AFCH – IEEE-CH Cyber Humanities 2026

2nd IEEE Workshop on Algorithmic Anarchy and the Fractured Future of Cyber Humanities (AFCH)

Venice, Italy (hybrid event) • September 7–9, 2026

Cyberspace and Artificial Intelligence are not merely tools within the existing “broken world” of international relations but actively contribute to its fragmentation and exacerbate its inherent crises. This roundtable proposes to critically examine how these technologies have accelerated the erosion of the international liberal order and entrenched a sense of perpetual instability, mirroring the conference’s core theme of a world beyond repair.
We will explore how cyberspace, designed for connectivity, paradoxically fosters echo chambers and weaponized disinformation, fuelling polarization and undermining trust between nations and within societies. AI, promising efficiency, introduces algorithmic biases, exacerbates inequalities, and raises the spectre of autonomous weapons systems, further normalizing violence and eroding human agency in conflict. Our experts will analyse how these technologies contribute to the “denial” and “ignoring” of global challenges, creating digital distractions and filter bubbles that shield us from the realities of a broken world, even as media exposure increases.
Looking “sideways” at cyber warfare, “downwards” at digital marginalization, and “outwards” at the global AI arms race, the roundtable will ask: How have cyberspace and AI warped traditional IR concepts like sovereignty, security, and diplomacy? What new forms of power and vulnerability have they created? Crucially, we will investigate if and how these technologies can also offer “patches of hope” – spaces for digital activism, AI-driven early warning systems, or novel forms of cross-border cooperation in a deeply fractured world.
By dissecting the present impact and projecting future trajectories, this roundtable will offer a crucial “stock-taking” of how cyberspace and AI are not just symptoms, but active agents in shaping a “broken world,” demanding a radical rethinking of politics and international relations in the digital age.

Prospective authors are encouraged to submit previously unpublished contributions from a broad range of topics, which include but are not limited to the following:

› Green Computing and Sustainability Models
› AI based Information access and retrieval
› LLM based digital public historyanalysis
› Cloud Computing / Ubiquitous Computing
› Preserving Digital twins of Cultural Assets

› AI Explainability
› Ethical AI
› Human Centered Design
› Privacy and data protection
› Metadata generation

Important Dates

Paper submission deadline: ~~April 12~~ May 10, 2026
Authors’ notification: ~~May 2~~ May 20, 2026
Camera-ready submission: ~~May 15~~ May 30, 2026
Early registration deadline: ~~May 20~~June 1, 2026
Conference dates: Sept 7–9, 2026

Submission Guidelines

Submitted manuscripts should not exceed 6 pages (plus 2 extra pages, being subject to overlength page charges) and should be of sufficient detail to be evaluated by expert reviewers in the field. The workshop’s proceedings will be published by IEEE and will be included in IEEE Xplore subject to meeting IEEE Xplore’s scope and quality requirements.

The guidelines for authors, manuscript preparation guidelines, and policies of the IEEE CH conference are applicable to AFCH workshop. Please visit the instructions page for more details. When submitting your manuscript via Easychair, please make sure that the workshop’s track WS-AFCH is selected.

Workshop Committees

Program Chiars

Giampiero Giacomello University of Bologna
Michele Colajanni University of Bologna
Luigi Martino University of Bologna

Technical Program Committee