The Queer Data Showcase is returning for 2026!

After a hugely successful 2025 event, the Showcase is coming to HOME MANCHESTER on 10 June to spotlight a selection of artists, academics and activists who engage with queer data in their work.

So who are we looking to feature at the 2026 Showcase?

We invite artists, academics, activists and anyone else who works with – or is interested in – queer data as a material, concept, process and problem to share their work. 

We take the meaning of the word ‘queer’ in its double-sense, as an adjective and as a verb:

• Data from and for queer cultures: How does the world of data feel for queer communities? How is it experienced? What is problematic and what is liberatory? How are queer communities using data to resist power structures and express their identities?
• Queering data: The world of data implies fixed identities and truths – something incompatible with queer philosophies and histories. What can queer methods and practices tell us about resisting the world of data? 

We welcome presenters from any background, with particular interest in hearing from artists, data practitioners/professionals, activists, and critical thinkers. We strongly encourage contributions that engage queer, trans, feminist, and non-conformist approaches to data.

All presenters will receive a speaking fee of £150 and reasonable travel expenses. 

Closing date for submissions – 26 February 2026

What is the Queer Data Showcase?

Kindly supported by funding from the Algorithmic Societies project, the Queer Data Showcase is an evening soiree hosted by Mystika Glamoor, spotlighting the work of around six to eight speakers, each with under ten minutes to share their idea, concept or project related to queer data (using visuals or audio, if they wish to do so).

Speakers are invited to share their work in a way that is accessible and engaging, enthusing an audience of non-experts. Imagine a less stuffy TED talk where everyone in the room has a passion for queer data!

The Showcase provides the perfect opportunity to share ideas with a welcoming audience of people who are enthusiastic about all things queer and all things data. 

The evening will conclude with time for presenters and audience members to meet each other and learn more about the variety of queer data projects taking place.

The Queer Data Showcase is co-organised by AI Ethics & Society and the Gender + Sexuality Data Lab.

Images from the 2025 Queer Data Showcase in Edinburgh. Credit: Daniel McGowan Photography.