Where will the ICSSELT - 2027 conference be held?

The conference will take place in Beirut, LBN.

What is the duration of the ICSSELT - 2027 conference?

The conference is scheduled to run for two days.

International Conference on Social Science, E-Education and New Learning Technologies (ICSSELT - 2027)

Name: International Conference on Social Science, E-Education and New Learning Technologies (ICSSELT - 2027)
Start: 2027-05-01T00:00:00Z
End: 2027-05-02T00:00:00Z
Location: Dhaka

May 1–2, 2027Dhaka, BangladeshIn-person

Registration open

The International Conference on Social Science, E-Education and New Learning Technologies (ICSSELT - 2027) is set to convene in Beirut, Lebanon. This event brings together academics, researchers, and practitioners to explore the evolving landscape of social sciences, digital education, and innovative pedagogical approaches. The conference aims to foster dialogue and collaboration on how technology is reshaping learning environments and social structures.

Committees & topics

Security Council 1 (UNSC)
United Nations Security Council I: The Situation in Sudan
Security Council 2 (UNSC)
United Nations Security Council II: Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure
Committee on Digital Affairs & Sovereignty
Committee on Digital Affairs and Sovereignty: Governing the Cross-Border Internet
Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)
Economic and Social Council: Sovereign Debt and Digital Public Infrastructure
UNESCO
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
UN Environment Programme (UNEP)
United Nations Environment Programme: Plastics, Climate, and the Triple Planetary Crisis
World Health Organisation (WHO)
World Health Organization: Pandemic Agreement Implementation and Health Equity
Human Rights Council (HRC)
Human Rights Council: Generative AI, Climate Displacement, and the Right to a Healthy Environment

Why it matters

In an era defined by rapid technological advancement, the intersection of social science, e-education, and new learning technologies is critical for understanding societal shifts and educational futures. This conference provides a platform for examining the profound impacts of digital tools on human interaction, knowledge dissemination, and skill development. It is particularly relevant as educational models worldwide adapt to new digital realities, demanding innovative solutions and critical analysis.

The discussions at ICSSELT - 2027 will contribute to a broader understanding of how educational technologies can be leveraged to address contemporary challenges, promote inclusivity, and enhance learning outcomes across diverse populations. The insights shared will be vital for policymakers, educators, and technology developers seeking to navigate the complexities of the digital age and build more resilient and equitable educational systems. The focus on new learning technologies underscores the ongoing need for adaptability and forward-thinking strategies in education.

How to prepare

Delegates preparing for ICSSELT - 2027 should focus on interdisciplinary connections between social sciences and technological advancements in education. Consider how digital transformation influences societal norms, cultural practices, and individual behaviors. Researching case studies from diverse geographical contexts, especially those in the Middle East and North Africa, will provide valuable insights. Consider how technological innovations in education are being implemented and received in countries like LBN, and what unique challenges and opportunities exist in these regions.

To maximize engagement, participants should prepare to discuss the ethical implications of e-education and new learning technologies, including issues of data privacy, digital divides, and algorithmic bias. Understanding the various perspectives on these topics, as outlined in lessons such as 'hidden-stakeholders' and 'engagement-strategies', will be crucial. Developing a 'dynamic-analysis' of current trends and future projections in digital learning will also enhance contributions to the conference.

Country perspectives

Where the most-relevant 1 countries stand on the core issues in play. Click through for the full country profile.

Lebanon

As the host nation, LBN is a key participant, offering a unique regional perspective on the integration of e-education and new learning technologies within a complex socio-political landscape.

Role in topic

LBN serves as a critical regional hub for intellectual exchange, providing a context where the challenges and opportunities of digital education and social science research are particularly salient. Its educational institutions and research community will contribute significantly to the discussions.

Topics & background

The background behind each topic and the actors that shape it.

Security Council 1 (UNSC)

United Nations Security Council I: The Situation in Sudan

Sudan has been engulfed in a devastating civil war since April 2023, when long-simmering tensions between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) under General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) under Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo ("Hemedti") erupted into open combat in Khartoum. The two forces had jointly overthrown civilian Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok in the October 2021 coup, derailing the transition that followed the 2019 ouster of Omar al-Bashir, but disagreements over RSF integration into the regular army triggered the rupture. Fighting rapidly spread to Darfur, Kordofan, and Gezira, reviving ethnically targeted violence reminiscent of the 2003-2005 Darfur genocide. The humanitarian consequences are staggering: Sudan now hosts the world's largest displacement crisis, with more than 10 million internally displaced and millions more refugees in Chad, South Sudan, and Egypt. Famine conditions have been confirmed in parts of Darfur, and both sides stand credibly accused of war crimes, with the ICC continuing its long-standing Darfur investigation. The UNSC's arms embargo under Resolution 1591 (2005) applies only to Darfur and is widely seen as ineffective, with reports implicating the UAE in arming the RSF and Iran and Russia-linked actors supplying the SAF. Council action has been hampered by divisions among the P5 and by the collapse of the UNITAMS mission in 2023 at Khartoum's request. Debates now center on expanding the embargo nationwide, securing humanitarian corridors, and supporting mediation tracks led by Saudi Arabia, the US, and the African Union.

Key players

Security Council 2 (UNSC)

United Nations Security Council II: Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure

State and state-sponsored cyber operations against critical infrastructure have escalated sharply over the past decade, from the 2015-2016 attacks on Ukraine's power grid attributed to Russian actors, to the 2017 NotPetya and WannaCry incidents, the 2021 Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack, and persistent intrusions into water, health, and energy systems worldwide. These incidents have moved cyber from a niche technical concern to a core Council security issue, particularly as conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East have blurred the line between kinetic and digital operations. The UN has pursued parallel processes: the Group of Governmental Experts (GGE), which produced the 2015 norms framework affirming that international law applies in cyberspace, and the more inclusive Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) on ICTs, whose successive reports have endorsed eleven voluntary norms of responsible state behavior. Yet disagreement persists between a Western-led bloc favoring application of existing international humanitarian law and a Russia-China-led bloc pushing for a new binding cybercrime and information-security treaty, the latter culminating in the 2024 UN Convention against Cybercrime. The current dispute centers on attribution, the protection of "critical infrastructure" as defined in the OEWG, the role of private sector actors, and whether the Council itself should establish a dedicated mechanism for cyber incidents that threaten international peace and security.

Key players

Committee on Digital Affairs & Sovereignty

Committee on Digital Affairs and Sovereignty: Governing the Cross-Border Internet

The concept of "digital sovereignty" has moved from a fringe slogan to a central organizing principle of state policy. The European Union has built a regulatory stack through the GDPR (2018), the Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act (2022), and the AI Act (2024), asserting jurisdictional reach over global platforms. China has built a parallel ecosystem behind the Great Firewall and exports its model through the Digital Silk Road. India's data protection regime, data localization mandates in Russia and Vietnam, and the African Union's Malabo Convention all reflect a fragmenting internet governed less by multistakeholder consensus and more by competing state frameworks. The 2024 UN Global Digital Compact, adopted alongside the Pact for the Future, sought to re-anchor digital cooperation in shared principles: human rights online, interoperable AI governance, and inclusive digital public infrastructure. Yet core questions remain unresolved: who governs submarine cables and cloud infrastructure; how to reconcile cross-border data flows with national security claims; whether ICANN and the multistakeholder model survive; and how export controls on chips and AI models reshape global supply chains. The committee inherits a debate in which "sovereignty" means very different things to different blocs — from European regulatory autonomy, to Chinese cyber-sovereignty, to Global South demands for digital industrial policy and equitable access to compute.

Key players

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

UNESCO sits at the intersection of education, science, culture, and communication, and its mandate has been stretched by the same forces reshaping the other UN bodies: artificial intelligence, climate change, and contested information ecosystems. The 2021 Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence — the first global normative instrument on AI — is now in implementation, with member states completing Readiness Assessment Methodology (RAM) reviews. The 2023 Guidance for Generative AI in Education and Research has set a baseline for ministries grappling with ChatGPT-era classrooms. UNESCO also leads on protection of cultural heritage in conflict (under the 1954 Hague Convention and its protocols), from Mali and Syria to Ukraine and Gaza, where assessments of damage to World Heritage sites are ongoing. Its World Heritage Committee remains politically fraught, balancing conservation with the geopolitics of inscription. The organization has weathered repeated US withdrawals (1984, 2018) and a 2023 re-entry, alongside Israel's departure, which continues to shape its budget and Middle East dossier. Current debates focus on global standards for AI in education, safeguarding the right to information against platform-driven disinformation (the Windhoek+30 agenda), and operationalizing the 2015 Recommendation Concerning the Protection of Documentary Heritage in the digital era.

Key players

UN Environment Programme (UNEP)

United Nations Environment Programme: Plastics, Climate, and the Triple Planetary Crisis

UNEP frames its work around the "triple planetary crisis" of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. Since UNEA-5.2 in March 2022, member states have been negotiating an internationally legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, with the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) sessions through 2024 in Busan exposing a deep rift between a High Ambition Coalition (led by Norway, Rwanda, the EU, and small island states) pushing for production caps and chemicals of concern restrictions, and a Like-Minded Group of oil and petrochemical producers (including Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Russia) favoring a downstream waste-management focus. UNEP also stewards implementation of the 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework's 30x30 target and supports the post-Paris climate architecture through its annual Emissions Gap and Adaptation Gap reports, which consistently show that current NDCs put the world on a 2.5-2.9°C pathway. Its science-policy work underpins the new Science-Policy Panel on chemicals, waste and pollution prevention, established in 2024. The immediate dispute is whether the plastics treaty will include binding production-side measures, how it will be financed (a dedicated fund versus the GEF), and how to ensure a just transition for waste pickers and petrochemical-dependent economies.

Key players

World Health Organisation (WHO)

World Health Organization: Pandemic Agreement Implementation and Health Equity

The World Health Assembly's adoption of the WHO Pandemic Agreement in May 2025, after more than three years of Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) talks, marked the most significant expansion of global health law since the 2005 International Health Regulations. The Agreement establishes a Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing (PABS) system, commitments on geographically diversified manufacturing, and technology transfer provisions — though many of its most contested elements (notably IP waivers and binding allocation targets) were softened to secure consensus. The 2024 IHR amendments, which created a new "pandemic emergency" tier, run in parallel. Implementation is now the central battleground. Developing countries, led by the Africa Group and supported by the Medicines Patent Pool and mRNA Technology Transfer Hub in South Africa, are pressing for operational PABS rules that deliver real access. High-income states and pharmaceutical industry stakeholders emphasize voluntary mechanisms and intellectual property protection. The US withdrawal process initiated in early 2025 has further complicated financing and governance. Beyond pandemics, the WHO confronts the unfinished agenda from the 2025 UN High-Level Meeting on NCDs, antimicrobial resistance, climate-sensitive disease, and acute crises in Gaza, Sudan, the DRC, and Ukraine where health infrastructure has been systematically degraded.

Key players

Human Rights Council (HRC)

Human Rights Council: Generative AI, Climate Displacement, and the Right to a Healthy Environment

The Human Rights Council, established in 2006 to replace the discredited Commission on Human Rights, has increasingly been called to address rights challenges that transcend traditional civil-political and economic-social categories. The 2024 OHCHR B-Tech project report on generative AI and human rights, building on earlier work by the Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression, has framed algorithmic systems as implicating ICCPR Articles 17 (privacy) and 19 (expression), as well as non-discrimination obligations under ICERD and CEDAW. Member states are debating whether to create a dedicated Special Rapporteur on AI and human rights and how UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights apply to foundation-model developers. In parallel, General Assembly Resolution 76/300 (2022) recognized the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, and the 2024 ICJ advisory opinion proceedings on climate obligations are reshaping the legal landscape. The HRC is grappling with how to operationalize this right for climate-displaced populations — particularly Pacific atoll states facing existential threat — given that the 1951 Refugee Convention does not cover climate displacement and the 2020 Teitiota decision by the Human Rights Committee set a high bar for non-refoulement claims. Alongside these thematic debates, the Council continues to manage country mandates on Iran, North Korea, Myanmar, Syria, and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, where Commission of Inquiry findings have intensified disputes over selectivity, sovereignty, and the Universal Periodic Review's effectiveness.

Key players

Resources

News, lessons, and country profiles to prep for International Conference on Social Science, E-Education and New Learning Technologies (ICSSELT - 2027).

Recent reporting to ground your prep

US Job Openings at 6.7M

Trump's Economic Reset

Supreme Court's Voting Rights Impact on 2026

Mifepristone Ruling Sparks 2026 Political Tug

Lessons

Bite-sized lessons to build the basics

Hidden Stakeholders

Engagement Strategies

Dynamic Analysis

Stakeholder Mapping Workshop

Courses

Guided courses that go deeper on the topic

Advanced Negotiation

Multilateral Negotiation

Policy Brief Writing

Conflict Resolution

Bangladesh May 2027

By committee

Frequently asked questions

International Conference on Social Science, E-Education and New Learning Technologies (ICSSELT - 2027)

May 1–2, 2027Dhaka, BangladeshIn-person

Registration open

Committees & topics

Security Council 1 (UNSC)
United Nations Security Council I: The Situation in Sudan
Security Council 2 (UNSC)
United Nations Security Council II: Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure
Committee on Digital Affairs & Sovereignty
Committee on Digital Affairs and Sovereignty: Governing the Cross-Border Internet
Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)
Economic and Social Council: Sovereign Debt and Digital Public Infrastructure
UNESCO
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
UN Environment Programme (UNEP)
United Nations Environment Programme: Plastics, Climate, and the Triple Planetary Crisis
World Health Organisation (WHO)
World Health Organization: Pandemic Agreement Implementation and Health Equity
Human Rights Council (HRC)
Human Rights Council: Generative AI, Climate Displacement, and the Right to a Healthy Environment

Why it matters

How to prepare

Country perspectives

Where the most-relevant 1 countries stand on the core issues in play. Click through for the full country profile.

Lebanon

As the host nation, LBN is a key participant, offering a unique regional perspective on the integration of e-education and new learning technologies within a complex socio-political landscape.

Role in topic

Topics & background

The background behind each topic and the actors that shape it.

Security Council 1 (UNSC)

United Nations Security Council I: The Situation in Sudan

Key players

Security Council 2 (UNSC)

United Nations Security Council II: Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure

Key players

Committee on Digital Affairs & Sovereignty

Committee on Digital Affairs and Sovereignty: Governing the Cross-Border Internet

Key players

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)

Key players

UN Environment Programme (UNEP)

United Nations Environment Programme: Plastics, Climate, and the Triple Planetary Crisis

Key players

World Health Organisation (WHO)

World Health Organization: Pandemic Agreement Implementation and Health Equity

Key players

Human Rights Council (HRC)

Human Rights Council: Generative AI, Climate Displacement, and the Right to a Healthy Environment

Key players

Resources

News, lessons, and country profiles to prep for International Conference on Social Science, E-Education and New Learning Technologies (ICSSELT - 2027).

Recent reporting to ground your prep

US Job Openings at 6.7M

Trump's Economic Reset

Supreme Court's Voting Rights Impact on 2026

Mifepristone Ruling Sparks 2026 Political Tug

Lessons

Bite-sized lessons to build the basics

Hidden Stakeholders

Engagement Strategies

Dynamic Analysis

Stakeholder Mapping Workshop

Courses