AG Damman Geographien Digitaler Infrastrukturen

YRG Geographies of Digital Infrastructures

The young research group focuses on an often invisible material geography of our increasingly digitalised world: digital infrastructures and their embedding in geopolitical tensions and conflicts. In order to research the resilience of digital infrastructures, the security of internet routing and new and emerging dependencies, the junior research group is developing an interdisciplinary connection between digital geography, GIScience and IT security research – and applying it to benefit international peace and conflict research as well as critical infrastructure research.

Finn Dammann

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Foto: Maja Warlich

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The research project, which has been funded by the BMBF since 1 October 2024, addresses a research gap in the scientific debate on Internet infrastructures: The implications of geopolitical conflicts and tensions on the routing of data packets via IP and on the resilience of digital infrastructures have so far remained largely outside the field of vision of information technology and social science research on digital communication systems. However, the effects of geopolitical conflicts on providers of basic Internet infrastructures – such as Internet service providers, interconnection service providers or providers of content delivery networks – have repeatedly become apparent in recent years: In the trade conflict between the USA, China and the EU, in Russia’s war against Ukraine or currently in the war in Israel and Gaza, providers and operators of digital infrastructures are increasingly appearing as actors that have a direct influence on geopolitical tensions and conflicts. As part of the junior research group, the project develops an interdisciplinary context for researching the implications of geopolitical conflicts on the resilience of digital infrastructures, the IT security of internet routing and the newly emerging dependencies of providers of basic internet infrastructures – and uses three empirical case studies on current geopolitical tensions to make these fruitful for peace and conflict research as well as for German and European digital policy.

The young research group follows up on a start-up project for innovative research topics by Finn Dammann, which was funded by the Bavarian Institute for Digital Transformation (bidt) as part of a separate position from November 2022 to April 2023.

Governing Digital Circulation in Germany and Europe

Who controls the circulation of digital data and information, how and with what objectives? This question is a central subject of numerous debates in science and politics. The term ‘digital sovereignty’ is often used to problematise social dependence on globally active digital companies. This research project examines which political ‘digital’ geographies are produced linguistically-discursively and technically-materially.

Understanding Changes in Digital Knowledge Production

Digital technologies are also associated with new forms of organisation, collection, processing and presentation of geographical knowledge. In open map projects (Volunteered Geographic Information) such as OpenStreetMap, thousands of users voluntarily and consciously produce geodata for a shared database. We are researching the effects of social inequalities, economic interests and traditional cartographic epistemes on forms of collaborative geographical knowledge production.

Methods and Innovations in Geography

The digital transformation offers geography in particular new opportunities and impulses for the further development of its research processes and methodologies. At the interface between digital geography, critical cartography and platial GIS, we are working on new and alternative forms of spatial data analysis and geovisualisation.


We are not currently advertising any specific topics, but are happy to receive enquiries from the field of digital infrastructures.

Theses mentored in the past:

  • Ronja Pöhlmann (2026): Ökologische Transformation durch KI? Eine Analyse der Versprechen und ökologischen Widersprüche digitaler Zwillinge in urbanen Räumen (bachelor thesis)
  • Sarah Mandel (2026): Legitimation, Macht und digitale Infrastrukturen in REDD+: Eine Fallstudie zur früheren REDD+-Pilotphase im Distrikt Kilosa, Tansania (bachelor thesis)
  • Jakop Wentzel (2025): Wer bestimmt die Stadtentwicklung? Eine kritische Analyse des Digitalen Zwillings von Esri im Kontext von technologie- und datengetriebener Stadtplanung am Beispiel der Stadt Zürich (bachelor thesis)
  • Robin Blum (2025): “Diálogo es la ruta” – Potentiale zivilgesellschaftlicher Einflussnahme auf den Friedensprozess in Kolumbien am Beispiel des ACVC (bachelor thesis)
  • Frank Patrick (2025): Deutschland auf dem Weg zur Gigabitgesellschaft – Breitbandausbau als Grundlage der Digitalisierung im ländlichen Raum (master thesis)
  • Lorenz Rickert (2025): Heimat als politischer Begriff – Naturschutz und Landschaftsbilder im Heimatdiskurs mit Fokus auf der AfD (bachelor thesis)
  • Helena Hoffmann (2024): Erst unsichtbar dann unübersehbar: Die Nord Stream Pipelineinfrastruktur im Kontext des Russland-Ukraine Krieges (bachelor thesis)
  • Maria Geißler (2024): From Hashtag to Haircuts: digitale Solidarität mit der iranischen Frauenbewegung. Eine Instagram-Analyse der Solidarität in Deutschland (bachelor thesis)
  • Jan Pereira de Carvalho (2024): Multidimensionale Territorialität während der COVID-19 Pandemie am Klinikum Nürnberg-Nord (Zulassungsarbeit – co-mentorship)
  • Sophia Christa (2023): Geopolitisierung erneuerbarer Energien in Deutschland vor dem Hintergrund des Russland-Ukraine-Kriegs (bachelor thesis – co-mentorship)

Publications

  • Boris Michel & Finn Dammann (2026): Metro Manila’s digital infrastructure ecosystem. Insights into critical data centre studies in the majority world. In: Digital Geography and Society 10, http://doi.org/100177. 10.1016/j.diggeo.2026.100177
  • Georg Glasze, Amaël Cattaruzza, Finn Dammann and Frédérick Douzet (Hrsg., due early 2026 – open access): The Elgar Companion to the Geopolitics of Digital Sovereignty. Contested Networks, Territories and Self-determination. Edward Elgar Publishing.
  • Georg Glasze, Amaël Cattaruzza, Finn Dammann and Frédérick Douzet: Political Geographies of Digital Sovereignty – An introduction to the Book
  • Finn Dammann: Situating digital sovereignty in the material geographies of internet infrastructures. Lessons from Mediterranean interconnection hubs
  • Georg Glasze, Finn Dammann, Amael Cattaruzza, Frederick Douzet & Daniel Lambach: Contested spatialities of the digital – Conceptual contributions from geography
  • Schröder-Bergen, S., Michel, B., Glasze, G., & Dammann, F. (2025). Open Geospatial Data within Digital Capitalism: OpenStreetMap and the Overture Maps Foundation. Cartographica: The International Journal for Geographic Information and Geovisualization. https://utppublishing.com/doi/10.3138/cart-2024-0030
  • Pablo Abend, Finn Dammann & Boris Michel (2025): Kritische Infrastrukturspaziergänge in datafizierten Welten. In: Naumann, Matthias & Strüver, Anke (Hrsg.), Handbuch Mobile Methoden in der Sozial- und Raumforschung, UTB (Open Access)
  • Boris Michel & Finn Dammann (2024). Breakdowns, (Un-)Sichtbarkeiten und glitches. Kritische Geographien der Resilienz digitaler Infrastrukturen. Geographica Helvetica, 79(4), 311–323. https://doi.org/10.5194/gh-79-311-2024
  • Finn Dammann & Dominik Kremer (Eds): Geographical Research in the Digital Humanities. Spatial Concepts, Approaches and Methods. Reihe: Digital Humanities Research. [transcript] Bielefeld University Press (2024, Open Access)
  • Finn Dammann & Dominik Kremer, D. (2024): Spatial Concepts, Approaches and Methods for Digital Humanities – An Introduction to the Book. In: F. Dammann & D. Kremer (Eds), Geographical Research in the Digital Humanities. Spatial Concepts, Approaches and Methods (pp. 7-11). [transcript] Bielefeld University Press
  • Finn Dammann & Georg Glasze (2023): Politische Geographien der digitalen Transformation – Von der „globalen Informationsgesellschaft“ zur „digitalen Souveränität“, In: Martin Doevenspeck & Gabriele Schrüfer (Hrsg.): Konflikte, Bayreuther Kontaktstudium Geographie, Band 12, S. 1-21
  • Finn Dammann (2023): Politische Geographien der digitalen Transformation – Umkämpfte Raumproduktionen vor dem Hintergrund der Politiken einer „Digitalen Souveränität“ in Deutschland, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät (veröffentlichte Rahmenschrift der kumulativen Dissertation, open access)
  • Georg Glasze, Frédérick Douzet, Amaël Cattaruzza, Finn Dammann (2023): Introduction: The Emerging Geopolitics of Data. In: Contested Spatialities of Digital Sovereignty. Geopolitics, https://doi.org/10.1080/14650045.2022.2050070 (open access)
  • Georg Glasze, Finn Dammann, Max Münßinger, Didier Danet, Clotilde Bômont, Alix Desforges (2023): Reception and Elaboration of “Digital Sovereignty” in Three European Discourse Arenas: France, Germany, and the EU. In: Contested Spatialities of Digital Sovereignty. Geopolitics, https://doi.org/10.1080/14650045.2022.2050070 (open access)
  • Jan Winkler & Finn Dammann (2023): Digitally Competent – Digitally Sovereign – Digitally Civic: geopolitics of Subject Formation in the German Context. In: Contested Spatialities of Digital Sovereignty. Geopolitics, https://doi.org/10.1080/14650045.2022.2050070 (open access)
  • Finn Dammann & Boris Michel (Hg.): Handbuch Kritisches Kartieren. 2022, transcript (Leseprobe unter https://www.transcript-verlag.de/media/pdf/9f/e4/6b/ts5958_15VnFoRECbBf7u.pdf)
  • Finn Dammann & Boris Michel (2022): Kritisches Kartieren – zur Einführung. In: Finn Dammann & Boris Michel (Hg.): Handbuch Kritisches Kartieren. transcript, S. 9-21
  • Finn Dammann & Georg Glasze, G. (2022): Governing digital circulation: The quest for data control and sovereignty in Germany. Territory, Politics, Governance, https://doi.org/10.1080/21622671.2022.2141850
  • Finn Dammann & Georg Glasze (2022): „Wir müssen als Deutsche und Europäer unsere digitale Souveränität zurückgewinnen!“ Historische Rekonstruktion und internationale Kontextualisierung der Diskurse einer „digitalen Souveränität“ in Deutschland. In G. Glasze, E. Odzuck, & R. Staples (Eds.): Was heißt digitale Souveränität? Diskurse, Praktiken und Voraussetzungen »individueller« und »staatlicher Souveränität« im digitalen Zeitalter, transcript, S. 29-60. (open access)
  • Finn Dammann, Christian Eichenmüller & Georg Glasze (2022): Geographies of “digital governmentality”: Platform-based governing through adaptive environments. Digital Geography and Society, 3, 100034. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.diggeo.2022.100034 (open access)
  • Julia Pohle, Leo Thüer, Finn Dammann & Jan Winkler (2022.): Das Subjekt im politischen Diskurs zu „digitaler Souveränität“. In: Norbert Kersting, Jörg Radtke, Sigrid Baringhorst (Hg.): Handbuch Digitalisierung und politische Beteiligung. Luxemburg: Springer Verlag. (open access)
  • Finn Dammann & Boris Michel (2022): Digitale Ungleichheiten überwinden – kritisches Kartieren crowdbasierter Wissensproduktionen. In: Finn Dammann & Boris Michel (Hg.): Handbuch Kritisches Kartieren. transcript.
  • Finn Dammann, Iris Dzudzek, Georg Glasze, Annika Mattissek & Henning Schirmel (2021): Verfahren der lexikometrisch-compterlinguistischen Analyse von Textkorpora. In: Georg Glasze & Annika Mattissek (Hrsg.): Handbuch für Diskurs und Raum. Theorien und Methoden für die Humangeographie sowie die sozial- und kulturwissenschaftliche Raumforschung, 3. Aufl., transcript, Bielefeld, S. 313-343
  • Georg Glasze, Finn Dammann & Lea Bauer (2021): Wissen durch Karten. In: Tabea Bork-Hüffer; Henning Füller; Till Straube (Hrsg.): Handbuch Digitale Geographien, Welt – Wissen – Werkzeuge. utb.
  • Finn Dammann & Georg Glasze (2021): Regieren und Steuern. In: Tabea Bork-Hüffer; Henning Füller; Till Straube (Hrsg.): Handbuch Digitale Geographien, Welt – Wissen – Werkzeuge, 2021
  • Susanne Schröder-Bergen, Georg Glasze, Boris Michel & Finn Dammann (2021): De/colonizing OpenStreetMap? Local mappers, humanitarian and commercial actors and the changing modes of collaborative mapping. GeoJournal. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-021-10547-7
  • Georg Glasze & Finn Dammann (2020): Von der ›globalen Informationsgesellschaft‹ zum ›Schengenraum für Daten‹ – Raumkonzepte in der Regierung der digitalen Transformation‹ in Deutschland. In: Thomas Döbler; Christian Pentzold; Christian Katzenbach (Hrsg.): Räume digitaler Kommunikation, Halem. S. 159-182

Talks & Lectures

  • Speculative Geographies of Data Center Development in the western mediterranean. Annual conference of the Royal Geographic Society 2026 (02.09-04.09) in London, UK (Presentation by Josephine Brandenburg).
  • Technopolitics of Data Ports in the Western Mediterreanen, Annual regional Studies Association conference, 15.06.-18.06.2026 in Gothenburg (Sweden) (Josephine Brandenburg & Finn Dammann).
  • Spatial Politics of Internet Infrastructures: The Promise and Unintended Effects of the EllaLink Submarine Cable; Annual conference of the AK Digitale Geographie 6.-7.11.2025 in Frankfurt am Main (Presentation by Maja Warlich)
  • Sociotechnical imaginations of internet infrastructures: Insights from southern European centres of digital infrastructure development (06.11.2025-07.11.2025), conference of the Digital Geography Working Group in Frankfurt am Main. (Presentation by Josephine Brandenburg)
  • Interconnection Hubs, Content Delivery Networks and Emerging AI Infrastructures. Insights into the material geographies of „digital ecosystems“ in the Western Mediterranean, Internationale Jahrestagung der Royal Geographical Society, 26. – 29. August in Birmingham (Posterpresentation by Josephine Brandenburg & Finn Dammann)
  • Spatial Politics of Internet Infrastructures: Connecting, Bypassing, Territorializing, Internationale Jahrestagung der Royal Geographical Society, 26. – 29. August in Birmingham (Presentation by Dr. Finn Dammann with Prof. Dr. Boris Michel MLU Halle-Wittenberg)
  • Geopolitics of digital sovereignty in global comparison, Panel auf dem Annual Symposium of the Digital Geography Research Group, 19. – 20.06.2025 (federführend organisierter Panel von Finn Dammann) Situating digital sovereignty in the material geographies of internet infrastructures. Lessons from Mediterranean interconnection hubs (Presentation by Finn Dammann)
  • The Race for LEO. Fragmented Futures of Satellite Internet, Panel auf dem Annual Symposium of the Digital Geography Research Group, 19. – 20.06.2025 (federführend organisierter Panel von Finn Dammann) (Prensentation by Maja Warlich)
  • Interconnection Hubs, Content Delivery Networks und neu entstehende KI-Infrastrukturen – Einblicke in die materiellen Geographien des digitalen Kolonialismus im westlichen Mittelmeerraum, Tagung des AK Politische Geographie 22.–24. Mai 2025 in Freiburg (Presentation by Finn Dammann & Josephine Brandenburg)
  • Data Mobilities and the Material Geographies of Internet Infrastructures. T2M Annual Conference – Mobilities and Infrastructures: Transitions and Transformations (23. – 25.09.2024 in Leipzig, Presentation by Finn Dammann together with Boris Michel)
  • Interconnection Hubs, Content Delivery Networks & Submarine Cables – Implikationen geopolitischer Konflikte auf Internet-Routing und die Resilienz digitaler Infrastrukturen, 10th of July 2024, Kolloquium at the institute of Geography at FAU (Lecture by Finn Dammann to mark the habilitation process)
  • Politische Geographien digitaler Infrastrukturen – Implikationen geopolitischer Spannungen und Konflikte auf Internet-Traffic, Fränkisch Geographische Gesellschaft, 11th of december 2023 (Presentation by Finn Dammann)
  • Politische Geographien der digitalen Zirkulation – Umkämpfte Raumkonfigurationen von Content Delivery Networks, Deutscher Kongress für Geographie, 22th of september 2023 (Presentation by Finn Dammann together with Boris Michel)
  • Towards a Political Geography of the Digital Transformation. Workshop: Digital Geographic Movements and Methods, June 21-23, 2023 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada (Vortrag mit Georg Glasze)
  • Political Geographies of Digital Infrastructures – Contested spaces of Content Delivery Networks, Session: Toward a Genealogy of Global Infrastructure: Histories, Temporalities, Ruptures. AAG Annual Meeting 2023 ( Presentation by Finn Dammann together with Boris Michel, 24.03.2023, here you’ll find the abstract)
  • Governing digital flows. Towards a digital geography of circulation. Digitale Geographien – Räume digitaler Zukünfte, 17. – 18th of november 2022, Halle (Presentation by Finn Dammann together with Boris Michel)
  • AI in OpenStreetMap. A New Form of Data Colonialism? AAG Annual Meeting, 2021 (Presentation by Finn Dammann with Georg Glasze & Susanne Schröder-Bergen (Presenters) and Boris Michel)
  • “Colonizing of the crowd? Crowd-based geo-data production and urban platform capitalism.” Online Symposium Platform Urbanism Towards a technocapitalist transformation of European cities?, 2021 (Presentation by Finn Dammann together Boris Michel & Susanne Schröder-Bergen (Vortragende) and Georg Glasze)
  • Kritische Kartographie zwischen postkolonialer Kritik und dekolonialer Praxis. Workshop „Mit offenen Karten. Kartografie und die Kritik daran.“, Online an der Universität Kassel, 2021 (Professional Development Presentation by Finn Dammann together with Boris Michel)
  • Das „digital souveräne“ Subjekt. Konstitutionsmomente einer Subjektivierungsform im Regieren der digitalen Transformation. Neue Kulturgeographie, Technocultures & Technoscapes, 2020, Bonn (Presentation by Finn Dammann and Jan Winkler)
  • „Wir müssen unsere digitale Souveränität zurückgewinnen!“ Eine Renaissance von territorialer Souveränität im Digitalisierungsdiskurs? Deutscher Kongress für Geographie 2019, Kiel (Presentation by Finn Dammann with Georg Glasze)
  • „As Germans and Europeans, we must regain our digital sovereignty“ – a renaissance of geopolitical thinking in the problematisation of the digital tansformation? Conference paper for the Workshop of Extraterritoriality of Data, Tallin, 2019 (Presentation by Finn Dammann & Georg Glasze)
  • „Deutschland muss seine digitale Souveränität verteidigen“ Der Einzug territorial-geopolitischen Denkens in die Konfigurierung der digitalen Transformation – eine Analyse politischer Rationalitäten. Workshop of the working group for political geography, Münster, 2019 (Presentation by Finn Dammann & Georg Glasze)
  • Der „digital souveräne Staat“? Konflikte um die Produktion von Wissen zu Bevölkerung und Territorium. Workshop zu Globalisierung und Digitalisierung – (neue) Weltbezüge der Geoinformation, 2018, Jena (Presentation by Finn Dammann & Georg Glasze)
  • Datenarmut im Zeitalter von „Big Data“? Oder: welche Rolle können Datenzentren an Universitäten für Lehre und Forschung der Sozialwissenschaften spielen? Interdisziplinärer Workshop: Das Ende der Theorie? Big Data in der Forschung (10.-11. Oktober 2017 – Orangerie, Erlangen, Presentation by Finn Dammann & Georg Glasze)
  • Die Debatte um „Digitale Souveränität“ in Deutschland. Zwischen Regierungsrationalitäten der territorialen Abgrenzung und des neoliberalen Wettbewerbs. Deutscher Kongress für Geographie, 2017, Tübingen (Presentation by Finn Dammann & Georg Glasze)
  • Forschung mit und über Geodaten in der Kulturgeographie. Kolloquium am Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg, 2017 (Presentation by Finn Dammann together with Georg Glasze)
  • Language geography in OpenStreetMap – A geolinguistic analysis. Annual Meeting of the AAG (Association of Amercian Geographers), Boston, 2017 (Presentation by Finn Dammann)

Projects, Workshops & Sessions

  • Workshop: Neue Ansätze kritischer Geovisualisierung, Halle (Saale), 08. bis 10. Mai 2025 (Organisation zusammen mit Boris Michel, Pablo Abend, Nora Küttel, Lea Bauer, Francis Harvey & Anna Unterstab)
  • Jahrestagung AK Digitale Geographien: “Geospatial Worlds: Geodaten, Code & Gesellschaft”, Erlangen-Nürnberg, 30. September bis 02. Oktober 2024 (Organisation zusammen mit Blake Walker, Georg Glasze und Studierenden im MA Kulturgeographie, hier geht es zum Rückblick)
  • Workshop Neue Ansätze kritischer Geovisualisierung, 25. – 27. April 2024 in Halle (Organisation zusammen mit Boris Michel, Pablo Abend, Nora Küttel, Lea Bauer und Francis Harvey, hier geht es zum Call)
  • Workshop zu Geographien von „Open Collaboration“ und „Digital Commons“, 7./8. Dezember 2023 in Erlangen (Organisation zusammen mit Thilo Lang, Georg Glasze & Boris Michel, hier geht es zum Call)
  • Session zu „Geopolitisierung digitaler Infrastrukturen“, Deutscher Kongress für Geographie 2023, Frankfurt a. M. (Leitung zusammen mit Daniel Lambach & Georg Glasze, hier geht es zum Call)
  • 6th Annual Humanitarian Mapathon – Wedn., 19th of April, 2023 (Co-Organisation für den Standort Erlangen zusammen mit Blake Walker, Dominik Kremer und Georg Glasze, hier geht es zum Programm )
  • Konzeption und Prototypenbau eines Web 2.0 Kartographie Moduls für das Science Center Experimenta in Heilbronn (Projekt mit Georg Glasze; Mittel über Jochen Hunger Museum & exhibition design)
  • Tagung „Räume digitaler Zukünfte“, Halle, 16.-18.11.2022. Moderation: Paper-Session zu „Digitalisierung als Werkzeug“. (Programm – Organisation: Leonie Büttner, Yannick Ecker und Boris Michel )
  • Session zu Political Geographies of Data – Exploring digital territories, sovereignties and borders. International Geographical Union – UGI-IGU Paris – 18-22 July 2022 (mit Amaël Cattaruzza & Georg Glasze, https://www.geographie.nat.fau.de/files/2021/12/call-for-participation-political-geographies-of-data-igu-2022.pdf)
  • Workshop zum Kritischen Kartieren sozialer Wirklichkeiten – Neue Formen und Ansätze kartographischer Wissensproduktion, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, 28.‐30.04.2022 (zusammen mit Pablo Abend, Lea Bauer, Francis Harvey, Nora Küttel & Boris Michel, Programm)
  • Humangeographische Sommerschule „Digitale Geographien“, September 2021 (Organisation zusammen mit Georg Glasze, Blake Walker, Dominik Kremer und Studierenden im FAU Masterstudiengang Kulturgeographie, Programm)
  • Workshop Geography meets Digital Humanities – Neuere Ansätze raumbezogener Modellierung, Digital, 2021 (Workshop zusammen mit Dominik Kremer, Workshop Geography meets DH – Programm)
  • Technologie, Gesellschaft und Raum im Reden über das „digitale Zeitalter“, 2017, Erlangen (Workshopsorganisation mit Boris Michel) Workshop Technologie, Gesellschaft und Raum – Programm

Other Publications

  • Ungleich und umkämpft – Content Delivery Networks als kritische Infrastrukturen (Blog post, 20.th of october 2023, Bayerisches Forschungsinstitut für Digitale Transformation, here you’ll find the Blog Post)
  • Sprachgeographie in OpenStreetMap – Eine geolinguistische Metadaten-Analyse, 2016 (Unveröffentlichte Masterarbeit)

News:

RGS 2026 in London

08.09.2026 – Last week, the Royal Geographic Society’s annual conference, themed ‘Geographies of inequalities: towards just places’, took place in London. We were represented there with a range of contributions and were able to present our current research findings in various sessions.

Finn Dammann organised two sessions: one with Boris Michel on ‘Uneven and contested geographies of data centers’ and one with Louis Petiniaud on ‘Emerging methods and approaches for researching internet infrastructures’.
Josephine Brandenburg presented her research findings on ‘Speculative geographies of data centre development in the western Mediterranean’, whilst Maja Warlich presented her methodological approaches under the title ‘How infrastructure affects digital network proximity – Insights into EllaLink’s historical effect on data routing’.

We would like to thank the organizers for the exciting conference and all our colleagues for the great exchange of ideas.

New article in the August issue of Forschung & Lehre

13.08.2026 – A new article by Finn Dammann and Georg Glasze, entitled “Sovereign, open, self-determined? The digital world as a arena of geopolitical conflict”, has been published in the August issue of Forschung & Lehre.

The article updates some of our reflections on the development and complexity of ‘digital sovereignty’: from the vision of an open ‘global information society’ through Snowden, Big Tech and new dependencies, to the recent geopolitical and geo-economic shift in Europe.

Central to this is the tension between two interpretations: a decidedly geopolitical — and thus ultimately territorial — perspective, which examines Europe’s capacity to act in relation to the US, China and major platform companies; and a more civic-democratic — and thus more universalist — perspective, which asks how citizens in a datafied society can have a say in data practices, digital public spheres and key infrastructure.

Many thanks to Forschung & Lehre for the opportunity to bring these debates together in essay form.

Review: RSA Conference in Gothenburg

14.07.2026 – From June 15 to 18, the annual Regional Studies Conference took place in Gothenburg under the title “Regions as Arenas in a Changing World”. Finn Dammann and Josephine Brandenburg gave a presentation on “Technopolitics of Data Ports in the Western Mediterranean” as part of a session on Global Digital Networks, organised by David Bassen, Matt Zook and Michael Grote.

We were able to gain many interesting insights and take away new ideas for our research project. Many thanks to the organisers for the productive exchange and the fascinating discussions!
 

The Elgar Companion to the Geopolitics of Digital Sovereignty – Open Access publication

29.06.2026 – In June 2026, “The Elgar Companion to the Geopolitics of Digital Sovereignty: Contested Networks, Territories and Self-determination” was published as open access. The volume was edited by Georg Glasze, Amaël Cattaruzza, Finn Dammann and Frédérick Douzet and brings together 26 articles providing a geopolitical context for the geographies of digital sovereignty in a global comparison.
 

Review: Swiss Telecommunication Summit 2026 in Bern

29.06.2026 – On 25 June, the Swiss Telecommunication Summit 2026 took place in Bern. At the invitation of the Swiss Telecommunications Association (asut), Dr Finn Dammann joined Dr Myriam Dunn Cavelty (Centre for Security Studies at ETH Zurich) at the Kursaal in Bern to discuss internet infrastructures as factors of power in our world, which is increasingly characterised by geopolitical conflicts and tensions – and the associated questions regarding the shaping of digital sovereignty in Switzerland. A report on the summit can be found in Computerworld (report & photo © Rüdiger R. Sellin).

New journal paper in „Digital Geography & Society“

05.06.2026 – In a new research article in the journal *Digital Geography & Society*, Boris Michel (MLU Halle-Wittenberg) and Finn Dammann examine the rapid development of a cluster of data centres in the Manila metropolitan area and situate it within the increasingly geopolitically contested market for content delivery, AI services and IP interconnection in South-East Asia. The article, entitled “Metro Manila’s digital infrastructure ecosystem. Insights into critical data centre studies in the majority world” has been published as open access here.

Review: Tech Show 2026 in Frankfurt

08.05.2026 – We have just returned from an exciting visit to the Tech Show at the Frankfurt Exhibition Centre. Companies from all over Germany and the world are showcasing their portfolios here, whilst experts from industry and academia are discussing topics ranging from cloud solutions and quantum computing to data sovereignty in presentations and panel discussions. This year, an emphasis was placed on the development of data centres and the use of AI in the private sector. Issues of sustainability, power supply and cooling stood out in particular, but security concerns such as site security, fire protection and cyber security also played a role for both customers and providers.

We held numerous discussions with industry insiders on the design and management of data centres, the environmental impact of this growing sector, and interconnection with the global Internet. Through the contacts made at the Tech Show, we hope to continue gaining insights into this industry in the future and to track how the trend towards AI and ‘made in Germany’ data centres develops.

Funding for doctoral student Maja Warlich from the Bavarian Research Institute for Digital Transformation

05.05.2026 – Doctoral student Maja Warlich from our working group has been selected for the funding program of the Graduate Center of the Bavarian Research Institute for Digital Transformation (bidt). Every year, the bidt supports 25 doctoral students conducting research in the field of digital transformation and facilitates networking and further education in the field of digitization research.

We are very happy for Maja and excited to see what the future holds!


Interdisciplinary Workshop “New Approaches to Critical Geovisualisation 2026”

22.04.2026 – From 4 June 2026 to 6 June 2026, the transdisciplinary workshop “New Approaches to Critical Geovisualisation 2026” will take place once again this year at Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design in Halle.

For the third year running, geographers, media scholars and artists will discuss the latest techniques and methods of critical mapping and present current (research) work in the fields of counter-mapping, Platial GIS, place-based GIS and spatial humanities. The workshop is once again organised by Pablo Abend, Anna Unterstab (both from Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design), Boris Michel (University of Halle), Nora Küttel (University of Bremen), Lea Bauer, Francis Harvey (both from IfL) and Finn Dammann (FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg).

We look forward to receiving your registrations by 30 April 2026 via this link. The provisional programme can be found here.

Review: Annual Conference of the Working Group on Digital Geography

10.11.2025 – At the beginning of November, the annual meeting of the Working Group on Digital Geography took place in Frankfurt am Main. Under the theme “Digital geographies of valuation: platforms, technologies, narratives,” our young research group contributed two presentations in the session on Politics of digital infrastructures. As the final conference of the year, the meeting was a great opportunity to gain new inspiration for our research project. We would like to express our sincere thanks to the organizers.


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