October 10-11, 2022

Online meetings

Dear colleagues!

Ahead of this year’s ECREA conference in Aarhus, the Crisis Communication Section will hold a virtual preconference on October 10-11. The idea is to provide an additional venue to present and discuss research, e.g. for those who cannot join the physical conference in Aarhus, and also conduct a Ph.D. workshop. The entire preconference is free of charge and will take place via ZOOM.

On day 1 (October 10), we will hold a classic virtual conference format, in extension of our theme for our programme at the main conference:

Risk & Crisis Communication Moving Forward from the Pandemic (virtual preconference)

As some countries begin to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic and while some countries are still experiencing significant levels of transmission and deaths, the field of crisis and risk communication has the opportunity to learn from the experiences of the last two years to consider:

• What impact in crisis and risk communication means across the field of communication?
• Is pandemic communication fundamentally different from crisis and risk communication?
• What are critical pedagogical, research, theoretical, amplification, and collaboration lessons have been learned through the pandemic?

• What critical themes of research and practice should be addressed in the short, medium, and long-term?
• What can be learned with a view to the communicative challenges that come with imminent wicked problems like climate change, mass migration, immigration, and other potential pandemics?
• In moving forward from 2022, how can our field meet crisis and risk communication needs across sectors?
• We welcome abstract-based submissions addressing these themes as we begin to "Rethink Impact" for the European Communication Conference.

Moving ahead, we explicitly also invite presentations on topics that are not related to the pandemic but touch other topical themes, as well as methodological and theoretical issues et cetera.

Questions/submissions should be directed to the Head of the Crisis Communication Section, Audra Diers-Lawson (Audra.Diers-Lawson@kristiania.no).

Deadline: August 10, 2022

Day 2 (October 11) is reserved for the Ph.D. workshop:

YECREA PhD Workshop

As part of our online activities related to the ECREA 2022 pre-conference, we would like to invite all young scholars to apply for our PhD Workshop jointly held by ECREA’s Crisis Communication Section and the Young Scholars Network (YECREA).

Participation in the workshop is free of charge.

The workshop aims to provide an online forum with individual feedback for doctoral students whose PhD and research interest is related to the wide and interdisciplinary field of Risk and Crisis Communication. Note that this year we launch a new workshop format. For this reason, you will receive two kinds of feedback - senior scholars and peers’ feedback—and you will be asked not only to present your own project but also to comment on other two projects. The inclusion of peers’ feedback intends to engage attendees in discussions among themselves, increase participation and develop critical analysis skills.

The PhD Workshop will take place online on Tuesday, October 11, 2022. Further information on the schedules as well as on the respondents (senior scholars and peers) will be announced later. Some of our confirmed senior scholars respondents are Albena Björck (Zurich University of Applied Sciences, Switzerland), Deanna Sellnow (University of Central Florida, USA), Yan Jin (University of Georgia, USA) and Yijing Wang (Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands).

To apply for the workshop, please prepare and submit the following two documents:

1. An extended abstract of up to 500 words outlining your project (references excluded). Please think of key elements such as your research problem, theoretical foundation, research question(s), methodology and (preliminary) findings.

2. A short letter of motivation stating why you would like to participate, and which questions you would like to see addressed in the feedback session. This letter should also mention the name of your doctoral advisor, the year of PhD you are in, and whether your project will turn into a monograph or (nb. of) papers.

The documents must be submitted to Bianca Persici Toniolo (bianca.toniolo@ubi.pt) by May 22, 2022.

A jury will select the applications according to standards of academic quality like theoretical foundation, stringency and originality. You will receive their decision by July 15, 2022.

There is no need to be a member of the Crisis Communication Section to apply, but please note that the capacity of the workshop is limited.

Key Dates:

• May 22 – Deadline for submission
• July 15 – Notification of decisions
• September 15 – If your proposal was accepted, you will receive information about the projects on which you are required to provide feedback

• October 11 – PhD Workshop

Please do not hesitate to ask questions if you have any doubt by contacting the Crisis Communication Section YECREA’s representative, Bianca Persici Toniolo, at bianca.toniolo@ubi.pt.