2026 Photography Ethics Symposium

Photography Ethics Symposium
photographies x Photography Ethics Centre

Where: Queen’s University Belfast
When: June 3-4, 2026

Photography ethics is a topic which has gained momentum in recent years. From questions of consent, representation, and manipulation to the impacts of social media, artificial intelligence, and fake news, image-makers and image-users are facing complex challenges emerging from technological, environmental, and political change.  

This renewed attention to ethics has contributed to a growing polarisation within the photography industry. Firm lines are being drawn between those who are experimenting with AI, and those who shun it; those who engage in collaborative practice, and those who place higher value on the artist’s perspective; those who prioritize creative freedom, and those who prioritize social responsibility.

The 2026 Photography Ethics Symposium brings together photographers, curators, archivists, and researchers from a range of institutions and practices to facilitate critical conversation on the challenges shaping photography today.

Rather than seeking to delineate any universal ethical truths, we are instead interested in exploring the messiness of ethical decision-making. How are photographers and other image-based practitioners are negotiating the ethical decisions they encounter? Who is implicated or involved in these decisions, and who or what is at stake?

This symposium is free to attend. Alongside six in-person panels, we will be holding two poster sessions and two online panels. In addition, we have arranged two off-site visits (Ulster Museum and Belfast Exposed) as part of the conference, and an evening drinks reception, sponsored by photographies and Routledge.