Speakers
Meet our Speakers for The Digital Media Conference 2026
The Media Science Conference 2026 is proud to present an extraordinary lineup of voices driving innovation in media and communication. At this year’s Media Science and Digital Communication Conference, you’ll hear from global thought leaders who are shaping the future of storytelling, technology, and cultural transformation. From cutting-edge insights in digital media research to bold ideas redefining communication strategies, these sessions promise to spark dialogue and inspire action. Join with us to explore trends that matter and solutions that last.
These are our esteemed speakers—visionaries who will lead conversations that shape the next chapter of media and digital communication.
Keynote Speakers
Prof. Sahana Udupa
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU),
Germany
Title: "Ethical Scaling: Community Epistemes to Reclaim Media in the AI Age".
Sahana Udupa is Professor of Media Anthropology at LMU Munich, BKC Faculty Associate at Harvard University, and founder of the Center for Digital Dignity. She has published widely on online extreme speech, anthropology of AI, content moderation, global digital cultures, and platform governance. Her publications include the books WhatsApp in the World: Disinformation, Encryption and Extreme Speech; Digital Unsettling: Decoloniality and Dispossession in the Age of Social Media; Digital Hate: The Global Conjuncture of Extreme Speech; Making News in Global India: Media Publics Politics; and Media as Politics in South Asia and the award-winning article, “Ethical scaling: Extreme speech and the (in)significance of artificial intelligence”. Udupa is a recipient of the Franqui Chair award in Belgium and Joan Shorenstein Fellowship and Berkman Klein Fellowship at Harvard University. In 2024, she was inducted as a Fellow of the International Communication Association. She has given presentations at the United Nations headquarters and authored the UN commissioned research paper, “Digital Technologies and Extreme Speech: Approaches to Counter Online Hate”. Her forthcoming books are Artificial Intelligence and Extreme Speech (New York University Press) and Handbook on Anthropology and Artificial Intelligence (Edward Elgar).