Call for Papers 2026

Workshop: Fundamental Rights Protection From, With, and By Regulators

The promise of the regulatory state is deceptively simple: private market actors can provide for the public interest effectively. If they do not, public authorities – regulators – can still secure the public interest acting as its guarantors, and intervene when necessary to address market failures.

And yet, in Europe and elsewhere, the constitutional and political challenges of this blueprint have proven immense. The regulatory state both reshapes the boundaries between the three classic branches of government, and is shaped by constant tensions between risks of regulatory capture and regulatory overreach, between public and private power, and between technocracy and democracy. One topic, however, has remained comparatively under-explored until recently: the place of fundamental rights in the everyday work of regulators.

The 21st century’s digital economy has increasingly led to regulators taking on responsibilities related to the protection of privacy, the regulation of online services and artificial intelligence. This creates new momentum for scholars to rediscover the place of individual fundamental rights in other policy sectors, where the emphasis tends to be on abstract public interests and technical decision-making – from energy to healthcare, banking, or food safety.

The question we propose to address is how fundamental rights can be protected from, with, or even by administrative regulators. Overarching themes include how fundamental rights protection interacts with the multilayered structure of European regulatory networks, the politicization of regulatory action, pushes towards simplification/deregulation, the perspective of marginalized communities, or even the limitations of the category of ‘fundamental rights’ to address the issues present in digital regulation. Other possible topics include:

• • In terms of protection from regulators: new challenges in judicial protection, internal administrative review bodies, the relation between regulatory overreach and freedom of enterprise, or individuals’ rights of participation in decision-making processes;

• • In terms of protection with regulators: the cooperation between regulators and regulated actors in the co-creation of rules and standards governing the regulated sector and, in particular, in the development and use of technologies with potential effects on fundamental rights, e.g., through regulatory sandboxes or fundamental rights impact assessments;

• • In terms of protection by regulators: the provision, by regulators, of remedies such as dispute settlement, complaints-handling, or mediation.

We invite scholars to participate in a one-day workshop to debate such developments, or any other, that pertain to the broader topic of fundamental rights protection from, with, and by regulators. The workshop will take place at NOVA School of Law, in Lisbon, on the 10^th of April 2026. We welcome contributions from any jurisdiction, disciplinary perspective or methodological approach. The workshop is open to scholars of all levels of seniority, but we particularly encourage early career scholars to apply.

We look forward to receiving abstracts (300 words max.) by the 8^th of February 2026. Selected participants will be expected to submit drafts of short, original papers (up to 5.000 words) by the 3^rd of April. At the conclusion of the event, the group will discuss potential publication venues.

Abstracts and queries should be sent to novapearl@novalaw.unl.pt.