European Communication Research and Education Association
Institute of Communication Science, Friedrich Schiller University Jena
We invite applications for two academic positions in the DFG-funded project “Strategic Narratives in the Age of Transnational Influence Campaigns,” which examines how foreign actors adapt strategic narratives across different information environments, how these narratives are amplified by domestic actors, and how audiences ultimately respond to them.
We are hiring:
1. PhD Researcher with a focus on narrative formation and dissemination (75%, 3 years, TVL E-13)
Link to Job Posting: Doctoral Candidate / Scientific Researcher | Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena | 2143
2. PhD Researcher with a focus on narrative reception and interpretation (75%, 3 years, TVL E-13)
Link to Job Posting: Doctoral Candidate / Scientific Researcher | Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena | 2140
Both positions commence on 1 April 2027.
We offer:
Ideal candidates have experience in the methods specified in the respective job listings, knowledge of statistical and programming language R, and an interest in comparative political communication research, particularly in the topic of malign information influence.
The applications are accepted by 31 October 2026.
November 13, 2026
Centre for Digital Methods and Media (CDMM) at Aarhus University maintains a growing range of digital methods tools and resources for researchers and students.
In celebration of our 5th anniversary, the centre will host an online workshop on the theme:
Democratising Digital Methods
The workshop will take place on 13 November 2026, 9-12 (CET) on Zoom.
We invite ideas for contributions by 15 October 2026 (AOE).
Please see our full call for further information: https://cc.au.dk/en/cdmm/cdmm-workshop-13-november-2026#c852064
Saarland University
Dear everyone,
We are filling a professorship at Saarland University and would like to ask you to share the call within your networks, or to apply yourself if the profile fits your own plans.
The W3 professorship in Computational Social Science (W2906) is for researchers with an established programme in the field, whether that programme rests on network analysis, automated text analysis, large-scale digital behavioural data, AI-based modelling, or a combination of these. The process also weighs experience in leading coordinated research, for instance as principal or co-investigator in collaborative research centres or joint projects. A formal affiliation with the Department of Computer Science is possible.
SOUNDS is a project at Saarland University, funded with €29 million until 2032, that studies societal change through novel digital data sources. Computational Social Science sits at its core, and the bridge between social science and computational science is what we are building here. Both professorships will shape that work from the start. You can find out more at https://www.uni-saarland.de/sounds.
Please find the full job description and the online application form here: https://www.uni-saarland.de/verwaltung/berufungen/online-berufungsportal/w2905-w2-professorship-w3-tenure-track-position-in-political-social-or-communication-science.html
Best regards,
Martin Ulrich
June 9-12, 2027
Chicago, USA
Deadline: December 11, 2026
Dear colleagues,
The 35th International Conference on User Modeling, Adaptation, and Personalization (ACM UMAP 2027) will take place in Chicago, USA, from June 9 to 12, 2027. ACM UMAP 2027 will be a fully in-person, on-site conference.
UMAP 2027 continues to be the leading international conference bringing together research in AI and HCI to support effective human-AI collaboration via interactive systems that can model, adapt, and personalize to their users.
We invite proposals for workshops to be held in conjunction with UMAP 2027. Traditionally, workshops provide additional forums for participants to engage in focused discussions and explore key emerging areas of the conference topics; they provide a setting for researchers and practitioners from industry and academia to share ideas and seed new research trajectories.
For UMAP 2027, our goal is to curate a diverse and balanced workshop program that reflects the breadth and depth of the UMAP community, accommodating newly emerging, currently evolving, and historically understudied research topics. We welcome both full and half-day workshops of different formats: from traditional, mini-conference-style events with their own submission and peer-review process, to more interactive and hands-on formats. These may include moderated discussions, collaborative writing sessions, hackathon-style resource development, or design-thinking workshops that encourage active participation.
**Important dates (11:59 PM AoE: Anywhere on Earth)**
More information, including submission instructions and template requirements, is available at: https://um.org/umap2027/call-for-workshop-proposals/
Please feel free to share this Call for Workshop Proposals with colleagues and researchers who may be interested.
The ACM UMAP 2027 Organizing Committee
Deadline: February 6, 2027
The ACM UMAP 2027 Doctoral Consortium invites submissions from PhD students conducting research in user modeling, personalization, and related areas. As part of the conference, it welcomes doctoral students who have not previously attended a UMAP Doctoral Consortium to refine their research with guidance from renowned scholars and industry professionals. Participants will present their work, receive constructive feedback, and engage in meaningful discussions to advance their research.
The DC forum provides doctoral students with opportunities to:
Important dates (11:59 PM AoE, Anywhere on Earth )
The conference will take place in Chicago, USA, and the Doctoral Consortium will be held as part of ACM UMAP 2027.
More information, including submission instructions and template requirements, is available at: https://um.org/umap2027/call-for-doctoral-consortium-submissions/
Please feel free to share this Call for Doctoral Consortium Submissions with PhD students and colleagues who may be interested.
June 9-12 2027
The 35th ACM International Conference on User Modeling, Adaptation, and Personalization (ACM UMAP 2027) will take place in Chicago, USA, from June 9 to 12, 2027. ACM UMAP 2027 will be a fully in-person, on-site conference.
UMAP 2027 continues to bring together research in AI and HCI to support effective human–AI collaboration through interactive systems that can model, adapt, and personalize to their users.
We warmly invite proposals for 90-minute tutorials to be held in conjunction with ACM UMAP 2027. Tutorials are an opportunity to take the community on a deeper dive into a topic, guided by experts in the field. They may be introductory or advanced, research-focused or practice-oriented, and can cover both established and emerging topics related to interactive systems that can model, adapt, and personalize to their users. The most successful tutorials actively engage participants by incorporating hands-on and/or interactive elements. We welcome proposals from both academia and industry.
Example Topics of Interest
Topics may include, but are not limited to:
Important dates (11:59 PM AoE: Anywhere on Earth)
More information, including submission instructions and template requirements, is available at: https://um.org/umap2027/call-for-tutorial-proposals/
Please feel free to share this Call for Tutorial Proposals with colleagues and researchers who may be interested.
International Journal of Games and Social Impact
Deadline: November 20, 2026
Guest Editors: Ana Filipa Oliveira (Universidade Lusófona, CICANT, Portugal); Marisa Mourão (Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, CICANT, Portugal); João Léste (Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, LINC-Design, Brazil); Bieke Zaman (KU Leuven, Belgium)
We currently live in a deeply polarised media ecosystem, in which the speed and volume of information pose new challenges to citizens' critical capacities (Tucker et al., 2018). In a world dominated by algorithms, marked by polarisation and various forms of information disorder (Wardle & Derakhshan, 2017), narratives and values are being shaped in unprecedented ways, making the promotion of media literacy skills one of the foremost priorities in education and training (Mihailidis & Viotty, 2017). In this context, games and gamified practices emerge as an alternative pedagogical approach (Dicheva et al., 2015) that offers ample opportunities to develop media literacy in an engaging and meaningful way (Sousa et al., 2024), including for people with disabilities (Léste et al., 2025) and other marginalised and underrepresented groups (Prazak et al., 2026). Yet, evidence remains fragmented. Game elements can support critical engagement in some contexts while undermining it in others, and the psychological, situational, and design factors behind this ambivalence are poorly understood (van Roy & Zaman, 2018, 2019).
This special issue of The International Journal of Games and Social Impact seeks to explore the role of games, gamification, and playable media in fostering media literacy, critical citizenship, and social transformation across formal, non-formal, and informal contexts. It invites theoretical, empirical, and design-oriented contributions examining how, why, and for whom such interventions succeed or fail in cultivating an informed and responsible citizenry — including work on inclusive design for diverse learners.
Submissions may address (but are not limited to) the following questions:
Authors are encouraged to address one or more of the following topics (but are not limited to):
Submission Guidelines
Submissions should adhere to the journal’s formatting and referencing guidelines. Both full research articles (6,000-8,000 words) and short papers (2,000 - 4,000 words) are welcome. All submissions will undergo a double anonymous peer review process to ensure scholarly rigour and originality.
Contact
For inquiries about the thematic scope of the special issue, please contact Ana Filipa Oliveira (ana.filipa.oliveira@ulusofona.pt). For logistic aspects of the submission, please contact ijgsi@ulusofona.pt.
Timeline (subject to change)
*The first round of peer review is expected to be completed by then. Therefore, articles that are subject to only one round of peer review may be accepted until the end of May.
References
Dicheva, D., Dichev, C., Agre, G., & Angelova, G. (2015). Gamification in education: A systematic mapping study. Educational Technology & Society, 18(3), 75–88.
Léste, J. V., Sousa , C., & Farbiarz, J. L. (2025). Jogos analógicos fomentando experiências educacionais: Práticas e potenciais para pessoas com deficiência visual. Quaestio - Revista de Estudos em Educação, 27, Article e025045. https://doi.org/10.22483/2177-5796.2025v27id5739
Mihailidis, P., & Viotty, S. (2017). Spreadable spectacle in digital culture: Civic expression, fake news, and the role of media literacies in "post-fact" society. American Behavioral Scientist, 61(4), 441–454. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764217701217
Prazak, I., Padovani, L., Lim, Y., Hsu, J. (Hsin-P.), & Lee, M. (2026). Disability misinformation on Facebook: A comparison of LLM-based fact-checking tools. Information Research an International Electronic Journal, 31(iConf), 1042–1053. https://doi.org/10.47989/ir31iConf64259
Sousa, C., Oliveira, A. F., Casimiro, C., Léste, J., & Yaman, H. (2024). Explorando o impacto da aprendizagem baseada em jogos na literacia de notícias e na cidadania digital das pessoas jovens. Media & Jornalismo, 24(45), Article e4510. https://doi.org/10.14195/2183-5462_45_10
Tucker, J. A., Guess, A., Barberá, P., Vaccari, C., Siegel, A., Sanovich, S., Stukal, D., & Nyhan, B. (2018). Social media, political polarization, and political disinformation: A review of the scientific literature. Hewlett Foundation.
van Roy, R., & Zaman, B. (2018). Need-supporting gamification in education: An assessment of motivational effects over time. Computers & Education, 127, 283-297. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2018.08.018
van Roy, R., & Zaman, B. (2019). Unravelling the ambivalent motivational power of gamification: A basic psychological needs perspective. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 127(0), Article j.ijhcs.2018.04.009, 38-50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2018.04.009
Wardle, C., & Derakhshan, H. (2017). Information disorder: Toward an interdisciplinary framework for research and policy making. Council of Europe.
Aarhus University
The Graduate School at Arts, Faculty of Arts, Aarhus University, in collaboration with the European Research Council and the School of Communication and Culture, invites applications for a fully funded PhD fellowship in PAY4PLAY: Entrepreneurial Organizing in the Platform Society provided the necessary funding is available. This PhD fellowship is available as of 1 February 2027 for a period of up to three years (5+3).
It is expected that candidate awarded the PhD fellowship will be able to commence the PhD degree programme on 1 February 2027.
The PhD fellowship is part of project “PAY4PLAY: Entrepreneurial Organizing in the Platform Society,” led by Associate Professor Blake Hallinan and funded by a Starting Grant from the European Research Council (ERC).
Project description
PAY4PLAY is an interdisciplinary, large-scale investigation of organizing in the creator economy concerned with how creators and their communities come together and create value. The project is premised on the idea that organizing is essential to understand how creators - and people more broadly - both exploit and challenge the growing power of digital platforms. The project approaches creator organizing from three perspectives (culture, infrastructure, policy) and compares three industrial sectors (gamers, VTubers, adult content creators). In so doing, the project will map the industrial conditions of the creator economy, develop a new theory of organizing and platform power, and provide policy recommendations for platforms and regulators.
The PAY4PLAY team includes the principal investigator Blake Hallinan, postdoctoral researcher Emilija Jokubauskaitė, and three PhD fellows working on the sub-project “Cultures of Participation within and among Creator Communities.” This PhD fellowship focuses on VTubers, or virtual content creators. We are particularly interested in proposals that compare Japanese and English-language VTuber communities, but we are also open to proposals that focus on other significant VTuber communities (e.g., Chinese VTubers, LBGTQ VTubers).
The project design is flexible but should investigate organizing within (i.e., how creators, co-producers, volunteers, and audience members relate to each other) and among creator communities (i.e., how creator communities form alliances to shape industrial conditions). The PhD fellow will also have the opportunity to collaborate with team members working in other sectors and in the projects focused on infrastructure and policy, as well as with an international network of advisors and collaborators.
The PhD fellowship will be supervised by Blake Hallinan, Associate Professor in the Department of Media and Journalism Studies, and Anja Bechmann, Professor in the Department of Media and Journalism Studies.
Tasks and responsibilities
The candidate will:
Requirements
Desirable assets
Please see the project’s website (www.pay4play.eu) for further information.
Enrolment and place of work
The PhD student must complete the studies in accordance with the Ministerial Order on the PhD Programme at the Universities and Certain Higher Artistic Educational Institutions (PhD Order): http://phd.arts.au.dk/applicants/thephddegreeprogramme/
Description of the graduate school’s PhD degree programme: http://phd.arts.au.dk/applicants/phdstudystructure/
Rules and regulations for the PhD degree programme at the Graduate School at Arts: http://phd.arts.au.dk/applicants/thephddegreeprogramme/
The PhD fellow will be enrolled as a PhD student at the Graduate School at Arts, Faculty of Arts, Aarhus University, with the aim of completing a PhD degree at the School of Communication and Culture, Aarhus University.
The PhD student will be affiliated with the PhD programme ICT, Media, Communication and Journalism.
The PhD student’s place of work will be the School of Communication and Culture, Aarhus University. In general, the student is expected to be present at the school on an everyday basis.
The PhD degree programme is expected to include a lengthy research stay at a foreign institution, cf. Description of the graduate school’s PhD degree programme.
School of Communication and Culture’s research programme: http://cc.au.dk/en/research/research-programmes/
5+3 programme
When you apply for a 3-year PhD fellowship (5+3), you must have completed your Master’s degree no later than 31 January 2027. Your Master’s degree must be equivalent to a Danish Master’s degree.
The PhD fellow will be employed at the Faculty of Arts, Aarhus University.
The terms and conditions of employment and salary will be governed by the collective agreement for academics employed by the Danish state. The PhD fellow will be employed and remunerated in accordance with Appendix 5 of the collective agreement.
The Circular on the Collective Agreement for Academics Employed by the State between the Danish Ministry of Finance and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations (Akademikerne), as well as the Protocol on Salaried PhD Fellows (Appendix 5 of the collective agreement), can be found here: http://phd.arts.au.dk/applicants/thephddegreeprogramme/
The PhD fellow will be placed in salary group 4-8 of the academic pay scale, depending on relevant seniority-qualifying work experience acquired after completion of the Master's degree.
Salary: https://phd.arts.au.dk/4-4-part-b-and-5-3/salary-and-employment
How to apply
The application must include:
Please see a detailed description of the requirements for the application in the guide for the application facility: http://phd.arts.au.dk/applicants/how-to-apply/
Application
If you require professional guidance regarding your application for the PhD fellowship please contact the PhD programme director at ICT, Media, Communication and Journalism: http://phd.arts.au.dk/about-us/contact/
For further information, please contact Associate Professor Blake Hallinan, School of Communication and Culture, bhallinan@cc.au.dk, Phone + 45 93997501.
The application must be submitted in English.
All applicants must provide documentation of excellent communication skills in English which are considered essential, and you must therefore be able to read, write, and speak academic English fluently. English language requirement is comparable to a minimum of TOEFL 83 or IELTS 6.5. Please see this page for further information: http://phd.arts.au.dk/applicants/english-test/
Child protection certificate
In accordance with Ministerial Order no. 554 of 23 May 2023, Aarhus University is obliged to obtain a statement of no previous convictions in respect of children in connection with the appointment and employment of staff whose work will involve direct contact with children under the age of 15. If you, in connection with your PhD project, will be in direct contact with children under the age of 15 who are not accompanied by a parent or guardian, childcare professional or teacher, you will be covered by the requirements of the ministerial order.
Applications for the PhD fellowship and enrolment in the PhD degree programme can only be submitted via the application form in Aarhus University’s web-based facility.
Deadline for applications: 1 November 2026 at 23.59 Danish time (CET/CEST).
Reference number: 2026-11
During the assessments, Aarhus University can conduct interviews with selected applicants.
Andra Siibak , Giovanna Mascheroni
This Palgrave Pivot book examines how AI‑based technologies shape children’s everyday lives and imagines possible digital futures. Drawing on qualitative interviews and a child‑rights approach, the authors map how new AI tools are used and understood at home, at school, and among peers. They trace shifts in family routines; education, care, and health practices; and peer cultures associated with AI; cutting through the current hype to assess both promises and risks.
Building on prior work on the datafication of childhood and family life, Children and AI: Changing Digital Childhoods? rethinks AI’s implications for children’s wellbeing, rights, and life chances amid rapid market diffusion. It highlights potential harms, including widening digital divides and privacy violations, and calls for child‑centred, safety‑by‑design legal and policy frameworks. Timely and interdisciplinary, it will interest scholars, students, and policymakers across childhood studies, digital and family sociology, internet studies, children’s rights, and education.
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-95-8922-7
La Valle dell’Eden (No. 50)
Deadline: October 15, 2026
The short form has always existed in a state of inherent uncertainty. Far from being a limitation, this paradoxical nature represents an invitation to examine the audiovisual short form today as a theoretical object, an artistic practice, and an industrial segment.
In the current media landscape—marked by digital disruption and platform convergence—short formats have gained renewed prominence. This constellation encompasses both traditional screen culture (short films, music videos, video art, fashion films, animation, screendance) and the new media ecosystem (vertical video dramas, reels, stories, GIFs, bumper ads).
This special issue of La Valle dell’Eden aims to provide a comprehensive mapping of contemporary short forms by intersecting interdisciplinary theoretical frameworks with media industry perspectives, stylistic analyses, and pedagogical practices.
Possible topics include, but are not limited to:
Theories and genealogies of short forms: Continuities, ruptures, and specificities of short audiovisual content in relation to historical expressive forms.
Writing practices for short audiovisual forms: Analytical models, structural strategies, and narrative configurations in self-contained and serialized short forms.
Aesthetics of density and visual configurations of short forms: Formal intensification strategies, visual rhythm, verticality, smartphone filmmaking, and new poetics of vision.
Circulation, festivals, and the curation of short forms: Distribution circuits, short film festival ecosystems, exhibition networks, and digital-native platforms.
Production cultures of short forms: Industrial logics, monetization models, creator economy dynamics, and professionalization processes.
Platforms, algorithms, and bit-sized formats: Streaming platforms, social media environments (TikTok, Instagram, YouTube), and the reshaping of artistic vs. user-generated content.
Authorship and identity: The short form as an aesthetic laboratory, space for experimentation, and site for condensing individual poetics.
Pedagogies of and with short forms: Educational functionalities, adaptability in teaching, and methodologies for training in audiovisual languages.
Key dates:
Submission guidelines:
To propose an article, please submit an abstract (max. 2,500 characters) in English or Italian, accompanied by up to 5 essential bibliographic references, 5 keywords, and a short bio (max. 1,000 characters). Submissions must be sent to the editors at mariapaola.pierini@unito.it and enrico.nicolosi@unito.it, as well as to eden@unito.it.
Full details of the Call for Papers can be found here: https://ojs.unito.it/index.php/vde/announcement/view/266
SUBSCRIBE!
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