Dear colleagues, --Apologies for cross-posting-- I am delighted to announce that our Critical Legal Studies 2021 stream is open and accepting papers. Best, Aitor Critical Legal Approaches to Data The concept of data resonates in every social, political and economic discussion. It is difficult to imagine a contemporary social problem where that notion is absent. For instance, the health and safety measures aimed to control the Covid-19 pandemic have been influenced by different approaches to data, the rights of data subjects and the way transnational data flows are governed (e.g. tracing apps, biometric data, data flows between countries). Discussions around data are infused with our reliance on technology in every aspect of our daily lives. This results in privacy concerns intersecting with a vast array of areas including fields such as labour, criminal justice and consumer and competition law and policy. Despite the ubiquitous presence of the concept -and its unquestionable importance- we are far from having a clear understanding of it. Data has been defined and regulated at the same time as a commodity, an element of a fundamental right, and as an asset of the commons (to mention some). Paraphrasing Langdon Winner, data is a political artifact, often conceptualised by data thirsty corporations and governments. However, data is adaptable, mutable and polysemic, as it is any other social construction, and as Salomé Viljoen has recently demonstrated, it can be conceptualised in a way that serves the interest of the many and not the few. This stream aims to contribute to the scarce, although relevant body of literature critically scrutinising the legal conceptualisation of data. For that, the stream proposes a diverse panel of critical legal scholars that will approach the study of data from various fields of legal research. Link https://clc2021.com/call-papers/ Submission Instructions Unless indicated otherwise, when submitting your paper please include: * Names and affiliations of all author(s) / speaker(s) * A single email address for correspondence * The title of your paper * An abstract of no more than 200 words * 3 keywords * If possible, an indication of whether you would prefer fact-to-face or virtual attendance (please see our covid page for more on the conference format). If you are intending to present online, please also include your time zone. While it will not be possible in all cases, we will try our best to take time zones into consideration when organising the final programme. * The call for papers closes on 30 June 2021 Submissions: aitor.jimenez@unimelb.edu.au<mailto:aitor.jimenez@unimelb.edu.au>