Introduction
The International Conference on Trustworthy Digital Infrastructure 2025, is being hosted by The Alan Turing Institute, in London, UK, on Tuesday 16 September 2025 (International ID Day). This conference is a flagship event for the Institute's Trustworthy Digital Infrastructure for Identity Systems programme funded by the Gates Foundation. In its fifth year, it is an international forum for researchers, practitioners, open-source advocates and developers to present and discuss the most recent innovations, trends, results, experiences and concerns on achieving trustworthy systems.
About the event
Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) — comprising foundational systems such as Identity, Payments, and Data Exchange, has emerged not merely as a technical undertaking, but as a critical site of contestation over sovereignty, governance, and resilience. Initially championed for its capacity to unlock inclusive development and streamlined service delivery, DPI now sits at the intersection of infrastructure policy, digital rights, and global power asymmetries.
A growing body of evidence points to a problematic dependency on hyperscale infrastructure, including services provided by Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure, and Cloudflare. This dependency is especially acute in the Global South, where countries and institutions often rely on infrastructure outside their legal jurisdiction. Africa, in particular, faces structural reliance on cloud and network services based in the United States, raising not only operational concerns but also significant issues of data sovereignty and legal exposure.
Once considered broadly aligned with liberal democratic values, hyperscale providers are now increasingly seen as strategic risks. Recent works such as Sarah Wynn-Williams’ Careless People dismantle simplistic East–West narratives, revealing deep entanglements between corporate and state power across contexts. Together, they underscore the urgent need for self-sovereign and federated digital infrastructures that prioritise autonomy, transparency, and legal independence.
In response, DPI must be reimagined. This involves not only decoupling from hyperscale dependencies but also investing in federated, locally governed infrastructure that can support interoperable services while respecting jurisdictional boundaries. Such a shift would enable DPI to function not merely as a tool of efficiency, but as a mechanism of autonomy and resilience, particularly for states and regions seeking to assert control over their digital futures.
Finally, any future-looking DPI agenda must engage deeply with on-the-ground deployment experiences, especially in contexts where infrastructural fragility meets innovation under constraint. These cases offer rich insights into hybrid models, adaptive governance, and the sociotechnical challenges of scaling without dependence.
This conference aims to showcase cutting-edge research that advances the use of Digital Public Infrastructure whilst examining the geopolitical and legal risks associated with global dependencies on hyperscale digital infrastructure.
Important Dates:
Paper submission deadline: 13 July 2025 (midnight, London, UK)
Notification of acceptance: w/c 28 July 2025
Registration opens: w/c 4 August 2025
Registration closes: w/c 1 September 2025
Final conference programme announced: w/c 18 August 2025
International Conference on Trustworthy Digital Infrastructure 2025: 16 September 2025
Call for Papers: Open!
The CALL FOR PAPERS for the event is now open and we encourage your submissions. Please note, we use FlexiGrant as our application portal, you will need to register to submit your application.
Paper submission deadline: 13 July 2025 (midnight, London, UK)
Notification of acceptance: week commencing 28 July 2025.
Contact Us
If you would like to request any reasonable adjustments or have any questions about this event please contact the programme team via email:[email protected]
