The Digital Forensics Research Conference Europe (DFRWS EU 2026) will be held Tuesday, March 24 through Friday, March 27 (2026), as a hybrid event in Linköping, Sweden. The event is organized in cooperation with Linköping University (LiU) and Digital Forensics Sweden. LiU is renowned for innovative, world leading research and technical education, fostering collaboration across various disciplines. The university will host both the DFRWS Workshop Day — featuring a series of technical hands-on workshops specializing in Digital Forensics — and the main DFRWS Conference sessions across its campuses in Linköping and Norrköping. The Digital Forensics Rodeo will be held at the Flygvapenmuseum, the Swedish Air Force Museum
We are also hosting the second year of the Digital Forensic Doctoral Symposium (DFDS), due to its success in 2025. Furthermore, the Women in Forensic Computing Workshop (WinFC) is co-locating with DFRWS and will be held on Monday, March 23. Please note that a separate WinFC registration is required.
Conference Location:
Founded in 1287, Linköping boasts a rich history and is recognized as one of Europe’s most innovative and future-focused cities. The city has a strong tradition of innovation rooted in collaboration and is home to a wide variety of organizations with a wealth of industry, academic, and technical expertise.
March 23, 2026 to March 27, 2026
Transportation
Linköping is well connected by rail, with travel times of under two hours from Stockholm and approximately four hours from Copenhagen. Linköping Airport is served by KLM, offering direct flights to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (AMS)
Accommodation
Welcome to Linköping! To help you plan your stay during the conference at Linköping University (A-huset), we are pleased to provide an overview of three convenient Scandic hotels: Scandic Frimurarehotellet (commonly called “Frimis”), Scandic City, and Scandic Väst (Ryd). Below you will find information about each hotel and their locations in relation to key sites: Linköping University (A-huset), Linköping Central Station (Resecentrum), and the city center.
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Scandic Frimurarehotellet (“Frimis”): Scandic Frimurarehotellet is a classic hotel located in the very heart of Linköping’s city center. The hotel offers comfortable accommodation within walking distance to a wide variety of shops, restaurants, and entertainment venues.
Distance to Linköping University (A-huset): Approximately 4 km. The campus can be reached in about 15 minutes by bus or taxi, or around 20 minutes by bicycle.
Distance to Linköping Central Station (Resecentrum): Only a short 5-minute walk.
Distance to the city center: The hotel is located directly in the city center, with easy access to all central amenities and attractions. -
Scandic City: Scandic City is a modern hotel also situated in the city center, close to Stora Torget (the main square) and numerous cultural sights. Its central position makes it an ideal choice for participants who wish to explore downtown Linköping.
Distance to Linköping University (A-huset): About 4 km. Guests can travel to campus by bus or taxi in approximately 15 minutes, or by bicycle in around 20 minutes.
Distance to Linköping Central Station (Resecentrum): Around 10 minutes on foot.
Distance to the city center: The hotel is located in the heart of the city, offering direct access to shopping, dining, and cultural activities. -
Scandic Väst (Ryd): Scandic Väst, often referred to as “Scandic Ryd,” is situated in the western part of Linköping. This hotel is especially convenient for guests who prefer to stay closer to the university campus. The hotel is easily accessible by car.
Distance to Linköping University (A-huset): Approximately 2 km. The university is easily accessible by bus (about 8 minutes), taxi, or by a pleasant 20-minute walk along the golf course.
Distance to Linköping Central Station (Resecentrum): About 4 km, which takes roughly 10–15 minutes by bus or taxi.
Distance to the city center: Approximately 3.5 km. The city center can be reached in about 10 minutes by bus or taxi, or by bicycle.
Summary and Recommendations:
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If you prioritize proximity to the university: Scandic Väst (Ryd) is the closest option, ideal for those wanting to minimize travel time to A-huset.
Price per night for single room is 1290 SEK incl breakfast. -
If you wish to stay in the city center with access to restaurants, shops, and attractions: Scandic Frimurarehotellet (“Frimis”) or Scandic City are both excellent choices.
Scandic Frimis: Price per night for single room is 1390 SEK incl breakfast.
Scandic City: Price per night for single room is 1490 SEK incl breakfast. - For easiest access from the train station (Resecentrum): Scandic Frimurarehotellet is only a short walk away, but Scandic City is also within walking distance from the Resecentrum.
All hotels are well-connected to public transportation, making it easy for you to reach the university and explore Linköping. We look forward to welcoming you to the conference and wish you a pleasant stay in Linköping!
Booking
Booking is made through the website (links above) or by calling Scandic Central booking at +46 (0) 8 517 517 00, (select button option ”1”).
Use booking code BEAS230326 for the conference (same for all the three hotels), and have your credit card accessible upon booking. Note that the last day for booking using the DFRWS special prices is the 6th of February 2026. Payment is made during your stay.
Participation
DFRWS EU invites contributions in the categories listed below and follow the submission guidelines:
FULL RESEARCH PAPERS that align with the topics of interest undergo double-blinded peer review, and publish in the proceedings (10 pages, blinded). Articles can be published as a special issue of the Journal of Forensic Science International: Digital Investigation (by Elsevier).
PRESENTATIONS / DEMOS require a brief proposal (~500 words; not a paper) and undergo a light review process. Accepted proposals will be given a presentation slot (~15min) during the conference.
POSTERS allow for the presentation of current research efforts and the discussion of preliminary results with the digital forensics community during the conference. The posters are not included in the conference proceedings and will not be subject to a formal peer-review process.
The poster layout is up to the authors to decide but they must be:
- Size A1 portrait (594 x 841 mm)
- Readable both printed and on-screen (i.e., high-resolution, minimum 300dpi)
- Of interest to the digital forensic community
- Not be a sales pitch or advertisement
Further information:
- Posters should be submitted in pdf format via EasyChair to go through an audit/approval process.
- Once approved, minor changes to the poster contents are accepted without a new audit, such as improving the quality of illustrations, correcting spelling or other errors, etc.
- One of the authors must register and attend the conference to stand by their poster and present it at the relevant poster session (details to follow).
WORKSHOPS can be 2 to 4 hours (please indicate) and ideally include hands-on participation by attendees, allowing for an in-depth, detailed exploration of tools and techniques of interest to DFRWS attendees. Workshops that result from research earlier presented at DFRWS or those involving specialised hardware are especially welcome. DFRWS will provide one free conference registration for each workshop accepted. However, please remember that if you are an author on an accepted paper then the requirement for one full registration per accepted paper takes precedence.
BIRDS OF A FEATHER are informal gatherings and discussions of a specific topic without a pre-planned agenda. You may propose a topic that you feel is of interest to the community.
Submission Information
All contributions must be submitted through the EasyChair site at https://easychair.org/my/conference?conf=dfrwseu2026. Submissions must be in PDF format and follow the submission criteria and guidelines stated to be within the scope of the conference. Organisers may reject work that does not follow the listed criteria.
Contact Information
For questions related to paper, presentation, workshop/tutorial proposals,
demo submissions and organisation, please send an email to: eu-papers <a> dfrws <dot>
For questions related to registrations, please email: eu-registration <at> dfrws <dot> org
For any other questions related to the organisation of DFRWS EU, please email: eu <at> dfrws <dot> org
Student Scholarship and Award Program by DFRWS
DFRWS encourages the active participation of students studying digital forensics. One or more Student Scholarships are made available for students to present their accepted research papers for each event (Priority is given to first authors; however, applications are open to all authors). DFRWS Scholarships are awarded depending on financial need and sponsorship funding available each year, i.e., exact award amounts will vary. Please apply using the Google form given here.
Topics of Interest
DFRWS is open to fresh insights that challenge the current boundaries of digital forensics. The submissions can cover a broad range of topics related to digital forensics, including, but not limited to:
- Anti-forensics and anti-anti-forensics
- AI-assisted digital forensics
- Case studies and trend reports
- Cloud and virtualized environment forensics
- Covert channels (e.g., TOR, VPN)
- Cryptocurrency investigation
- Development of digital forensic infrastructures
- Digital evidence sharing and exchange
- Digital evidence and the law
- Digital forensic preparedness / readiness
- Digital investigation case management
- Digital forensic analysis of AI models
- Digital forensic tool validation
- Digital forensic triage / survey
- Event reconstruction methods and tools
- Forensics analysis and visualization of Big Data
- Forensic analysis of anonymous networks
- Forensic analysis of databases
- Implanted medical devices
- Incident response on malware and targeted attacks
- Machine learning and data mining for digital evidence extraction/query
- Memory acquisition and analysis
- Methodology for digital forensic processes
- Mobile and embedded device forensics
- Multimedia (image, audio, video) data analysis
- Network and distributed system forensics
- Non-traditional forensic scenarios / contexts
- SCADA / industrial control systems
- Smart power grid forensics
- Steganography and steganalysis
- Smart building forensics
- Vehicle forensics (e.g., drones, cars)
- Visualization methods and tools for forensic analysis
Additionally, DFRWS is open to insights in multimedia forensics on interpretable evidence for attribution of media content to its origin, on investigative support for digital forensics, and/or on police investigative support. The submissions can cover a broad range of topics related to multimedia forensics, including, but not limited to:
- Image/video/audio forensics and explainability
- Biometrics and attribution (humans/machine)
- Explainable machine learning in court
- Use of interpretable AI in digital investigations
Multimedia Forensics Mini-Track papers should be submitted to the appropriate track via the easychair link above, and should follow the same general submission guidance.
Click Here For Proposal RequirementsDeadlines
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| October 3, 2025 | Main Track Papers: (Extended) Submission of Abstract & Title via EasyChair |
| October 10, 2025 | Main Track Papers: (Extended) Final submission via EasyChair |
| November 7, 2025 | DFDS 2026: Doctoral Symposium Paper submission |
| November 14, 2025 | Multimedia Track Papers: Submission via EasyChair |
| November 28, 2025 | Main Track Papers: Acceptance notification |
| November 28, 2025 | Workshops & Presentations: Submission via EasyChair (Rolling notification until the program is full) |
| December 8, 2025 | Multimedia Track Papers: Acceptance notification |
| December 17, 2025 | All Papers: Camera-ready submission of papers and registration of presenters |
| Posters: Submission via EasyChair (Rolling notification until the program is full) |
Committees
Organizing Committee
Conference Chair
Stefan Axelsson
Conference Co-Chair
Bill Buchanan
Local Chair
Niclas Fock
Local Chair
Lena Klasén
TPC Chair
Mark Scanlon
TPC Co-Chair
Davide Balzarotti
Proceedings Co-Chair
Edita Bajramovic
Proceedings Co-Chair
Olga Angelopoulou
Presentations Co-Chair
Pavel Gladyshev
Presentations Co-Chair
Blanche Lagny
Posters Co-Chair
Virginia Franqueira
Posters Co-Chair
Radek Hranicky
Workshops Co-Chair
John Sheppard
Workshops Co-Chair
Jan Peter van Zandwijk
Keynote Co-Chair
Harm van Beek
Keynote Co-Chair
Jens-Petter Sandvik
Web Co-Chair
Jan-Niclas Hilgert
Web Co-Chair
Sean McKeown
Program Scheduling Chair
Katerina Kanta
Registrations Co-Chair
Lisa Rzepka
Registrations Co-Chair
Lisa Marie Dreier
Hybrid Chair
Katharina De Rentiis
Hybrid Vice Chair
Lena Voigt
Recordings Chair
Mariya Shafat
Promotions/Social Media Co-Chair
Javier Carrillo
Promotions/Social Media Co-Chair
Áine MacDermott
Sponsorships Chair
Hans Henseler
Student Scholarships Chair
Holger Morgenstern
Birds of a Feather Chair
Frank Adelstein
Rodeo Chair
Stefan Axelsson
Video Post-Production Chair
Industry Outreach & Academic Outreach
Member at Large
Owen O'Connor
Technical Program Committee
Oluwasola Mary Adedayo
Applied Computer Science, The University of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Frank Adelstein
NFA Digital, LLC
Saed Alrabaee
United Arab Emirates University
Panagiotis Andriotis
University of Birmingham
Olga Angelopoulou
Royal Holloway, University of London
Cosimo Anglano
Universitá del Piemonte Orientale
Stefan Axelsson
Stockholm University
Harald Baier
Universität der Bundeswehr München, Research Instiute CODE
Edita Bajramovic
Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg
Owen Brady
King's College London
Frank Breitinger
University of Augsburg
Javier Carrillo-Mondéjar
Universidad de Zaragoza
Milan Cermak
Institute of Computer Science, Masaryk University
Iwen Coisel
Europol
Patrick De Smet
Nationaal Instituut voor Criminalistiek en Criminologie (NICC/INCC)
Xiaoyu Du
Maynooth University
Mattia Epifani
CNR
Virginia Franqueira
University of Kent
Felix Freiling
Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU)
Zeno Geradts
NFI
Pavel Gladyshev
University College Dublin
Jan Gruber
Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
Chris Hargreaves
HARGS Solutions Ltd
Hans Henseler
Leiden University of Applied Sciences
Jan-Niclas Hilgert
Fraunhofer
Radek Hranický
Brno University of Technology
Farkhund Iqbal
Zayed University
David-Olivier Jaquet-Chiffelle
Unil
Doowon Jeong
Sungkyunkwan University
Jan William Johnsen
Katerina Kanta
University of Portsmouth
Erisa Karafili
University of Southampton
Christian Keil
DFN-CERT
Stefan Kiltz
University of Magdeburg
Gibum Kim
Sungkyunkwan University
Dohyun Kim
National Korea Maritime & Ocean University
Martin Lambertz
Fraunhofer FKIE
Hanno Langweg
HTWG Konstanz
Fudong Li
Bournemouth University
Áine Macdermott
Liverpool John Moores University
Kevin Mayer
Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
Sean McKeown
Edinburgh Napier University
Robert Jan Mora
DFRWS
Holger Morgenstern
Sachverstaendigenbuero Morgenstern, GI, ACM, IEEE
Mahfuzul Nissan
University of New Orleans
Andrea Oliveri
EURECOM
Jenny Ottmann
Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU)
Gilbert Peterson
US Air Force Institute of Technology
Jan Pluskal
FIT BUT
Kyle Porter
Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Gaston Pugliese
Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
Leonardo Regano
Università degli Studi di Cagliari
Ricardo J. Rodríguez
Universidad de Zaragoza
Elénore Ryser
Cranfield University, Université de Lausanne
Jens-Petter Sandvik
National Criminal Investigation Service, Norway
Asanka Sayakkara
University of Colombo School of Computing (UCSC)
Mark Scanlon
University College Dublin
Janine Schneider
Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
Marko Schuba
FH Aachen - Aachen University of Applied Sciences
John Sheppard
Waterford Institute of Technology
Hannes Spichiger
Hochschule Luzern HSLU
Hudan Studiawan
Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember
Nina Sunde
Norwegian Police University College
Fergus Toolan
Norwegian Police University College
Harm Van Beek
Netherlands Forensic Institute
Erwin van Eijk
Netherlands Forensic Institute
Wietse Venema
Vladimír Veselý
Brno University of Technology
Registration
Authors – please note that one Full Registration is required (at the in-person rate) for each accepted paper. Any additional authors that attend in-person qualify for reduced registration rates if they are either employed in law enforcement or are full-time students.
In Person Conference Prices
| Type of Registration | Early Bird Rate | Regular Rate | Last Chance Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Available through... | |||
| Student | TBC | TBC | TBC |
| Law Enforcement | TBC | TBC | TBC |
| Full / Speaker | TBC | TBC | TBC |
Virtual Conference Prices
| Type of Registration | Triple - All 3 Conferences | Double - Any 2 Conferences | Single - Just DFRWS EU 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Online / Remote | - | - | TBC |
Sponsors
Sponsors help DFRWS to produce quality events and foster community. Click a logo to learn more about the sponsor.
Information about sponsorship opportunities is available at: http://www.dfrws.org/sponsorship-opportunities
Linköping University (LiU)
Linköping University (LiU) is a leading Swedish academic institution with a strong tradition in computer science, cybersecurity, and AI. LiU was the first Swedish university to offer computer science education and is recognized as a European "AI factory." Their deep engagement in Digital Forensics is a natural extension of their expertise. The digital transformation has made digital evidence crucial in all crime. LiU's research addresses key forensic challenges like processing massive data, efficient file carving, and secure system development. They actively contribute to the Digital Forensics Sweden initiative, fostering collaboration. LiU's commitment to educating future digital forensics experts and their cutting-edge research in AI and cybersecurity make them a crucial player in combating digital criminality.
Learn MoreSanta Anna IT Research Institute
Santa Anna IT Research Institute is a neutral, non-profit organization focused on high-quality basic and applied IT research. Their mission is to create value for Swedish society and businesses through collaboration with academia, public authorities, and companies. Digital Forensics is a core focus, as Santa Anna has centrally hosted the "Digital Forensics Sweden" network since 2018. Their involvement is driven by the urgent need to address increasing digital crimes and complex investigations. Santa Anna facilitates projects connecting law enforcement challenges with research and companies developing new forensic tools, including digital visualization, drone evidence collection, deepfake identification, and generative AI for data processing. Santa Anna is also the local host organization of AI Sweden in the east of Sweden.
Learn MoreAI Sweden
AI Sweden is the Swedish national center for applied artificial intelligence, dedicated to accelerating AI use for societal and economic benefit. As a broadly funded, non-profit organization, they collaborate with over 160 partners across sectors. Their engagement in Digital Forensics stems from AI's power to address technology-related crime, offering tools for rapid pattern detection, anomaly flagging, and enhanced identification from vast datasets. AI Sweden supports new technologies, standards, and methods for effective digital forensic investigations, making them a key partner in the Digital Forensics Sweden initiative.
Learn More