We are pleased to invite you to the Midterm Conference of the DFG Research Training Group “Standards of Governance”, titled “Standards, Governance, and Global Transformations.” The conference will take place on 29–30 January 2026 at Goethe University Frankfurt.
The conference addresses the growing importance of standards as instruments of governance in an era marked by digital transformation, interrelated global crises, and increasing demands for sustainability. While standards are often presented as consensus-based and efficiency-oriented solutions, they are frequently embedded in politicized and contested processes of standard-setting and implementation.
Against this backdrop, the conference explores both the effectiveness and the normative implications of standards in shaping social, political, and environmental outcomes.
Over the course of two days, members and invited guests of the Research Training Group will discuss these questions in five thematic panels. The panels cover a broad range of topics, including legitimacy challenges of sustainability standards in global supply chains, governance through standards in Europe’s ecological transformation, standards and the digital transformation, as well as standards, infrastructure, and the governance of natural ecosystems. A final panel reflects on past trajectories and future avenues of standardization research.
A major highlight of the conference will be the keynote address by Professor Eleni Tsingou (Copenhagen Business School) on 29 January 2026, titled “Global standard setting in uncertain times – ‘small’ institutions as anchors of multilateralism.”
We look forward to welcoming you to Frankfurt for two days of interdisciplinary exchange and discussion on standards and governance in times of global transformation.