October 3-5, 2024

University of Helsinki, Finland

Deadline (EXTENDED): April 26, 2024

How do the dead live among us today? What kinds of relationships can be established between the living and the dead in today’s society? How can we achieve immortality in the present-day digital society?

The 7th International Research Symposium of the Death Online Research Network Digital Death: Transforming History, Rituals and Afterlife addresses the cultural and social transformation of human death in modern society as it is characterised by digital saturation of the current collective social and cultural existence. Although death is a universal condition of all humankind, the ways in which death is addressed, managed, and performed in a given society and culture varies considerably. The conference places special emphasis on histories, cultures, religions, ideologies, and technologies that shape the construction of digital death in the present era.

Keynotes

• Dr. Tamara Kneese is a Project Director of Data & Society Research Institute’s AIMLab in New York, USA.

Discussant: Dr. Tal Morse is Adjunct Lecturer in Hadassah Academic College and CDAS Visiting Fellow in the University of Bath, UK.

• Associate Professor Patrick Stokes is a Professor of Philosophy in Deakin University, Australia.
  

Discussant: Professor Amanda Lagerkvist, Professor of Media and Communication Studies in Uppsala University, Sweden.

Themes and Topics of Interest

We welcome paper and panel submissions on the following themes and beyond:

• Digital afterlife

• Digital immortality

• AI and death

• Death and data

• Social media mourning

• Digital grief practices

• Interrelations between online and offline practices in mourning

• Online funerals

• Thanatechnologies

• Digital estate planning

• Robotics and end of life care

• Grief influencers

• Marginalised representations and digital death

• Digital resistance to memorialisation

• Ethical challenges in studying digital death

• Legal perspectives and digital death

The symposium will host a special workshop of participating postgraduate students and early career researchers the day before the symposium. The conference will be on-site only at University of Helsinki, Finland.

Submission guidelines:

Paper submission:

Please submit your abstract of max 250 words with your contact details to Linda Pentikäinen (linda.pentikäinen@helsinki.fi)

Panel submission:

Panels up to four papers should include a general description of the panel (max 250 words) together with abstracts of the individual papers (max 200 words) with contact details of each participant and the panel chair. Proposals should be submitted to Linda Pentikäinen (linda.pentikäinen@helsinki.fi)

All submissions will be peer-reviewed, and we envisage publication of selected full papers in a special issue in Thanatos (open access). https://thanatos-journal.com/in- english/

Please note that participants will be accepted to present only one paper as the first author.

Important dates:

• New extended abstract/panel submission deadline: 26th April 2024
• Submission feedback: 20th May 2024
  

Conference fee:

• Regular 200 € (early bird, includes conference dinner)
  
• Student 150 € (early bird, includes conference dinner)