Call for speakers: OPEN

• Submission deadline: 27 November 2026
• Notification of decisions: 18 December 2026

Digital Death in Practice and Context: Care, Legacy, Technology and Society

We invite contributions that examine both the contexts through which digital death acquires meaning and the practices through which individuals, communities, professionals, institutions and technologies respond to it.

We particularly welcome contributions that cross disciplinary or professional boundaries and create dialogue between research, policy and practice. Tech providers are welcome to submit abstracts however interventions need to either be mainstream solutions and /or evidence of high impact and societal value. Click here to Learn more.

About

The Digital Legacy Conference (DLC) and the Death Online Research Symposium (DORS) will come together in Birmingham in May 2027 for a major international event examining how digital technologies are transforming death, bereavement, end-of-life planning, identity and legacy. 

This is the first time that DORs and the DLC will host their international conferences together. They will take place over the course of three days.The conference will be hosted at the University of Birmingham, a leading Russell Group university which, in July 2026, ranked first in the Russell Group and among the UK’s top ten universities in the National Student Survey.

The combined conference will bring together approximately 90–100 daily delegates from academia, professional practice, policymaking, technology, healthcare, palliative care, bereavement support and the charitable sector.

The programme will include:

• international keynote speakers;
• academic and professional panels;
• practitioner workshops and policy roundtables;
• up to three parallel conference streams;
• approximately 55–65 research and professional presentations;
• exhibition and networking opportunities;
• a public-facing session examining the social and regulatory implications of digital death.

About the Digital Legacy Conference

The Digital Legacy Conference is an international, not-for-profit conference organised by the Digital Legacy Association. It examines society’s changing attitudes and practices in relation to technology, end-of-life planning, death and bereavement.

The conference supports professionals working in palliative and hospice care, healthcare, social care, bereavement, law, estate planning, policy and technology. Previous editions have taken place in London, Berlin, New York, Rotterdam, Bern and Taipei.

Further information: https://digitallegacyconference.com/

About the Death Online Research Symposium

The Death Online Research Symposium is the principal symposium of the international Death Online Research Network.

Established in 2013, the network supports interdisciplinary research on death, digital media and digital culture. DORS brings together scholars working across law, media and communications, sociology, anthropology, psychology, philosophy, cultural studies, human–computer interaction and death studies.

Further information: https://conferences.au.dk/dors8

Conference themes

The programme will address emerging questions including:

• professional standards for digital legacy and end-of-life planning
• digital assets, digital remains and estate planning;
• succession law and fiduciary practice;
• online memorialisation and social-media legacies;
• generative AI, deathbots and digital resurrection;
• technology-supported bereavement and continuing bonds;
• marginalised representations and digital death
• challenges in studying digital death
• interrelations between online and offline practices in mourning
• histories and religion of digital death.

A big THANK YOU to all those attending for sharing their thoughts, experiences and insights. We look forward to supporting you with your ‘Public Health, Digital Legacy’ campaigns in the months ahead.

A HUGE THANK YOU to PHPCI for allowing the Digital Legacy Conference to feature as part of this year’s incredible Public Health Palliative Care Conference. The entire PHPCI conference was wonderful with lots of knowledge sharing and learning.

…More photos from the DLC 2026 coming soon.

Other News

• Call for speakers – Digital Legacy Conference 2027 × Death Online Research Symposium 2027
• Thank you Taiwan
• The Digital Legacy Conference 2027 details will be published soon!
• Digital Legacy Conference 2026 – Taiwan
• Training courses & conferences (outside the Digital Legacy Conference

Details will be published and this website will be updated soon.

The Digital Legacy Conference 2026 (DLC 2026) will focus on Digital Legacy and its increasing importance within Public Health.

The DLC 2026 will take place as part of the Public Health Palliative Care International Conference 2026 (PHPCI 2026) in Taipei City on the 6th October 2026.

“This year’s Digital Legacy Conference will be delivered in a supportive, academy format. It draws upon 10 years of experience and perfectly aligns with much of our work and campaigning. Our public health interventions to date include the development of open access resources, societal empowerment, training, policies for governmental and non-governmental organisations and the delivery of technology interventions by mainstream social networks and care providers.” 

– James Norris, Founder of the Digital Legacy Association. 

Programme theme

This year’s theme is: The Digital Legacy Academy ‘Public Health, Digital Legacy. The academy format will be part conference, part workshop. This year’s objective is for each attendee to develop their own public health, digital legacy campaign. The Digital Legacy Association will support each attendee for six months following the conference. This format breaks away from the Digital Legacy Conference’s traditional, theatre based format.

Programme overview

The day will start by introducing the field of digital assets and digital legacy. This will take place through the lens of the general public and palliative care professionals. Examples of professionally led, public health, digital legacy interventions will be explored, analysed and celebrated. 

Those attending will then reflect and document wishes for their own digital lives using the ‘Digital & Social Media Will Booklet’. Support will be provided to attendees with this task. The booklet will be provided to all attendees in a print format for free. This exercise will act as a springboard and provide a basic level of ‘lived experience’ in the context of planning for one’s digital life. 

Roleplay and targeted discussions will follow. The day will conclude with an open discussion focusing on ‘overcoming barriers’. Barriers addressed will include mental, financial, time, culture, resource, knowledge, procedural, policy, safeguarding etc.

Attendees will leave with the confidence required to start having digital legacy conversations within their own professional practice. This includes both advance care planning and bereavement conversations.

Those attending will have the knowledge, desire and support to develop their own public health, digital legacy campaigns culturally suitable for the patients and communities they serve. 

Part of Public Health Palliative Care Conference 2026

The Digital Legacy Conference 2026 will take place between 9am-12pm on the 6th October. It is included as part of Public Health Palliative Care International 2026 in New Taipei City, Taiwan.

About the Digital Legacy Conference (DLC)

The Digital Legacy Conference (DLC) is an annual, not for profit conference. It explores and celebrates the positive impact technology can have within the end of life planning, care and bereavement. The theme, goals and purpose is adapted each year based on the country and audience it is delivered to. 

The DLC’s goal is to empower professionals with this increasingly important field. Through awareness, discussions and the sharing of knowledge, professionals are able to adapt their own practice and policies in order to better serve patients, families and communities. 

The conference is organised by the Digital Legacy Association. Previous conference partners include Public Health Palliative Care International (PHPCI), The European Association of Palliative Care (EAPC), University College London Partners (UCLP), Siena University, Harlington Hospice and St Joseph’s Hospice. The University of Birmingham will be the DLC’s partner in 2027.

About Public Health Palliative Care International (PHPCI)

PHPCI views death, dying, loss, and care as everyone’s responsibility, at least for those with the capacity to participate. A public health approach to end-of-life care sees the community as an equal partner in the long and complex task of providing high-quality care at the end of life.

The 9th International Conference on Public Health and Palliative Care presents a major opportunity to engage with Asia and support initiatives in Taiwan and beyond. This conference will promote the philosophy, values, concepts, and methods of Compassionate Communities, and help equip people with the educational and practical resources they need to advance the goals of health-promoting palliative care. PHPCI 2026 speakers include Dr. Kerrie Noonan, Professor Julian Abel, Professor Luc Deliens, Professor Samar Aoun and Professor Libby Sallnow.

Key Details

Date: 6th October 2026

Time: 9am-12pm

Ticket price: Digital Legacy Conference $40 USD. PHPCI ticket prices varies (Ticket link)

Location: Fullon Hotel Tamsui Fisherman’s wharf, New Taipei City, Taiwan

European Law Institute Conference, Brussels

To learn more visit the Digital Legacy Association website.

The Digital Death Survey 2024  is being conducted by James Norris of the Digital Legacy Association (UK) in conjunction with Dr. Carla Sofka at Siena College (USA).

Take the survey by clicking here

Making plans for our online lives in advance can help ensure that the important sentimental photos and videos are not lost or made inaccessible upon death. This can help reduce the likelihood of friends and family members experiencing ‘secondary loss’ when content is no longer available”. – James Norris

Complete the Digital Death Survey 2024

We encourage everyone who uses the internet and connected devices to complete the Digital Death Survey 2024. This year’s survey has been designed to educate the participant and evoke thought throughout. We further encourage the sharing of this survey through both personal social media channels and through blog posts and social media channels associated with the organisations, charities and professional associations that participants are associated with.

If you would like to receive early access to the data and insights obtained from the Digital Death Survey please add your email address at the end of the survey. Data obtained will be made publicly available (open access) in 2025.

The Digital Death Survey 2024 can be viewed and completed by clicking the following link https://qualtricsxm8hsdjxfxn.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_7P5ijqn6R4SHJ8a  

Further information

The Digital Death Survey has been reviewed and approved by Siena College’s Institutional Review Board (IRB). The IRB ensures the protection of human participants in a research study. Any USA organisation that receives federal funding to conduct research with human participants is required to establish an IRB and to review and approve studies prior to collection of research data. The IRB confirmation document reference number is #IRB-FY25-22

About the authors

The Digital Legacy Association is the professional body raising awareness and improving areas relating to digital assets planning and digital legacy safeguarding. It is led by James Norris, an end of life technologist and thought leader in areas relating to end of life, digital legacy and technology.

Siena College is a learning community advancing the ideals of a liberal arts education.The Social Work department is led by Professor Carla Sofka, a published author and thought leader in areas relating to death, bereavement and the internet.

• Digital Death Survey Images
• Press Release access (Google Docs

• ‘Understanding the use of digital technologies in public health palliative care.’ – Dr Jason Mills, Flnders Universty and Shlya Mills, Adjunct Associate Professor, Palliative Care South Australia http://DigitalLegacyConference.com/public-health-palliative-care
• ‘Governance of the Digital Afterlife’. – Khadiza Laskor, University of Bristol’s Cyber Security Centre for Doctoral Training Programme https://digitallegacyconference.com/digital-afterlife-governance/
• ‘Navigating digital remains: Ethical challenges and cultural perspectives from Japan’. – Professor Akiko Orita, Kanto Gakuin University https://digitallegacyconference.com/digital-remains-japan/

The second wave of abstracts will be announced in the next two weeks. The final programme will published on the Digital Legacy Conference website and on the Public Health Palliative Care International Conference (PHPCI) website once all of the abstracts have been announced.

The Digital Legacy Association have been appointed as an ‘observer’ for the European Law Institute’s ‘Model Rules on Succession of Digital Assets, Data and other Digital Remains’ programme. 

Other observers for this program are from The European Commission, STEP, Uniform Law Commission, Uniform Law Conference of Canada (ULCC) and The. Council of the Notariats of the European Union (CNUE).

We look forward to starting work on this project in May 2024.

About

Succession of Digital Assets, Data and other Digital Remains are increasingly important considerations in succession, estate planning and estate litigation, as more people conduct their lives online and accumulate valuable digital assets, accounts and data. Legal professionals report issues in dealing with these cases and advise their clients in the estate planning process. Technology companies also report a lack of clarity when it comes to accessing accounts and data on their services. A growing number of business models aim to exploit the lack of rules in this area and offer technological solutions (eg digital estate planning tools, chatbots, password managers, etc), often with the risk of legally inefficient outcomes, resulting in legal uncertainty. Citizens in the EU struggle to navigate complex terms of service, both when attempting to plan their own estate distribution and when trying to access and manage the estate of their deceased family members and friends. Given the ever-increasing volume and value of digital legacy, as well as the conflicts and issues mentioned, there is a pressing need to regulate and legislate this vital area that intersects numerous areas of law (succession law, property, contract, IP, data protection, jurisdiction, personality rights, criminal law, etc).  

Aims

The project aims at drafting model law/rules to harmonise key provisions on the definition of digital remains, access and inheritability, and data protection issues. The project will help define and distinguish different types of assets, remains and personal data, define their inheritability and transmission, as well as examine existing rules on applicable law, jurisdiction, data protection and other relevant areas of law, with a view to ascertaining their suitability for this field, failing which proposals may be put forward.  Key target audiences include: EU and Member State legislators and governments, courts, legal professionals, technology companies and service providers, professional associations, civil society, and citizens.

Outcome

The main outcome of this project will be model Law/rules (and principles, for issues/areas where a model law is not suitable) aimed at influencing European legislation on the definition, scope, entitlement and access to the digital assets and data of a deceased person. These provisions would, if legislated, prevail over the contractual agreement between service providers and the deceased and harmonise the data protection standards in this field.

Stephanie’s presentation will look at the emotional impact of the loss, or potential loss, of deleting someone who has died from social media. Most people now have online lives and online friends or family, but what happens when these friends or family die? For some, this is a way of remembering someone who has died and can be helpful in feeling that connection when it may be the only one. For others, the memory or reminders may be too painful. There have been some cases where conversations or photos have been lost due to the platform removing them, causing upset to those left behind. There is also digital “death tourism”, such as seeking out the social media of celebrities or mutual friends that have died. Whereas people don’t know these people directly, they feel it is a way of showing respect or having that connection in a community and understanding of what may have happened.

These “digital graveyards” are set to increase over the years and so it is important that we understand how this may look and what impact it can have on people.

The aim of this presentation is not only to encourage people to think about whether they would delete someone from their social media in the event of their death or whether they would keep the memory, but to get them to think about what they want to happen to their own social media after their death.

About Stephanie Owens

Stephanie Owens is passionate about social change and all things death and dying, having worked in the end of life sector for several years. Her specialist interests include acceptance and understanding of neurodivergent grief and attitudes towards death, and grieving for animals. She is currently a volunteer for Project Eileen which helps young people cope with death and provides resources to schools on death and bereavement.

Recent News

• Call for speakers – Digital Legacy Conference 2027 × Death Online Research Symposium 2027
• Thank you Taiwan
• The Digital Legacy Conference 2027 details will be published soon!
• Digital Legacy Conference 2026 – Taiwan
• Training courses & conferences (outside the Digital Legacy Conference