WINIR Young Scholars Pre-Conference Workshop on
Innovation, Institutions &
Inclusion
Technology & Development in the Global South
FGV EAESP
São Paulo, Brazil
31 May 2027
Co-organised with
The Law as Science Project and INET’s Young Scholars Initiative (YSI)
The WINIR Conference on Institutions for Innovation, Breakthrough Technologies & Global Challenges With Special Attention to the Global South will be held at FGV EAESP in São Paulo, Brazil, on 1–3 June 2027
We invite early career researchers to submit abstracts for the WINIR Young Scholars Pre-Conference Workshop on Innovation, Institutions & Inclusion: Technology & Development in the Global South that will be held in São Paulo on 31 May 2027. The workshop seeks to create a forum for emerging scholarly voices working across disciplines and jurisdictions, with particular attention to research engaging with the Global South and perspectives that remain underrepresented in mainstreams debates on technology and innovation.
New technologies are transforming markets, states and societies, but their benefits are neither automatic nor evenly distributed. Their effects depend on theinstitutions within which they operate, and on the power, interests and coalitions that shape those institutions. These questions are particularly important in the Global South, where technological innovation and investment can generate significant opportunities for development but do not necessarily translate into broad-based or inclusive economic or social gains.
The workshop will examine how technological change reshapes economic and political relationships: who participated in benefits from innovation, who may be excluded or disadvantaged, and how states, firms, communities, and civil society influence its direction. We are particularly interested in how law, regulation, markets, and other institutions enable, constrain, and govern innovation, as well as the conditions under which technological change can contribute to development that is socially, environmentally, and economically sustainable.
These questions invite interdisciplinary perspectives. We welcome contributions from economics, law, political science, sociology, geography, history, development studies, and science and technology studies, and we particularly encourage work that crosses disciplinary boundaries. Theoretically grounded empirical research, comparative and historical studies, and conceptual papers are all welcome. Above all, the workshop is intended to provide a space for early career scholars to bring a range of geographical and intellectual perspectives into conversations about the governance and political economy of technological change.
We welcome submissions on any aspect of the political economy and institutions of innovation, including but not limited to the following themes:
Innovation and Development in the Global South: The institutional foundations of productivity growth, structural transformation and inclusive development. This includes the role of states, markets and firms in technological catch-up, and the contribution of experiences from Brazil, Latin America, Africa and Asia to institutional theory.
Technology, Inequality and Intersectionality: The distributional consequences of technological change, including its intersections with race, gender and identity. This includes the institutions that shape access to, participation in and the benefits of innovation.
Law, Regulation and Governance: The governance of AI and other emerging technologies by public and private actors. This includes regulation, property rights and intellectual property, state capacity, and the changing boundaries between state and market authority.
Sustainability and Institutional Change: The relationship between technological change and social, environmental and economic sustainability. This includes institutional responses to climate change and the political economy of just transitions.
Eligibility
Applicants should either be enrolled in a doctoral programme or have graduated no more than three years before 31 March 2027. Scholars based in or working on the Global South are particularly encouraged to apply. Successful applicants will present their research to peers and senior scholars and receive constructive conceptual and methodological feedback. Priority will be given to first-time attendees at WINIR Young Scholars events.
All participants selected for the workshop will be eligible to attend the main WINIR conference, with the conference registration fee waived.
Submission guidelines
Submissions should be made using the ONLINE FORM and should include:
Abstract: max 500 words.
Short bio: max 300 words.
The deadline for submissions is 5 December 2026, and applicants will be notified by 15 December 2026. Applicants who are not selected for the workshop may ask for their abstract to be considered for the main WINIR conference by ticking the relevant box on the submission form; a separate application is not necessary. Participants may present at either the workshop or the main conference, but not both. Selected participants must submit their full paper by 15 April 2027, so that it can be circulated to discussants ahead of the workshop.
Key dates
5 December 2026 – Submission deadline
15 December 2026 – Notifications of acceptance
Please address all inquiries to youngscholars@winir.org.
About WINIR Young Scholars
WINIR Young Scholars (WYS) aims to identify and promote the next generation of institutional scholars from diverse geographies, sociocultural contexts and disciplines. Its major activities are directed towards creating an inclusive and supportive space for young scholars to receive guidance and mentorship in their journey toward establishing themselves as knowledge creators and navigating the academic job market.
WYS is a collaboration between the World Interdisciplinary Network for Institutional Research (WINIR), the Law as Science Project, and the Young Scholars Initiative (YSI) of the Institute for New Economic Thinking.
Convenors: Christina Mosalagae (Institute for New Economic Thinking, Italy), Nikhilesh Sinha (Hult International Business School, UK), Simon Sun (National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taiwan), Vanessa Villanueva Collao (NYU, USA).