The 10th Asian Privacy Scholars Network Conference

Privacy and Data Protection in the Age of Intelligent Systems

The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 23–25 September 2026

The Asian Privacy Scholars Network (APSN) and CUHK LAW co-hosted the 10th APSN Conference from 23 to 25 September 2026, with the support of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, Hong Kong. Held under the theme “Privacy and Data Protection in the Age of Intelligent Systems”, this conference continued APSN’s longstanding role as a forum for comparative and interdisciplinary scholarship on privacy, data protection and digital governance across the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.

The event opened with an Emerging Privacy Scholars Colloquium, which provided a forum for emerging researchers to present and discuss their work. This was followed by a two-day main conference bringing together leading scholars and practitioners from Australia, Belgium, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Macau, Mainland China, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Singapore, the United Kingdom, the United States and Vietnam.

The conference featured wide-ranging discussions on the theoretical, doctrinal and practical dimensions of privacy, data protection and AI governance across legal fields and jurisdictions. The contributions examined how increasingly sophisticated forms of automated data processing are testing established data protection concepts and regulatory frameworks, while also considering how law and governance might support responsible technological development.

In her keynote address, “Ensuring both Development and Security: Advancing Responsible AI through Protecting Privacy,” Ms Ada Chung Lai-ling, SBS, Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, Hong Kong SAR, considered the relationship between privacy protection, responsible AI and technological development.

Two plenary presentations explored foundational questions about the future of data protection in an age of advanced automation. Professor Orla Lynskey of University College London examined the “Relevance and Role of Data Protection in an Era of Advanced Automation”, analysing developing EU legal frameworks and reflecting on the evolving relationship between advanced AI technologies and legal regulation. Professor Kyung Sin Park of Korea University Law School drew on “South Korea’s Pseudonymised Data Fiasco” to propose a reconsideration and fine-tuning of the purposes served by data protection law in the AI era.

The international mix of speakers and participants encouraged lively discussion of how privacy and data protection issues are approached in different jurisdictions, and what lessons can be learned from those experiences.

As APSN’s 10th conference, the event marked an important milestone in the network’s development. At the beginning of the conference, Professor Graham Greenleaf shared some Reflections on the development of the APSN over the 16 years of its existence and its role as a platform for scholarly exchange and collaboration among researchers working on privacy, data protection and digital governance in the Asia-Pacific.

The conference was convened by Professor Normann Witzleb and Professor Stuart Hargreaves of CUHK LAW. APSN and CUHK LAW extend their sincere thanks to the keynote and plenary speakers, panellists, moderators, emerging scholars and attendees whose contributions made the conference such a stimulating occasion.