European IT law has in recent years undergone an exponential expansion—with the AI Act, the Data Act, the Cyber Resilience Act, and other instruments—producing a significant increase in regulatory complexity. At the same time, the technological context is evolving in both pace and complexity, not only through advances in AI but also through prospective developments in quantum technologies that render the future increasingly uncertain.
This 40th-anniversary edition of the Nordic Conference on Law and IT takes these developments as an opportunity to explore how complexity may be addressed through rigorous analysis and proactive legal design. It also considers how insights from complexity theory can be operationalised in legal analysis to account for phenomena such as emergence and non-linear dynamics.
For practitioners, the conference offers a timely forum to exchange experiences, gain orientation in a fragmented legal landscape, and discuss practical approaches to navigating the challenges of regulating for complexity. The conference will also examine the EU AI Act, adopted in 2024 and expected to become applicable in Norway via the EEA Agreement; while first implementation experiences are emerging across the EU, debate continues about the Act’s benefits, drawbacks, and practical implications.
Program
Wednesday, 5. November
Knut Selmer Memorial Lecture 2025
As a prelude to the Nordic Conference, you are welcome to attend the Knut Selmer Memorial Lecture 2025 with speaker Henrik Skaug Sætra. The lecture is titled 'Advanced AI and the Social Contract: Reframing the Debate'.
There is no need for seperate registration to this lecture for participants who are already registered for the Nordic Conference.
19:00: Welcome reception, in Aulakjelleren, Domus Media.
Thursday, 6. November
| 09:00 - 09:30 | Registration and coffee | Hotel Bristol |
|---|---|---|
| 09:30 - 09:45 | Welcome | Tobias Mahler, UiO |
| 09:45 - 10:25 | Opening Session Designing Tech Regulation for Complex Systems: Insights from Complexity Science? | Chair: Tobias Mahler, UiO Samson Esayas, UiO |
| 10:25 - 10:55 | Break | |
| 10:55 - 11:35 | Artificial Intelligence in Education (AIED): Towards More Effective Regulation | Liane Colonna, Stockholm University |
| 11:35 - 12:15 | Risk-Based Regulation Across Digital Acts | Andrej Savin, Copenhagen Business School |
| 12:15 - 13:00 | Panel discussion:
| Moderator: Tobias Mahler, UiO Commentator: Malcolm Langford, UiO |
| 13:00 - 14:00 | Lunch | |
| 14:00 - 14:45 | Session: AI Governance
| Chair: Samson Esayas, UiO
|
| 14:45 - 15:30 | 'Why This Decision?' – Regulating Reasoning and Explanations in Automated Administrative Decision-Making | Jøren Ullits, University of Southern Denmark |
| 15:30 - 15:50 | Break | |
| 15:50 - 16:30 | Panel: AI Act, what now?
| Moderator: Rebecca Schmidt, OsloMet |
| 16:30 | Close of first day | |
| 18:30 | Dinner at Hotel Bristol (seperate registration required) | |
Friday, 7. November
| 09:30 - 10:15 | Cutting through Complexity: From Complifiers to Simplifiers with Legal Design | Helena Haapio, University of Vaasa |
|---|---|---|
| 10:15 - 11:00 | Session: Quantum law
| Chair: Lars Arnesen, UiO Morten Hjorth-Jensen, UiO |
| 11:00 - 11:30 | Break | |
| 11:30 - 12:15 | Quantum computing and the law | Peter Davis, University of Copenhagen |
| 12:15 - 13:00 | Panel on quantum law:
| Moderator: Kristin Bergtora Sandvik, UiO |
| 13:00 - 14:00 | Lunch | |
| 14:00 - 14:10 | 40th Anniversary celebration | |
| 14:10 - 14:20 | The History of the Nordic Conferences | Olav Torvund, UiO |
| 14:20 - 14:30 | Remembering Peter Seipel | Peter Wahlgren, Stockholm University |
| 14:35 - 14:55 | Panel: The Future of Nordic collaboration
| Moderator: Emily Weitzenböck, OsloMet |
| 15:00 | Close of day two | |
Speakers
Registrations
- Registration for the conference
- UiO Student: NOK 500
- PhD candidate: NOK 1000
- Academics: NOK 2500
- External participant: NOK 2900
- Registration for dinner 6. November 18.30 at Hotel Bristol
- Student at NRCCL: NOK 500
- External participant: NOK 900
- PhD candidate: NOK 500
- Academics: NOK 900
- Payment for the conference and dinner
NB! Registrations are not valid until payment has been made. All registrations are binding.
Payment via invoice to employer. If you would like your employer to pay for the conference/dinner via invoice, you must complete a separate online form for this purpose.
Contact Gro Halvorsen at gro.halvorsen@jus.uio.no for any questions about the conference.
Deadline for registrations: 26. October 2025
PhD Workshop
Prior to the conference, there will be a PhD workshop hosted by BI Norwegian Business School on the 5. November.
Deadline for submission of project descriptions and registration of the PhD workshop: 22. October 2025.
Presentations
Samson Esayas
Lianne Collona
Andrej Savin
Ida Koivisto
Jøren Ullits
Helena Haapio
Morten Hjorth-Jensen
Olav Torvund
Peter Wahlgren
Organisers
Norwegian Research Center for Computers and Law and BI Norwegian Business School; supported by Research Network on Regulatory Developments in Cybersecurity (CyberReg) and Law, VIROS, TRUST, Simonsen Vogt Wiig, Lovsamlingsfondet, Lovdata and Norsk forening for jus og EDB.