News

The Bureau of the Executive Board (composed out of John W. Downey, Irena Reifová, Andra Siibak and Pille Pruulmann-Vengerfeldt) organised a General Assembly in the period 17-21 June 2024. The General Assembly was organised with a use of on-line voting tool.

The agenda was as follows:

• Approval of the minutes of the previous General Assembly (12-16 June, 2023)
• Approval of the ECREA Executive Board Report for 2023 (including the ECREA accounts)
• Approval of the ECREA budget for the budget year 2024
• Approval of Membership Fees increase from 2025
• Approval of ECREA Statutes amendments
• Approval of ECREA Internal regulations in place of Bylaws
• Approval of ECREA Code of Ethics
• Any other business

ECREA Working Members (individual members and coordinators of institutional members) had the right to vote.

36 out of 148 institutional coordinators voted (24 %) and 153 out of 804 individual members voted (19 %) at the General Assembly. In total, considering that institutional coordinator’s votes are weighted to 5 votes, 333 votes out of 1544 were expressed (21 %).

The decisions and votes of the General Assembly of 17 -21 June 2024 are as follows: https://vote.electionrunner.com/election/FFLKU/results

If you’re planning to attend ECREA ECC 2024 in Ljubljana from 24-27 September 2024, make sure to register as soon as possible. The early bird registration ends soon (27 June 2024). All participants must register via the Online Registration Form. More details about the registration process, fees and guidelines are available at: https://ecrea2024ljubljana.eu/registration-guidelines/

If you are planning to attend the conference with your children, ECREA ECC 2024 will offer a ‘Kids corner’ that will include facilities: a changing table, a place for breastfeeding and a place for children to rest and play. Ljubljana is an ideal destination to explore with children and you can plan a range of kid-friendly activities located in and around Ljubljana. More valuable information about the facilities at the conference venue and other attractions around Ljubljana are available at: https://ecrea2024ljubljana.eu/children/ 

The searchable programme is now published and available to plan your time in Ljubljana during and before or after the Conference.

Stay updated! The programme is dynamic and subject to changes as we continue to receive requests for allocations.

To get more out of the programme, log in with your registration details to:

• access restricted content such as abstracts
  
• create your personal programme, favourites, notes
  

The new programme is operated by the same platform as the ECREA 2024 Mobile App, allowing you to log in to both with your registration account, bringing benefits such as:

• live sync between the web and mobile platforms – any changes in your personal programme, favourites, and notes are synced from the web to mobile and vice versa, keeping all platforms up to date
  
• use the same predefined filters to find what you want in the Mobile app or your computer
  

ECREA is happy to announce two workshops that are part of the series of pre-conferences organised within 10th European Communication Conference (ECC) in Ljubljana. Both will take place on September 23, 2024. The aim of these full-day meetings of ECREA members is to discuss various ways how to do research. The workshops consist of four sessions, each is dedicated to one particular method and run by a different speaker. However, we kindly ask you to participate in all four parts. These workshops are intended for ECREA members. 

REGISTER HERE: https://form.jotform.com/241572783119057

Please register as soon as possible, capacity of the workshop is limited.

FEE: 25 EUR - covering 2 coffee break and lunch (sandwiches)

1) Research methods workshop: Methods for studying society-technology relations

• Using vignettes and scenarios in user-centric algorithm studies - Prof. Ranjana Das (University of Surrey)
  
• "When I tried to use ChatGPT in my work": deconstructing affective entanglements in society-technology relations with mind scripting – Dr. Doris Allhutter (Austrian Academy of Sciences)
  
• Making monsters as methods for studying data work – Prof. Pille Pruulmann-Vengerfeldt  (Malmö University)

Read more: https://ecrea.eu/event-5736311

2) Methods for studying platforms, apps and online content

• Appscapes method – Dr. Signe Sophus Lai and Dr. Sofie Flensburg (University of Copenhagen)
  
• The walkthrough method for visual platforms – Dr. Daniela Jaramillo Dent  (University of Zurich)
  
• Developing quanti-quali approaches to study social media visual content – Dr. Stefania Vicari  (University of Sheffield)
  

 We are excited to announce that the European Journal of Communication has kindly agreed to sponsor a best paper award for early career scholars presenting their research at the ECC in Ljubljana in September 2024. The award carries a financial value of €1,500 and will be presented during the Ljubljana conference. 

Eligibility: 

• The award is open to early career researchers (doctoral candidates and holders of a PhD, up to three years post-graduation). 
• Papers should align with the journal’s comprehensive approach to communication research and theory, embracing all its diversity.  
• Entrants must have their paper accepted for presentation at the ECC and must be members of ECREA. 
• Eligible papers must be either sole-authored or first-authored by the applicant and must not have been previously published in any scholarly journal. 
• Submissions of the same paper to both the EJC Best Paper Award and the EJCS Best Paper Award are not permitted. 

Submission Details: 

• The EXTENDED deadline for submissions is June 30, at 4 PM CET. 
• All submissions must be full papers and adhere to the submission guidelines of the European Journal of Communication. 
• Entrants are required to submit a short biography (no more than 10 lines) along with their paper. 

Publication Opportunity: 

The winning paper will be considered for publication in European Journal of Communication, following the standard review process. Please note that publication is not guaranteed in advance. 

Submission Process: 

Please email your papers to info@ecrea.eu.

For further inquiries, feel free to contact us at the same email address. 

The award will be judged by a committee comprising of: 

• Peter Golding (Editor of EJC) 
  
• Christina Holtz Bacha 
  
• Félix Ortega 
  
• Irena Reifová
  

If your abstract was accepted for ECREA ECC 2024 in Ljubljana, make sure to register as soon as possible. Due to the high number of submitted abstracts, and to be able to accept as many delegates as possible, registration will only be allowed for presenting authors/ co-authors at the first stage. The deadline for presenting authors' registration is 6 June 2024.

All participants must register via the Online Registration Form.

In case you are interested in attending the conference, but you are not actively involved in the programme please fill in your details in the waiting list here. We will inform you if there are spots available.

More details about the registration process, fees and guidelines are available at: https://ecrea2024ljubljana.eu/registration-guidelines/

We are delighted to announce that the European Journal of Cultural Studies have again kindly agreed to award a best paper prize for early career scholars presenting their research at the ECC in Ljubljana in September 2024. The award has a financial value of 1800 euros and will be presented at the conference. It is intended that the paper will subsequently be published in EJCS.

The award is open to early career researchers who are either doctoral researchers or who have received their doctorate recently. Papers should share the journal’s broad conception of cultural studies as being rooted in lived experience. Entrants must be presenting their paper at the ECC and must be a member of ECREA. Applicants should either be single or first authors and the papers should not have been already published in a scholarly journal.

The submission date for entries is Friday August 30th 4pm CET.

All entries must follow the guidelines for submission to the European Journal of Cultural Studies. Entrants should submit a short biography indicating when they received their doctorate if applicable and confirming their attendance at the ECC conference (no more than 10 lines).

Please send your papers to info@ecrea.eu.

If you have further questions please contact us at info@ecrea.eu.

The award will be judged by a committee comprising of:

Jilly Kay (Editor of EJCS)

Goran Bolin

Sofia Caldeira

John Downey

ECREA ECC 2024 will take place in Ljubljana from 24-27 September. Please make sure to book your accommodation in Ljubljana soon as possible as the capacities during the conference dates may be limited.

We have prepared a list of recommended hotels with special conference fees. On the list you can find hotels of different categories, price ranges and locations. The special conference fees expire on different dates, so make sure to book your accommodation soon!

More details about accommodations in Ljubljana are available at: https://ecrea2024ljubljana.eu/hotels/

We are delighted to announce the website publication showcasing the keynote speakers for the 10th ECREA ECC 2024. Explore the profiles of our keynote speakers.

Vesna Leskošek is Professor at the Faculty of Social Work, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. Her research focuses on social inequalities, poverty, welfare state, and gender. Currently, she is involved in projects exploring poverty in old age and the accumulation of deprivation across the life course.  Her most recent publications are a co-authored book entitled Abortion and reproductive rights in Slovenia: A case of resistance (Routledge, 2024).

Jelena Kleut is Associate Professor at the University of Novi Sad, Serbia, and Chair of ECREA Audience and Reception Studies Section. Her research focuses on the dynamics of audiences and journalism within the realm of new media and illiberal contexts, while intertwining her scholarly work with activism to uphold the principles of free and open society. Among her recent publications is co-edited volume “Media Systems in Balkan Countries: Context and Dynamics of Changes” (Peter Lang, 2023)

For more on their expertise see: https://ecrea2024ljubljana.eu/meet-the-10th-ecrea-ecc-2024-keynote-speakers/ 

ECREA Election Committee consisting of Ana Jorge and Göran Bolin invites candidacies for members of ECREA Executive Board for the upcoming election period.

The candidacies should include:

1. a brief position statement,
2. a short CV,
3. a statement specifying if you wish to become a candidate for one of the statutory positions (President, Vice-President, Treasurer or General Secretary), and
4. the scan or photograph of passport or identity card.

The deadline for sending your candidacy and all documents is 7 July 2024.
The documents should be sent by email to: info@ecrea.eu.

The candidacies (position statements, CVs and candidacy statements) will be made public by the election committee one month prior the elections at the latest.

The General Elections will take place online from 23 to 26 September 2024, with the results announced during the General Assembly organised at 10th European Communication Conference on 26 September. The new Executive Board will be elected for the period 2024 – 2028.

How do ECREA elections work: Elections of ECREA Executive Board take place in two stages. During the first stage, ECREA members are invited to nominate themselves for Executive Board positions. During the online election, ECREA members (individual members and institutional co-ordinators) elect up to 11 members of ECREA Executive Board.

The elected Executive Board members then organise a vote for positions of the President, the Vice-President, the Treasurer and the General Secretary.

In the second stage, the call for representatives of Sections, Networks and Temporary Working Groups is organised. The candidates come from management teams of Sections, Networks and Temporary Working Groups and are elected by members of respective management teams.

Legal provisions: For detailed information and procedures concerning ECREA elections you can consult Title III and Title IV of ECREA Statutes (https://ecrea.eu/Statutes) and Title I of ECREA Bylaws (https://ecrea.eu/Bylaws). If less than 3 candidacies will be submitted, the Call for ECREA Executive Board Members will be repeated and the election period of the existing Executive Board will be extended by 6 months to organise the elections.

More information: Should you have any questions concerning the Executive Board elections send your inquiries to info@ecrea.eu.

Ana Jorge, ECREA Election Committee member
Göran Bolin, ECREA Election Committee member