Neurotechnology and Law

Call for Papers

Guest editors:

Darshan Datar (RMIT, Australia), Phoebe Galbally (RMIT, Australia) and Avantik Tamta (Melbourne Law School, The University of Melbourne, Australia)

Advances in neuromodulation, neuroimaging, and brain-computer interfaces are fundamentally challenging the conceptual architecture of law. Technologies capable of altering cognition, decoding neural activity for evidentiary purposes, or modulating personality traits are no longer speculative. They are generating constitutional litigation, disrupting employment frameworks, and exposing the limits of existing non-discrimination and privacy doctrine.

This special issue invites rigorous, original scholarship on what these developments demand of law and legal theory. We are particularly interested in work on freedom of thought. This right has attracted renewed scholarly and policy attention following the UN Special Rapporteur's 2022 report, yet its doctrinal contours remain deeply contested. We also welcome contributions that approach neurotechnology expansively, including the cognitive manipulation effected by technologies such as deepfakes.

Areas of interest:

• Freedom of thought
• Constitutional law
• International human rights
• Employment law
• Torts and contracts
• Legal theory
• Socio-legal studies
• Cognitive manipulation and deepfakes

To apply:

500-word abstract + 250-word biography

Email abstracts to darshan.datar@rmit.edu.au

DEADLINE: 15 January 2027

Publication timeline:

• Abstracts Due: 15th January 2027 (email to Darshan Datar)
• Online Workshop: 5th April 2027
• Full Papers Due: 31st July 2027
• Publication: 2028

Law, Technology and Humans  (ISSN 2652-4074) is an innovative, open access journal dedicated to research and scholarship on the human and humanity of law and technology. Supported by the Humans Technology Law Centre and the School of Law at Queensland University of Technology, the Journal is indexed in international databases including Scopus and Web of Science, and importantly in the largest open access database DOAJ.

All queries related to the Journal can be sent to Chief Editor Professor Kieran Tranter lawtechhum@qut.edu.au