News

 Before this year's 10th ECREA European Communication Conference hosted in Ljubljana from 24-27 September 2024 eight different pre-conferences will take place:

• (Dis)order in academic culture: Finding meaning in a precarious environment
  
• Building a future for journalism: When researchers, students and practitioners pull together
  
• The informational influence of autocracies abroad
  
• Young people and news: Breaking boundaries across Europe
  
• Exploring the dynamics of digital disconnection – Disruption, inequalities, and norms
  
• Digital content creators, platforms and changing cultural institutions
  
• Mapping AI actor constellations in news media and journalism - Critical perspectives on power (im-)balances, limited autonomy, and reconfigured practices
  
• “We are all victims now” – Emotions and affects of victimhood identities in media and mediatised politics and culture
  

The pre-conferences will be held on 22, 23 or 24 September 2024 as seperate events. Important details (links to their websites, dates, location and submission deadlines) about all eight pre-conferences are also available at https://ecrea2024ljubljana.eu/pre-conferences/.

ECREA will convene the 2024 ordinary General Assembly from 17–21 June. This Assembly will gather in an online space. Links to documents and voting tool will be shared with members when the General Assembly is opened or sooner.

During the Assembly, ECREA members will be asked to approve the Annual Report 2023 as well as the budget for 2024, and also to approve the Ethics code prepared by ECREA Ethics committee.

If you wish to amend the agenda of the General Assembly, please, contact ECREA Administrator at info@ecrea.eu no longer than 17 May 2024 (30 days prior the General Assembly).

WHO CAN VOTE

Following our statutes (see http://www.ecrea.eu/about/statutes), each individual member has one vote, and each coordinator of an institutional member holds five votes. If you are an ECREA member through an institutional membership and you are not the institutional coordinator, you cannot vote but need to communicate with your institutional coordinator. If you do not know who your institutional coordinator is, please ask ECREA’s General Secretary Andra Siibak (generalsecretary@ecrea.eu) and ECREA Administrator (info@ecrea.eu) in cc.

ECREA together with Local organising committee of the ECC 2024 in Ljubljana calls for following grants applications:

• Regional inclusion (LOC)

• Inclusion of Ukraine-based scholars (LOC)

• YECREA Early-career fee waivers and travel grants (ECREA)

• ECREA Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) grants (ECREA)

More about the LOC grants can be found here: https://ecrea2024ljubljana.eu/ecrea-ecc-2024-call-for-grants-applications/

YECREA Early-career fee waivers and travel grants

The ECREA Young Scholars Network (YECREA) and ECREA invite applications for 10 grants and 5 travel for young scholars who are ECREA PhD members and are accepted to present at ECC2024.

• YECREA grants – YECREA will offer 10 grants for early-career scholars (PhD students and scholars 1 year after completion of their PhD) in the form of conference fee waivers. These grants are awarded to PhD students and early-career scholars who lack funding opportunities. At least 5 out of the 10 grants will go to soft-currency ECREA PhD members.
  
• YECREA travel grants – 5 travel and accommodation grants will be offered by ECREA to early-career scholars (PhD students and scholars 1 year after completion of their PhD). These are awarded to PhD students and early-career scholars who lack funding opportunities. The YECREA travel grant will reimburse travel and accommodation costs up to 300 EUR.
  

Deadline for application: 15 April 2024.

The applicants are allowed to combine travel grants with the grants in the form of conference fee vouchers.

The grants are intended for YECREA members (visit yecrea.eu/membership to learn how to become a YECREA member) in order to support access to the academic community of media and communication scholars by attending ECREA’s biannual conference from 24th to 27th  September 2024 in Ljubljana, Slovenia. 

Grant awards will be made based on several criteria, of which the most important is the applicants’ access to financial resources (e.g. from their home university, third-party funded projects or national funding institutions). The grants will be awarded only to early-career scholars whose presentation has been accepted to the programme of the conference. The applications will not be reviewed in terms of academic quality. However, applicants should preferably have submitted abstracts as first authors to the ECC conference programme.

Travel grants will be provided as reimbursements. The relevant claim form, digitised invoices and receipts documenting actual costs must be submitted electronically to treasurer@ecrea.eu in addition to the submission of the original documents posted to the ECREA accountants: RSM Belgium, Lozenberg, 22 b3, B1932 Zaventem, Belgium. The applicant will be reimbursed up to the amount of the subsidy that was granted to the particular applicant.

Applicants are expected to complete and submit the following Application Forms here:  

• YECREA grant: https://ecrea.eu/event-5647331
• YECREA travel grant: https://ecrea.eu/event-5650946

If selected for a grant, you will be asked to send proof of acceptance to the conference (forwarding the acceptance e-mail) as well as some evidence of your PhD or post-doctoral research status (e.g. proof of enrolment, a letter from your institution, or a link to your home university profile).

To apply, please complete the form no later than 15 April 2024 at 23:59 CEST. We will notify the applicants by 30 May 2024. All grantees should confirm their attendance by 2 August 2024.

ECREA Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) grants

ECREA Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) grants will be awarded to future attendees who experience barriers and biases to participation and those who come from underrepresented groups. To facilitate participation of individuals identifying with this category we hope to make ECREA more equitable, diverse and inclusive. The EDI grants are in addition to the already existing Young Scholar support initiatives, so if you are an Early Career scholar (PhD Student or up to 1 year after completing your PhD), we suggest you apply to YECREA grants  (see above).

For everyone else:

• Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) grants – 15 grants in the form of conference fee vouchers will be offered by ECREA to scholars who would otherwise have difficulties accessing the conference. 
  
• Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) travel grants – 5 travel and 5 accommodation grants will be offered by ECREA to scholars who would otherwise have difficulties accessing the conference. 

Applicants are allowed to combine travel grants, accommodation grants and the grants in the form of conference fee vouchers.

Applications deadline: 15 April 2024.

Apply here: https://forms.gle/tVFAu7hiYCbzTiZG6

Deadline: March 29, 2024

https://iamcr.org/christchurch2024

The IAMCR conference theme „Weaving People Together: Communicative projects of decolonising, engaging, and listening“, taking place in Christchurch, New Zealand, is based on a Māori proverb (whakataukī) „Whiria te tāngata“, weaving people together in English, which is about the strength that comes through common purpose. IAMCR invites reflections upon (but not limited to) contemporary forms of communication, commonality, challenges to colonial structures and indigenous communication. 

ECREA will host one panel at IAMCR 2024 and invites the submission of panel proposals that are focused on timely and innovative topics and are diverse in terms of methodologies, theoretical standpoints and/or nationalities of the presenters. We especially encourage panel proposals which include a European perspective and a comparative research focus. This call for panel proposals is open to ECREA members of all ECREA sections and to all topics.

Please note the following information:

Panel submissions. Please submit the following details: (a) panel theme or title, (b) description of the panel, (c) names, titles of talks, affiliations and emails of each participant

In terms of diversity, we expect a strong panel proposal to (a) include contributions of at least two different countries, (b) feature gender balance, and, ideally, (c) include not more than one contribution from a single faculty, department or school. Panel proposals need to be original and may not have been submitted to IAMCR before or at the same time. 

Panels must be presented on-site at the venue of the conference.

Accepted panel presentations do not count towards the max. allowed individual paper presentations at the IAMCR conference.

Registering panelists. All panelists must be ECREA members by the time the conference takes place and agree in advance of submission to participate as panel presenters and to register for the IAMCR conference. IAMCR only provides a registration waiver for the panel convener, not for the other panelists.

How to submit?

• Email to: info@ecrea.eu

• Submission deadline is 29 March 2024, 23:59 CET

• In case of questions please contact: Irena Reifová (irena.reifova@fsv.cuni.cz)

ECREA-IAMCR Conference Review Committee:

Andreas Schuck (U Amsterdam, chair)

Christina Holtz-Bacha (U Erlangen-Nürnberg, co-chair)

Irena Reifová (Charles U Prague, co-chair)

We are excited to announce that the registration for the 10th ECREA ECC 2024 is now open!

The 10th ECREA ECC will be held from 23 to 27 September 2024 in Ljubljana, Slovenia, under the title ‘Communication & social (dis)order‘. Please register through the Online Registration Form. At the conference website you can find all the details regarding the conference fees and payments and registration guidelines. The Early-Bird Registration is available until 27 June 2024.

For any registration questions please do not hesitate to contact the ECREA Conference Secretariat at registration@ecrea2024ljubljana.eu.

We are pleased to announce that the 10th ECREA ECC 2024, which will take place from 23 to 27 September 2024 in Ljubljana, Slovenia, has received a record number of submissions!

We received a total of 2915 submissions. This included 2580 individual abstracts, 52 panels with 5 abstracts each and 15 round tables with 5 abstracts each.

We extend our gratitude to all contributors!

ECREA is opening a call for proposals for the hosting and organisation of the 2026 edition of the European Communication Conferences.

ECREA conferences have been taken place in different parts of Europe from Amsterdam (2005) to Ljubljana (forthcoming in 2024) proposing opportunities to show the know-how and the activities of the organising institution(s) and to foster the energy and creativity of the organisers around a large international project.

The Executive Board of ECREA has developed a framework document – Terms of Reference to define the format and give guidelines for the organisation of such a conference.

Interested members are asked to submit proposals for hosting the 2026 European Communication Conference. The institution hosting the Conference has to be active in the field of communication research and/or education and have sufficient experience and sufficient capacity (staff and support) to prepare and run the event.

The proposal for hosting the 2026 European Communication Conference must take the form of a document where candidate host institutions will: 1) Describe their general vision of the event (including the location, timing, duration and their organisational capacity). 2) Explicitly engage themselves to meet ECREA's requirements described in the Terms of Reference for Organising ECREA’s 11th European Communication Conference 2026 and provide the basic information regarding the way their proposal will meet ECREA's requirements. 3) Propose a draft financial plan. 4) Sketch out the strengths and weaknesses associated with the proposal.

Please note that more than one institution can join forces and present a conjoint proposal, as long as they are in the same geographical area.

Deadline and submission

Proposals must be submitted by Thursday, 29. February, 2024 (deadline extended). The proposals must be sent by e-mail (attachment in .doc, .docx, .rtf, or .pdf format) to info@ecrea.eu .

The ECREA Executive Board will then select one institution to act as local host, and possibly one runner-up to step in, in case the selected host encounters unforeseen difficulties.

Timeline

ECC conferences are normally held in October-November (unless the local host argues otherwise). The selection of the host for the conference will be decided upon at least two years prior to the event.

The timetable will be as follows:

11 October, 2023: the call for applications is open. Each candidate-host turns in a summary project describing how they see the event, where, how, etc.

29 February, 2024: the call is closed. The Board considers applications and selects one which complies with all criteria, including the strategic priorities of the Board. Contacts are made with candidates for further information where necessary.

 March 2024: The Board announces the selected host institution to all institutional members that have applied. The selected institution is asked to develop a full organisational plan in close cooperation with ECREA’s Board. The full plan is to be ready by mid June 2024. If appropriate, the Board also selects a runner-up institution to host the conference should the selected institution be unable to deliver.

June, 2024: The Board examines the full proposal and decides on its approval. If necessary, the organisers are given one more month to fine-tune the proposal (with assistance of the Executive Board).

24 September –27 September, 2024: the ECC2026 conference host is announced at in Ljubljana.

October – November, 2026: ECC2026 takes place.

We are accepting inquires from the academic institutions interested in organizing the conference. For any inquiry, please contact ECREA admin info@ecrea.eu .

We are looking forward to receiving your proposals!

We are very pleased to announce that the abstract submission deadline for the 10th ECREA ECC 2024 has been extended to 16 January 2024! This extension offers an incredible opportunity for all those who have not yet submitted their abstracts.

Don't miss the chance to be part of a conference that focuses on "Communication & social (dis)order" More information about the 10th ECREA ECC can be found in the call for papers and submission guidelines.

Submit your abstract via the ECREA ECC 2024 submission platform. We are looking forward to your contributions!

ECREA is happy to announce four types of grants and support measures to provide greater inclusion of scholars the ECC 2024 Ljubljana conference. 

YECREA early-career scholar conference fee grant

YECREA grants are aimed at general inclusion of early-career scholars and are not related to specific region or topic. 

YECREA will offer 10 grants for early-career scholars (PhD students and scholars 1 year after completion of their PhD) in the form of conference fee waivers. 

YECREA early-career scholar travel grant 

YECREA grants are aimed at general inclusion of early-career scholars and are not related to specific region or topic. YECREA grants are aimed at general inclusion of early-career scholars and are not targeting specific region or topic.

YECREA will offer 5 travel and accommodation grants for early-career scholars. (PhD students and scholars 1 year after completion of their PhD).

Both conference fee grants and travel grants will be awarded to early-career scholars whose presentations have been accepted to the conference. The applicants will be allowed to combine travel grants with the conference fee grants. Conditions will be announced with the separate call for applicants in March 2024. 

ECREA Equality, Diversity and Inclusion conference fee grants 

These grants will be awarded to address barriers and biases experienced by underrepresented groups, aiming to make ECREA to be more equal, diverse and inclusive. 

15 grants in the form of conference fee vouchers will be offered by ECREA to scholars who would otherwise have difficulties accessing the conference. 

ECREA Equality, Diversity and Inclusion travel grants

These grants will be awarded to address barriers and biases experienced by underrepresented groups, aiming to make ECREA to be more equal, diverse and inclusive. 

5 travel and accommodation grants will be offered by ECREA to scholars who would otherwise have difficulties accessing the conference. 

The applicants will be allowed to combine travel grants with the conference fee grants. Both types of grants will be awarded to scholars whose presentations have been accepted to the conference. Conditions will be announced with the separate call for applicants in March 2024.

Two other types of grants, targeting early-career scholars from the region of former Yugoslavia and Ukraine will be offered by conference Local Organising Committee. More information on conference grants: https://ecrea2024ljubljana.eu/grants/ 

Local Organising Committee of the ECC 2024 is happy to announce two targeted grants to provide greater inclusion of PhD students and early-career scholars from the region of former Yugoslavia and Ukraine at the Ljubljana conference. 

Grants for early-career scholars from the region of former Yugoslavia

Local organising committee of the conference will award 5 grants to early-career scholars from the region of former Yugoslavia.

The aim of the grants is to facilitate greater inclusion of scholars from the region, promote critical regional perspectives on conference topic Communication and Social (Dis)Order, and promote cooperation among scholars and institutions in the region.

The grants will be awarded in the form of conference fee vouchers to early-career scholars (PhD students and scholars 1 year after completion of their PhD) whose presentation has been accepted to the programme of the conference. 

Grants for early-career scholars from Ukraine

Local organising committee of the conference will award 5 grants to early-career scholars who are based at academic institutions in Ukraine to facilitate their greater participation at the Ljubljana conference.

The grants, consisting of conference fee vouchers, will be awarded to early-career scholars (PhD students and scholars 1 year after completion of their PhD) whose presentations have been accepted to the conference.

Both calls will be released in March 2024. For updates on the call, follow the news at the conference website, ECREA website or ECREA weekly digest.

Four other types of grants and support measures will be offered for scholars irrespective of the region in which they are based. These will include YECREA Early-career fee waivers and travel grants  and ECREA Equality, Diversity and Inclusion fee waivers and travel grants. More information on conference grants: https://ecrea2024ljubljana.eu/grants/