The Centre for the Development Policy and Practice, in collaboration with the Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) and APNIC Foundation, invites scholars, researchers, experts, and practitioners working on Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) in the Asia-Pacific region to submit contributions for the Digital Citizen Summit Special Series 2026: “Centring People in Digital Public Infrastructure.”
As DPI expands across the Asia-Pacific, discussions have often focused on technology, interoperability, and scale. This special series shifts the focus towards the people for whom DPI is designed and implemented, examining how digital public infrastructure is experienced, accessed, and governed across diverse social, economic, and geographic contexts.
Contributions may address themes including inclusive and sustainable DPI, social exclusion, DPI governance, data practices, privacy, safety, ethics, participatory design, and community-centred approaches.
The call welcomes research papers, analytical essays, case studies, and evidence-based commentaries. Contributors are invited to submit an extended abstract of approximately 1,500 words outlining the research topic, research questions, methodology, and, where available, initial findings or insights.
The special series will be published by CDPP with an ISBN and released at the 8th Digital Citizen Summit 2026 in New Delhi in December 2026.
Key dates:
Call for Abstracts: 10 August 2026
Abstract Submission Deadline: 30 August 2026
Acceptance Notification: 5 September 2026
Publication Release: 10 December 2026
Submissions should be sent to suruchi@defindia.org and lubna@cdpp.co.in with the subject line: Contribution for Digital Citizen Summit Special Series 2026.
To know more about DCS 2026: https://dsummit.defindia.org/