June 14-16, 2027

Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain

Deadline: September 14, 2026

Hosted by the Department of Communication, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid in conjunction with the Audiovisual Diversity research group, and the Department of Culture, Media and Creative Industries, King’s College London. 

Paper, panel, roundtable and workshop proposals are now invited for the 2027 ‘Media Industries’ conference (‘MI2027’).

Following the 2018 and 2024 editions, the ‘Media Industries’ conference returns in 2027. Continuing the rationale established with the previous conferences, MI2027 provides a meeting ground for all forms of media industries research. Proposals for papers, panels, and workshops are invited for research from across the full breadth of the media industries. To energize interdisciplinary discussions, we welcome proposals presenting research from all intellectual and methodological traditions. Additionally, to recognize the full scope and diversity of media industries, proposals may address industries in contemporary or historical contexts, and at global, transnational, national, or sub-national levels of analysis.

Proposals are welcomed in three categories (see full details below):

• open call papers
  
• pre-constituted panels
  
• pre-constituted workshops 
  

*PLEASE NOTE*: 

MI2027 will take place in-person only and we are unable to accommodate requests for virtual presentations

The conference will take place exclusively in English and all proposals should be submitted in this language

PARTNERS

MI2027 aims to bring together scholars researching media industries from across multiple professional associations and their relevant sub-groups or sections. We are therefore very pleased to be organizing ‘MI2027’ in partnership with:

• Asian Media Industries Research Network
  
• British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies (BAFTSS) - Screen Industries Special Interest Group
  
• European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA) - Media Industries and Cultural Production Section
  
• European Network for Cinema and Media Studies (NECS) - Screen Industries Work Group
  
• Gesellschaft für Medienwissenschaft (GFM) - AG Medienindustrien
  
• Global Media and China journal
  
• Media Industries journal
  
• Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS) - Media Industries Scholarly Interest Group 

CONFERENCE DIRECTORS

Christopher Meir

Paul McDonald

HOST COMMITTEE

Vicente Rodríguez Ortega, Concepción Cascajosa Virino, and Juan Ignacio Gallego Pérez.

ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Luca Barra, Sarah Bashir, Neha Bhatia, Hanne Bruun, Pedro Gallo Buenaga, Orçun Can, Ruby Cheung, Pei Sze Chow, David Craig, Virginia Crisp, Tamsyn Dent, Kay Dickinson, Courtney Brannon Donoghue, Susanne Eichner, Elizabeth Evans, Tom Evens, Siao Yuong Fong, Kate Fortmueller, Tim Havens, Jennifer Hessler, Dianlin Huang, Daphne Idiz, Catalina Iordache, Deqiang Ji, Derek Johnson, Nessa Keddo, Joe F. Khalil, Pete Kunze, Wing-Fai Leung, Eva Cheuk Yin Li, Skadi Loist, Alfred L. Martin Jr., Jade Miller, Tanner Mirrlees, Alisa Perren, Jennifer Porst, Rizqi Prasya, Steve Presence, Eva Novrup Redvell, Willemien Sanders, Kevin Sanson, Andrew Spicer, Jeanette Steemers, Greg Steirer, Vilde Schanke Sundet, Petr Szczepanik, Christa van Raalte, Yannis Tzioumakis, Lies van Roessel, Jaap Verheul, Patrick Vonderau, Kristen Warner, Andrew White, Natalie Wreyford, Shuhuan Zhou, and Anna Zoellner. 

REGISTRATION

All delegates will need to register for the conference. 

Registration for the conference will go live in November 2026, and fees will be structured on the basis of full (academics, waged) and reduced (students, unwaged) status, but also tiered according to the delegate’s country of residence using the World Bank’s country classifications by Gross National Income per capita.

SUBMISSIONS

The system for submitting proposals is NOW OPEN.

Deadline for submissions is 23.00hrs Pacific Daylight Time (PDT = UTC -7) on Monday 14 September 2026

Proposals are welcomed in three categories and should be submitted through the following links.

1. OPEN CALL PAPERS (submission form.jotform.com/261425199160356)

Format: 20mins solo or co-presented research papers. These will later be combined by the conference programme team into thematically organised panels. Requirements:

• paper title
  
• abstract (max. 400 words)
  
• 2 keywords from pre-populated list
  
• 3 free-text keywords
  
• 3-5 sources relevant to the paper
  
• presenter(s) - name, institutional affiliation (if any), contact e-mail address, 100 word professional biography

2. PRE-CONSTITUTED PANELS (submission form.jotform.com/261424223130340)

Format: 90mins panel of 3 x 20mins OR 4 x 15mins thematically linked solo or co-presented research papers followed by questions. Requirements: 

• panel title 
  
• panel rationale (max. 400 words)
  
• chair(s) - name, institutional affiliation (if any), contact e-mail address, 100 word professional biography
  
• speaker(s) - name, institutional affiliation (if any), contact e-mail address, 100 word professional biography
  
• nominated chair (either one of the presenters or another delegate)
  
• individual proposals (presenter/co-presenter details, title, 400 word abstract, 3 keywords, 3-5 sources) for 3 x 20mins OR 4 x 15mins research papers 

3. PRE-CONSTITUTED WORKSHOPS (submission form.jotform.com/261424030570344)

Format: 90mins interactive session involving a team of 3-5 participants, including a nominated leader, focused on a particular issue, problem or practice arising from researching or teaching media industries. Unlike the conventional speakers/audience structure of panels, the workshop team should place emphasis on energising creative interactions between all attendees. Workshop proposals should be designed in a manner that assumes the team will only speak for no more than 30 minutes in total, with the remainder of the time devoted to interaction with the attendees. Besides offering a rationale the issues they plan to address, proposals should also include a description of the activity the team plans to organize. This format is highly flexible to allow workshop leaders to adapt the 90mins according to the activities and discussions involved. The exact nature of the activities is up to the workshop team, but possible ideas include:

• group brainstorming activities.
  
• collection of anonymous questions from attendees that are responded to by the team.
  
• short creative activities that can completed on attendees’ mobile devices.
  
• surveys and questionnaires that can be completely quickly and discussed in the session.

Proposals for workshops will be evaluated based equally on the issues they address as well as the creativity and potential for dynamic interaction seen in the proposal. Requirements: 

• workshop title
  
• workshop rationale (max. 400 words) - what is the aim of the workshop? how will it contribute to research, practice or education in media industries?
  
• description of workshop activity (max. 400 words) - what activity or activities will the Workshop Team conduct to engage with and involve attendees?
  
• 3-5 sources relevant to the workshop
  
• workshop leader(s) - name, institutional affiliation (if any), contact e-mail address, 100 word professional biography
  
• 1-6 other workshop participant(s) - name, institutional affiliation (if any), contact e-mail address, max. 100 word professional biography
  

Delegates can make up to TWO contributions to the conference but only ONE in any category, e.g., presenting an open call paper and presenting a paper on a pre-constituted panel, or presenting an open call paper AND leading or participating in a workshop, will be permitted, but not presenting two open call papers. Chairing a pre-constituted panel will NOT count as one of those contributions.

Papers (either open call or as part of a pre-constituted panel) maybe presented individually or by a pair of co-presenters.

TIMELINE

• Monday 14 September 2026 at 23.00hrs PDT deadline for submissions
  
• mid-November 2026 acceptances announced, and delegate registrations open
  
• end-January 2027 first draft of the programme
  
• Monday 10 May 2027 deadline for all delegate registrations
  
• Monday 14 to Wednesday 16 June 2027 conference 
  

CONTACT

The conference website will go live in late 2026, but in the meantime, if you have any questions, please contact media-industries@kcl.ac.uk