The Gender, Law & Technology Sessions are organised by the Law, Science, Technology and Society (LSTS) research group at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and coordinated by Anastasia Karagianni, Doctoral Researcher at LSTS. Launched in September 2023, the sessions reflect LSTS’s continued commitment to critically engaging with the intersections of gender, law, and emerging technologies.
Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, the initiative provides a dedicated space for researchers from diverse academic backgrounds to meet monthly, exchange perspectives, and critically reflect on selected readings. These discussions often lead to both in-depth explorations of specific themes and more open debates, the outcomes of which are presented in a series of seminars featuring contributions from both internal and external speakers.
The sessions build on the earlier Gender, Technology and Law (GTL) series, co-organised by LSTS and the Fundamental Rights Centre (FRC) at VUB.
You can find below an overview of our past and upcoming sessions:
Past Sessions
AI and Gender Bias (September 2023)
Platform Governance and Content Moderation (October 2023)
Feminism in AI – A Feminist Dictionary in AI (November 2023)
A Feminist-Queer Reading of the EU AI Law (January 2024)
Feminist & Queer Legal Methods (February 2024)
Posthuman Feminism (March 2024)
Homonationalism and AI Policies (April 2024)
Feminist Cyberlaw (CPDP Feminist Book Club*, May 2024)
Feminist AI (CPDP Feminist Book Club, May 2024)
When Rape Goes Viral (CPDP Feminist Book Club, May 2024)
Caring Dataveillance (September 2024)
Objectification Theory and the Role of Digital Technologies (October 2024)
Beauty Standards in AI (November 2024)
Image-Based Sexual Abuse (Guest Speaker Seminar by Dr. Carlotta Rigotti, January 2025)
The GDPR from a Gender-Focused Perspective (Guest Speaker Seminar by Dr. Maria Tzanou and Anastasia Siapka, February 2025)
Protecting Women Online (Guest Speaker Seminar by Prof. Olga Jurasz, March 2025)
Gender Impact Assessment (Guest Speaker Seminar by Dr. Maria Mousmouti, April 2025)
Artificial Intelligence for Early Detection and Diagnosis of Cervical Cancer (CPDP Feminist Book Club, May 2025, 11:05 CET)
Migrants in the Digital Periphery – New Urban Frontiers of Control (CPDP Feminist Book Club, May 2025, 16:20 CET)
AI, Sacred Violence, and War—The Case of Gaza (CPDP Feminist Book Club, May 2025, 16:00 CET)
Equity-Based Framework Using a Feminist Lens to Assess Auditing Methodologies (Guest Speaker Seminar by Monique Munarini, June 2025)
Trust in AI in the Workplace (Guest Speaker Seminar by Marilena Velonia Bellonia, July 2025)
Collective Healing and Resistance Across Borders: Dimensions in AI (Guest Speaker Seminar by Doğa Rojda Koldaş, September 2025)
CJEU Case Law on Gender Equality: Jurisprudence at the Intersection of Gender, Law, and Technology (Guest Speaker Seminar by Konstantinos Lamprinoudis, 21 October 2025)
Rainbow Trap: Queer Lives, Classifications and the Dangers of Inclusion (Book Presentation by Dr. Kevin Guyan, 19 November 2025)
The admission of Afghan women as a particular social group. A tool against gender apartheid (Guest Speaker Lecture by Pr. Marie Laure Basilien Gainche, 9 December 2025)postponed for March 2026!What Care and What Law for Intersex and Transgender People (Guest Speaker Lecture by Martin Gramc, 20 January 2026, online)
Creative methods as an epistemic practice for studying sexual harassment (Guest Speaker Lecture by Danielle Fernades, 10 February 2026, in-person)
The admission of Afghan women as a particular social group. A tool against gender apartheid (Guest Speaker Lecture by Pr. Marie Laure Basilien Gainche, 10 March 2026, online)
From Digital Consent to Data Justice: A Feminist South- North Dialogue on AI Governance (Guest Speaker Lecture by Aafreen Collaco, 22 April 2026, online)
Feminist Book Club at CPDP 2026! (in-person):
*CPDP Feminist Book Club 2026- "Insufferable Tools- Feminism Against Big Tech" by Sara Sharma, 20 May 2026, 14:15 CET, in-person
*CPDP Feminist Book Club 2026- "The Dark Side of Academia: Competition, Inequality, and Violence in the Ivory Tower" by Gayle Brewer, 21 May 2026, 08:45 CET, in-person
*CPDP Feminist Book Club 2026- "Algo-rhythms": How data-driven systems perpetuate unnecessary suffering, a workshop on Dance Law by Anastasia Karagianni (organiser) and Sean Mulcahy (Guest Speaker), 22 May 2026, 08:45 CET, in-person
Upcoming Sessions
A Legal Perspective on the (Mis)use of Data on Femtech Apps and Devices: Looking Beyond the General Data Protection Regulation (by Klaudia Kwiatkowska, LSTS Viting Researcher, 7 September 2026, 15:00- 16:00 CET, in-person, room C2.07a and online via Teams)
CPDP Feminist Book Club 2027, 8-11 March 2027!
We look forward to another academic year of insightful discussions!
*The Feminist Book Club at CPDP: Launched in 2024, the book club creates a dedicated space to debate pressing feminist and technological issues. In 2025, its themes include AI in war crimes (with a feminist perspective on the genocide in Gaza), AI in gynecological cancer detection, and AI in border management and control.