access to Justice) project and provide an interdisciplinary forum for discussing how artificial intelligence is transforming labour law and access to justice. It will bring together researchers, judges, labour lawyers, policymakers, trade unions, employers' representatives, technology experts, and civil society organisations to exchange perspectives on the opportunities and challenges posed by AI in labour dispute resolution.
AI systems are increasingly used in recruitment, workforce management, performance assessment, restructuring and dismissal. At the same time, predictive analytics, legal chatbots and digital decision-support tools are reshaping the way workers, employers, lawyers and courts access legal information and resolve disputes. The conference will explore how these technologies can enhance access to justice while safeguarding equality, privacy, procedural fairness, judicial independence and the right to an effective remedy. Particular attention will be devoted to redundancy-dismissal disputes, the principal case study of the IDEA project.
Conference Topics
We welcome contributions on topics including, but not limited to:
- AI and the transformation of labour law and employment relations
- Algorithmic management, workplace surveillance and automated managerial decisions
- AI-supported recruitment, performance assessment, restructuring and dismissal
- Predictive justice and legal analytics in labour-law disputes
- Digitalisation of labour courts and alternative dispute resolution
- Legal chatbots and digital procedural guidance for workers and employers
- Redundancy dismissals and AI-supported access to justice
- Fairness, transparency, explainability and human oversight
- Algorithmic discrimination, intersectional bias and vulnerable workers
- Structural and informational inequalities between workers and employers
- Privacy, workplace data protection and automated decision-making
- The right to an effective remedy and to contest AI-supported decisions
- Judicial independence and the appropriate limits of AI-assisted decision-making
- The EU Artificial Intelligence Act, GDPR, the EU Charter and national labour law
- The Platform Work Directive and algorithmic management
- Participatory design involving workers, trade unions and legal professionals
- Auditing, testing and certification of trustworthy AI systems
- AI literacy and capacity building for justice and labour-market actors
- Comparative and empirical research on AI-supported labour justice
- Practical case studies from courts, public authorities, trade unions, industry and civil society.
Submission Information
The IDEA Consortium welcomes submissions from academics, practitioners, policymakers and other stakeholders. Early-career researchers are particularly encouraged to submit.
Abstract deadline: 31 August 2026 (23:59 CEST)
Abstract length: Maximum 350 words
Conference dates: 21–22 October 2026
Venue: Learning Theater, Learning and Innovation Center (LIC), Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
A limited number of travel grants may be available for early-career researchers and participants without institutional funding.
Publication Opportunity
Selected authors will be invited to present their work at the conference and to submit a full paper (approximately 5,000–8,000 words). Selected papers will be considered for publication in a special issue of Computer Law & Security Review, subject to the journal's editorial and peer-review process.
For academic or organisational inquiries, please contact Gioia Arnone at Gioia.Arnone@vub.be.