ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

Journal of Advertising (Special issue)

Deadline: July 31, 2026

Advertising regulation is becoming increasingly important as governments, industry bodies and international organizations respond to mounting concerns over online harms, misinformation, sustainability, and consumer vulnerability. With the rapid growth of social media, AI-generated content and advanced forms of data tracking, advertising is now woven into the fabric of daily life, often in ways that are not visible or well understood. These technological and market developments have moved faster than the regulatory systems intended to manage them, creating significant gaps in the protection of the public, particularly for children and other vulnerable groups.

Globally, regulators are rethinking how advertising should be governed in the face of a shifting digital landscape and rising pressure for more responsible corporate behavior (Dickinson-Delaporte et al., 2020; Stewart, 2019). The rapid growth of digital advertising has significantly complicated regulatory oversight, as traditional rules struggle to keep pace with real-time, algorithm-driven targeting, cross-border content flows, and platform-mediated ad placements. This complexity is heightened by the opacity of digital advertising supply chains, where intermediaries and platform algorithms operate with limited transparency, highlighting the need for more responsive and accountable regulatory approaches.

Advertising regulatory approaches vary across the globe, and typically include government regulation, where laws and public agencies enforce advertising standards; industry self-regulation, where advertising bodies develop and apply their own codes of practice; media-led regulation, where platforms or publishers set and enforce their own standards of practice; and the laissez-faire approach, which relies on market forces and consumer response to address advertising issues without formal oversight. There is often a hybrid approach in practice, with many countries combining elements of these models to suit regulatory, cultural, and market contexts (see Appendix 1 for advertising regulation models in top 10 ad-spending countries).

Increasingly, there is recognition of the need for stronger mechanisms and greater international coordination (Greer & Thompson, 1985) across different regulatory forms, in order to address the dynamic issues of the contemporary world, such as online safety (Ahmad et al., 2024; Diaz Ruiz, 2025), advertising fraud (Liang et al., 2024), the use of AI (Hardcastle et al., 2025), influencer advertising (Asquith & Fraser, 2020), environmental claims and greenwashing (Parguel et al., 2015; Schmuck et al., 2018), advertising of harmful products (Abernethy & Teel, 1986; Adams et al., 2012), and gender stereotyping (Antoniou & Akrivos, 2020; Knoll et al., 2011) (see Appendix 2 for examples of recent changes in advertising regulation).

At the same time, efforts to enhance consumer protections are meeting resistance. In contexts such as the United Kingdom and the United States, anti-regulatory sentiment is gaining traction, driven by concerns that increased oversight might restrict innovation and economic progress. This push and pull between protecting the public and preserving commercial freedom is making the regulation of advertising a more urgent and contested issue. Public distrust of digital platforms and unease about how personal data is used for advertising only sharpen the need for a re-evaluation of current frameworks. In this context, we highlight the crucial role advertising research plays in informing and shaping such regulatory frameworks (Kees & Andrews, 2019).

With this Special Issue, we focus on the systems that govern advertising, rather than on advertising content or ethical intention alone. Our interest lies in the legal, institutional, and procedural arrangements that support, or fail to support, ethical and socially beneficial advertising. We aim to draw attention to the conditions under which regulation can enable greater transparency, accountability, and harm reduction. Beyond analyzing what regulation currently does, we also seek to develop theory on what advertising regulation could become: how regulatory development might advance social wellbeing, shape markets more ethically, and position advertising as a force for social good. The purpose is not to promote one model of regulation over another, but to build a deeper understanding of how governance - in all its forms - shapes advertising’s societal influence and its capacity to address pressing societal issues.

We encourage submissions that theorize how regulatory approaches effect social change, and conceptual papers that propose new directions for research on advertising governance. We welcome empirical contributions that adopt multidisciplinary perspectives (Rotfeld & Taylor, 2009) and employ diverse methodological approaches and theoretical frameworks, including—but not limited to—work grounded in Transformative Advertising Research (Gurrieri et al., 2022), institutional theory, market shaping, and ethics. We are especially interested in scholarship that explores where regulation is falling short, how new interventions affect both industry and society, and theorizing that can help reimagine advertising regulation in light of contemporary challenges.

Key Themes and topics

We invite submissions that address regulatory questions across the following areas:

• Advertising and Institutional Change: How advertising regulation influences social norms, consumer rights, and the broader role of advertising in shaping public life, which may include examination of the role of consumer advocacy.
  
• Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Accountability: The use of regulation to support sustainable advertising, reduce greenwashing and strengthen corporate responsibility, which may include for example, how different jurisdictions address misleading sustainability advertising.
  
• Risk, Innovation and Regulatory Resilience: The effects of regulation on managing business risk, and how to design adaptable frameworks that remain effective in fast-moving digital environments.
  
• Regulation of Cross-Border Challenges, Geo-socio-political Contexts and Global Disparities: Comparative studies of regulatory approaches to particular challenges, including successful reforms, international coordination, and lessons for different contexts. How governmental structures, socio-political context, or culture influence forms of regulation and prioritization of regulatory issues across different geographical contexts.
  
• Industry Practice, Responsibility and Culture: The impact of regulation on advertising professionals, industry cultures, and legal responsibility for harmful advertising processes or outcomes.
  
• Online Harms and Safety, Surveillance and Algorithmic Systems: Regulatory responses to harmful online advertising practices, particularly concerning vulnerable populations. The role of advertising platforms in spreading or combating harmful content, for example online hate speech and misinformation.
  
• Advertising Fraud: The rise of advertising fraud, including deceptive programmatic ads, click fraud, and misleading financial promotions.
  
• Gender Stereotypes and Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG): Evaluating the effectiveness of regulatory interventions in addressing gendered advertising harms.
  
• Social Media Influencers and Digital Advertising: Regulatory gaps in influencer marketing and sponsored content disclosures.
  
• Generative AI and Deepfake Advertising: Ethical and regulatory challenges posed by AI-generated advertising content.
  
• Harmful or Addictive Products: Regulatory approaches to advertising of HFSS foods, alcohol, gambling, and social media addiction.
  
• As advertising continues to shape consumer behavior and societal norms, regulation plays a crucial role in mitigating harm and fostering positive change. This Special Issue seeks to advance discussions on how regulatory frameworks can help to create an advertising ecosystem that prioritizes social good, consumer well-being, and ethical advertising practices.

(please contact Guest Editors for list of references)

Submission Instructions

Submissions should follow the manuscript format guidelines for JA found at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/authorSubmission?show=instructions&journalCode=ujoa20. The word count should be no longer than 12,000 words for Original Research Articles and Literature Reviews, and 6,000 words for Research Notes (including references, tables, figures, and appendices).

The submission deadline is July 31, 2026

All manuscripts should be submitted through the JA Submission Site. The link to the submission site can be found at this link (“Go to submission site”). Authors should select “Article Type” (e.g., research article, literature review) on the first page of the submission website. On the second page, authors will be asked if this is for a specific special issue or article collection. Select “Yes” and select “Social Change and the Role of Advertising Regulation” from the drop-down menu. Please also note in the cover letter that the submission is for the Special Issue on Social Change and the Role of Advertising Regulation: New Challenges and Opportunities.

All articles will undergo blind peer review by at least two reviewers.

The anticipated date for publication of the Special Issue is June 2027.

Any questions about the Special Issue can be sent to the guest editors: Drs. Karen Middleton, Kristina Auxtova, Lauren Gurrieri & Sean Sands at AdRegulationJA@gmail.com.

Tallinn University, Estonia

Dear colleagues,

We are pleased to share an open PhD vacancy at Tallinn University in Estonia within RePIM, a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Network on Revisioning Public Interest Media (www.repimnetwork.eu). The project focuses on audience data management and performance measurement in the cross-media landscape, with a particular emphasis on public service media, data analytics skills, and advanced proficiency in Python or R, as well as familiarity with SQL.

The position is hosted at Tallinn University’s Baltic Film, Media and Arts School and will be co-supervised by Prof. Ulrike Rohn, Tallinn University, and Prof. Jannick Sørensen, Aalborg University in Denmark. It includes collaboration with the Estonian Public Broadcaster ERR.

Further information and application details are available here.

Submission period: 18 May to 29 June 2026.

October 2–3, 2026

University of Oviedo (Historic Building), Spain

Deadline for submission: May 15, 2026

The University of Oviedo, through the Department of Art History and Musicology, in collaboration with the R&D Project Music and Audiovisual Media: Intermedial Transits, Heritage and Cultural Dialogues (MUSIMA) (PID2023-147271NB-I00), announces the call for papers for the International Conference on Identities, Ideologies and Aesthetics in Subcultures, Music Scenes and Urban Tribes, to be held on October 2–3, 2026, at the Historic Building of the University of Oviedo.

This event builds on previous initiatives such as the Conference on Subcultures, Identities and Other Rhetorics of Participation (SUIPA, Complutense University of Madrid, 2024) and gatherings organized by Punk Scholars Iberia. It is conceived as a forum for academic exchange and discussion, bringing together researchers interested in subcultures, music scenes, urban tribes, and related sociocultural formations within popular culture.

The conference adopts an open academic approach, welcoming contributions from a wide range of disciplines, empirical contexts, and analytical perspectives. It aims to foster interdisciplinary dialogue across fields such as Sociology, Cultural Studies, Musicology, Communication, Anthropology, Cultural Geography, and the Arts and Humanities.

Full call for papers and further details: https://congreso-subculturas-2026.webnode.es/

Thematic areas include:

• Concepts, categories, and theorization
  
• Digital cultures, video games, media ecologies, and platforms
  
• Creativity, emerging technologies, and artificial intelligence
  
• Spaces, territories, and urban and rural studies
  
• Situated, mixed, collaborative, and visual methodologies
  
• Memory, musical heritage, nostalgia, and revival
  
• Political economy, cultural labor, and alternative media
  
• Bodies, gender, queerness, and political action
  
• Photography, fashion, and other artistic media
  
• Popular music
  
• Audiovisual media
  
• Film, photography, and music festivals and live events
  

Submission guidelines:

Proposals should be sent to: congresosubculturas@gmail.com

Subject line: “PROPUESTA DE COMUNICACIÓN UNIOVI 2026”

Submissions must include a single PDF file containing:

• An abstract (max. 250 words)
  
• A short biographical note (max. 150 words)
  
• Indication of up to three thematic areas
  

Proposals may be submitted in English, Spanish, Portuguese, or any of the co-official languages of Spain. Only in-person presentations will be accepted.

Contact: congresosubculturas@gmail.com

September 17-18, 2026

Online

Deadline (EXTENDED): May 30, 2026

ECREA 2026 Post-Conference

Organised by the ECREA Section Children, Youth and Media; ECREA TWG Aging and Communication; and CNSC – UOC research group

This post-conference explores intergenerationality in contemporary mediated lives, focusing on how different generations interact, learn, and communicate across evolving media environments. It brings together scholars and practitioners to reflect on research, practices, and policies related to intergenerational communication. Topics include intergenerational research approaches, media use across age groups, digital literacy and inclusion, family communication, and critical perspectives on ageism and generational stereotypes.

Call for Papers

Abstract deadline: 30 May 2026

Submission form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfKci7psWj6RDZqq1Qo6Sn8Hxwxag_2F58iZirLGJKR1bmEkQ/viewform?pli=1

More info: https://symposium.uoc.edu/149878/detail/connected-generations-media-communication-and-intergenerational-exchange-in-contemporary-lives-17-1.html

Deadline: September 30, 2026

Four Portuguese free-to-read and free-to-publish journals in the field of Communication Studies (published by public universities) – Comunicação e Sociedade, Estudos em Comunicação, Media & Jornalismo, and Observatorio (OBS*) – have decided to jointly launch a special issue with the aim of fostering reflection on the policies and logics of sharing scientific knowledge.

With the aim of charting a counter-trend path (and within an unprecedented collaborative initiative), we seek submissions that interrogate the material and institutional conditions of conducting research in Communication Studies, including the role of digital platforms in the circulation of knowledge, the limits and potential of open access, and the tensions between quantitative evaluation and the substantive quality of reflection and critical thought.

Suggested Topics

• Marketization of science and academic capitalism;
  
• Academic freedom and university autonomy;
  
• Forms of cultural and organizational resistance;
  
• The nature and reconfiguration of scientific reputation;
  
• Science and language policies;
  
• Academic and scientific rankings;
  
• Oligopolies and scientific publishing;
  
• Metrics, quantification, and impact;
  
• Open access policies and repositories;
  
• The impact of AI on scientific writing and review;
  
• Invisibility, bias, and inequality in scientific citations;
  
• Big Tech, platformization, and publishing ecosystems;
  
• Algorithmic regimes of visibility and classification;
  
• Research independence and innovation agendas;
  
• Research assessment, DORA, and alternatives.

Full manuscripts may be submitted in English, Spanish, or Portuguese.

Submission Period: April 20 to September 30, 2026.

Publication Period: 1st Semester of 2027.

More information here:

https://obs.obercom.pt/index.php/obs/announcement/view/3 

https://impactum-journals.uc.pt/mj/announcement/view/352 

https://revistacomsoc.pt/.../revist.../announcement/view/128 

https://ojs.labcom-ifp.ubi.pt/ec/announcement/view/99 

September 4, 2026

Online

Deadline: June 1, 2026

Full call available at: https://ecrea2026brno.eu/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/14.-ECREA-PHILCOM-PRECONF-BRNO-v2.docx.pdf

Short description: What does it mean to communicate authentically when the boundary between human and machine-generated content becomes increasingly porous? How do we theorise the ethical self when generative AI systems can predict, anticipate, and even construct our communicative preferences and behaviours?

University of Antwerp

Department: Department of Communication Studies

Regime Full-time

Let’s shape the future - University of Antwerp

The University of Antwerp is a dynamic, forward-thinking, European university. We offer an innovative academic education to more than 20000 students, conduct pioneering scientific research and play an important service-providing role in society. We are one of the largest, most international and most innovative employers in the region. With more than 6000 employees from 100 different countries, we are helping to build tomorrow's world every day. Through top scientific research, we push back boundaries and set a course for the future – a future that you can help to shape. 

Position

The Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Communication, The Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center is looking for a full-time PhD-student within the ERC-funded project WALLS2BRIDGES -Media Production of Prison Communities.

The ERC project WALLS2BRIDGES investigates how prison communities produce media and how these practices reshape understandings of justice across France, Turkey, the UK, and the US. Against the backdrop of expanding incarceration regimes and enduring racial and social inequalities, WALLS2BRIDGES examines how incarcerated people, their families, and anti-prison activists engage in media production (from letters and newspapers to podcasts, films, and digital platforms) to contest dominant narratives and reimagine justice.

The project conceptualizes prison communities as active media producers, foregrounding the interplay between media practices, systems of surveillance, sensory experience, and struggles for justice.

Using a transnational and interdisciplinary approach, the project combines:

• Archival research on prison-produced media since the mid-1960’s century;
  
• Qualitative interviews and collaborative research with incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals, families, and activists;
  
• Analysis of diverse media forms, including print, audiovisual, and digital content.
  

Your role

• You will conduct in-depth research in the United States and the United Kingdom, focusing on prison journalism as both a historical and contemporary practice. Your research will combine archival work on newspapers produced by incarcerated people from the 1970s onwards with the study of current journalistic practices inside prisons and the civil society organisations that support them.
  
• You will examine how incarcerated individuals have used journalism as a form of communication, documentation, and critique, and how these practices have evolved over time in both national contexts. You will also investigate the infrastructures that enable or constrain prison journalism, including access to media technologies, institutional regulations, censorship regimes, and collaborations with NGOs, advocacy groups, and independent media initiatives.
  
• You will contribute to the project’s comparative and transnational framework alongside team members working on Türkiye and France.
  

Research strands:

• Studying prison journalism “from above”
  

Analysing policy frameworks, censorship regimes, institutional regulations, and media infrastructures that shape the production, distribution, and visibility of prison journalism in the US and the UK, both historically and in contemporary contexts.

• Studying prison journalism “from below”
  

Examining the everyday practices of prison journalism, including writing, editing, and publishing processes by incarcerated individuals, as well as collaborations with journalists, NGOs, and advocacy organisations supporting prison-based media.

• Exploring lived experience, journalism, and knowledge circulation
  

Investigating how incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals engage in journalistic practices as forms of self-representation, testimony, and critique; analysing prison newspapers and other media as sites of knowledge production; and examining how these materials circulate (or fail to circulate) beyond prison walls. This includes attention to questions of access, visibility, preservation, and the afterlives of prison-produced journalism.

For this position, the University of Antwerp will serve as your home base, with extended research stays in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Profile

What do we expect from you?

• A Master’s degree in media studies, journalism, history, sociology, anthropology, criminology, or a related field;
  
• Fluency in English;
  
• Familiarity with, or willingness to develop engagement with NGOs and organisations working to improve media access to prisons in the US and the UK;
  
• Experience with archival and/or qualitative research methods (e.g. interviews, ethnography, discourse analysis); and an interest in working with creative and media-based materials;
  
• Sensitivity to ethical questions related to working with vulnerable communities and to issues of representation, access, and consent.
  

You will:

• Conduct independent doctoral research leading to a PhD dissertation;
  
• Publish in peer-reviewed academic journals and contribute to collective project outputs;
  
• Present research at international conferences;
  
• Contribute to the organisation of workshops and public-facing events;
  
• Engage in societal dissemination of research findings, particularly with NGOs and educational organisations;
  
• Work both independently and collaboratively in an interdisciplinary and international research team.
  

Assets (not required, but considered an advantage):

• Experience researching prisons, carceral systems, or social justice issues;
  
• Experience with archival research, particularly working with newspapers, periodicals, or historical media collections;
  
• Familiarity with journalism practices, media production, or independent/ alternative media;
  
• Experience working with NGOs, non-profit organisations;
  
• Interest in or experience with publishing, editing, or curating media content;
  
• Familiarity with debates on media justice, prison abolition, or critical prison studies;
  
• Existing networks with organisations working on prison journalism, prison media, or prison education in the US and/or the UK.
  

What we offer

• We offer a doctoral scholarship for a period of one year. Following a positive evaluation, the scholarship can be renewed for another three years.
  
• The planned start date is September 2026, or as soon as possible after that date.
  
• Your monthly scholarship amount is calculated according to the scholarship amounts for doctoral scholarship holders.
  
• You will receive eco cheques, Internet-connectivity allowance, and a bicycle allowance or a full reimbursement of public transport costs for commuting.
  
• As a doctoral researcher, you will have access to a wide and varied range of courses and an educational credit through the Antwerp Doctoral School.
  
• Apart from the fieldwork, you will do most of your work at the City Campus of the University of Antwerp in a dynamic and stimulating working environment.
  
• Find out more about working at the University of Antwerp here.
  

Want to apply?

You can apply for this vacancy through the University of Antwerp’s online job application platform up to and including June 15, 2026 (by midnight Brussels time).

Click on the 'Apply' button and complete the online application form. Be sure to include the following attachments:

• Your CV (including the contact details of two referees);
  
• a motivation letter outlining your interest in the project and relevant experience;
  
• a writing sample in English (e.g. master’s thesis, student or academic paper);
  
• your course transcript and diploma (not applicable for University of Antwerp alumni).
  
• A short research proposal (max 2 pages, excluding references) in relation to the project, outlining how you would approach research on prison journalism in the US and the UK.
  

Selection process 

• Step 1: initial selection based on the application file;
  
• Step 2: interview with shortlisted candidates.
  

Shortlisted candidates will be invited for an interview (online or in person) in July 2026.

As part of the interview process, candidates will be asked to present their short research proposal aligned with the objectives of the WALLS2BRIDGES project.

If you have any questions about the online application form, please check the frequently asked questions or send an email to jobs@uantwerpen.be. If you have any questions about the job itself, please contact İpek A. Çelik Rappas, Principal Investigator (ipeka.celik.rappas@uantwerpen.be).  

The University of Antwerp received the European Commission’s HR Excellence in Research Award for its HR policy. We are a sustainable, family-friendly organisation which invests in its employees’ growth. We encourage diversity and attach great importance to an inclusive working environment and equal opportunities, regardless of gender identity, disability, race, ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation or age. We encourage people from diverse backgrounds and with diverse characteristics to apply.

Apply here.

University of Antwerp

Departement: Departement Communicatiewetenschappen

Regime Voltijds

Let’s shape the future - University of Antwerp

The University of Antwerp is a dynamic, forward-thinking, European university. We offer an innovative academic education to more than 20000 students, conduct pioneering scientific research and play an important service-providing role in society. We are one of the largest, most international and most innovative employers in the region. With more than 6000 employees from 100 different countries, we are helping to build tomorrow's world every day. Through top scientific research, we push back boundaries and set a course for the future – a future that you can help to shape. 

Position

The Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Communication, The Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center is looking for a full-time PhD-student within the ERC-funded project WALLS2BRIDGES -Media Production of Prison Communities.

The ERC project WALLS2BRIDGES investigates how prison communities produce media and how these practices reshape understandings of justice across France, Turkey, the UK, and the US. Against the backdrop of expanding incarceration regimes and enduring racial and social inequalities, WALLS2BRIDGES examines how incarcerated people, their families, and anti-prison activists engage in media production (from letters and newspapers to podcasts, films, and digital platforms) to contest dominant narratives and reimagine justice.

The project conceptualizes prison communities as active media producers, foregrounding the interplay between media practices, systems of surveillance, sensory experience, and struggles for justice.

Using a transnational and interdisciplinary approach, the project combines:

• Archival research on prison-produced media since the mid-1960’s century;
  
• Qualitative interviews and collaborative research with incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals, families, and activists;
  
• Analysis of diverse media forms, including print, audiovisual, and digital content.
  

Your role

You will conduct in-depth research in the United States, focusing on prison education programs, and NGOs and universities working in prison education and re-entry. You will examine media infrastructures that shape access to education–including digital platforms (such as prison tablets), communication technologies, and institutional access regimes–as well as to the role of universities and NGOs as key intermediaries in these processes. You will contribute to the project’s comparative and transnational framework alongside team members working on Türkiye, the UK, and the US.

Research strands

• Studying education systems and infrastructures “from above”
  

Analysing policy frameworks, institutional structures, media access, and public discourses shaping educational programs in prison contexts.

• Studying prison education “from below”
  

Examining how these programs are implemented in everyday practice by NGOs, universities, artists, and institutional actors.

• Exploring lived experiences, education and communicative practices
  

Investigating how incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals engage with educational programs, including literacy, higher education, and informal learning; exploring how education fosters forms of self-representation and mediated expression, including writing, testimony, and other communicative practices; analysing how knowledge produced within prison education circulates (or fails to circulate) beyond prison walls; engaging with questions related to media access, visibility, and the circulation of prison-based knowledge and communication.

For this position, the University of Antwerp will serve as your home base, with extended research stays in the United States.

Profile

What do we expect from you?

• A Master’s degree in media studies, sociology, anthropology, criminology, education, or a related field;
  
• Fluency in English;
  
• Familiarity with, or willingness to develop engagement with NGOs and organisations working in prison education in the US;
  
• Experience with qualitative research methods (e.g. interviews, ethnography, discourse analysis); and an interest in working with creative and media-based materials;
  
• Sensitivity to ethical questions related to working with vulnerable communities and to issues of representation, access, and consent.
  

You will:

• Conduct independent doctoral research leading to a PhD dissertation;
  
• Publish in peer-reviewed academic journals and contribute to collective project outputs;
  
• Present research at international conferences;
  
• Contribute to the organisation of workshops and public-facing events;
  
• Engage in societal dissemination of research findings, particularly with NGOs and educational organisations;
  
• Work both independently and collaboratively in an interdisciplinary and international research team.
  

Assets (not required, but considered an advantage):

• Experience researching prisons, carceral systems, or related social justice issues;
  
• Experience working with NGOs, non-profit organisations, or educational programs;
  
• Experience with participatory or collaborative research methods;
  
• Interest in or experience with digital platforms, communication technologies, or mediated learning environments in restricted settings;
  
• Interest in or experience with publishing, editing, or curating media content;
  
• Familiarity with debates on media justice, prison abolition, or critical prison studies;
  
• Existing networks with organisations working in prison education in the United States.
  

What we offer

• We offer a doctoral scholarship for a period of one year. Following a positive evaluation, the scholarship can be renewed for another three years.
  
• The planned start date is September 2026, or as soon as possible after that date.
  
• Your monthly scholarship amount is calculated according to the scholarship amounts for doctoral scholarship holders.
  
• You will receive eco cheques, Internet-connectivity allowance, and a bicycle allowance or a full reimbursement of public transport costs for commuting.
  
• As a doctoral researcher, you will have access to a wide and varied range of courses and an educational credit through the Antwerp Doctoral School.
  
• Apart from the fieldwork, you will do most of your work at the City Campus of the University of Antwerp in a dynamic and stimulating working environment.
  
• Find out more about working at the University of Antwerp here.
  

Want to apply?

You can apply for this vacancy through the University of Antwerp’s online job application platform up to and including June 15, 2026 (by midnight Brussels time).

Click on the 'Apply' button and complete the online application form. Be sure to include the following attachments:

• Your CV (including the contact details of two referees);
  
• a motivation letter outlining your interest in the project and relevant experience;
  
• a writing sample in English (e.g. master’s thesis, student or academic paper);
  
• your course transcript and diploma (not applicable for University of Antwerp alumni).
  
• A short research proposal (max 2 pages, excluding references) in relation to the project, outlining how you would approach research on prison education and media in the US.
  

Selection process

• Step 1: initial selection based on the application file;
  
• Step 2: interview with shortlisted candidates.
  

Shortlisted candidates will be invited for an interview (online or in person) in July 2026.

As part of the interview process, candidates will be asked to present their short research proposal aligned with the objectives of the WALLS2BRIDGES project.

If you have any questions about the online application form, please check the frequently asked questions or send an email to jobs@uantwerpen.be. If you have any questions about the job itself, please contact İpek A. Çelik Rappas, Principal Investigator (ipeka.celik.rappas@uantwerpen.be)

The University of Antwerp received the European Commission’s HR Excellence in Research Award for its HR policy. We are a sustainable, family-friendly organisation which invests in its employees’ growth. We encourage diversity and attach great importance to an inclusive working environment and equal opportunities, regardless of gender identity, disability, race, ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation or age. We encourage people from diverse backgrounds and with diverse characteristics to apply.

Apply here.

University of Antwerp

Departement: Departement Communicatiewetenschappen

Regime Voltijds

Let’s shape the future - University of Antwerp

The University of Antwerp is a dynamic, forward-thinking, European university. We offer an innovative academic education to more than 20000 students, conduct pioneering scientific research and play an important service-providing role in society. We are one of the largest, most international and most innovative employers in the region. With more than 6000 employees from 100 different countries, we are helping to build tomorrow's world every day. Through top scientific research, we push back boundaries and set a course for the future – a future that you can help to shape. 

Position

The Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Communication, The Visual and Digital Cultures Research Center is looking for a full-time PhD-student within the ERC-funded project WALLS2BRIDGES-Media Production of Prison Communities.

The ERC project WALLS2BRIDGES investigates how prison communities produce media and how these practices reshape understandings of justice acrossFrance, Türkiye, the UK, and the US. Against the backdrop of expanding incarceration regimes and enduring racial and social inequalities, WALLS2BRIDGES examines how incarcerated people, their families, and anti-prison activists engage in media production (from letters and newspapers to podcasts, films, and digital platforms) to contest dominant narratives and reimagine justice.

The project conceptualizes prison communities as active media producers, foregrounding the interplay between media practices, systems of surveillance, sensory experience, and struggles for justice.

Using a transnational and interdisciplinary approach, the project combines:

• Archival research on prison-produced media since the mid-1960’s century;
  
• Qualitative interviews and collaborative research with incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals, families, and activists;
  
• Analysis of diverse media forms, including print, audiovisual, and digital content.
  

Your role

You will conduct in-depth research in the UK and Northern Ireland, focusing on NGOs and charities working at the intersection of arts, media, and prison education. You will explore how these actors mobilize media for communication, advocacy, and knowledge production, and how they intervene in public debates on incarceration and justice. You will contribute to the project’s comparative and transnational framework alongside team members working on Türkiye, the UK, and the US.

Research strands 

• Studying prison media and arts initiatives “from above”
  

Analysing policy frameworks, institutional structures, funding models, and public discourses shaping arts, media, and educational programs in prison contexts.

• Studying prison media and arts initiatives “from below”
  

Examining how these programs are implemented in everyday practice by NGOs, charities, educators, artists, and institutional actors.

• Exploring lived experiences, creative practices, and archiving
  

Investigating how incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals engage with arts and media initiatives, while also documenting and archiving these creative outputs. This includes attending to questions of preservation, access, ethics, and the afterlives of prison-produced media.

For this position, the University of Antwerp will serve as your home base, with extended research stays in the UK and Northern Ireland.

Profile

What do we expect from you?

• A Master’s degree in media studies, sociology, anthropology, criminology, or a related field;
  
• Fluency in English;
  
• Familiarity with, or willingness to develop, engagement with organisations working in prison education, arts, and media in the UK and/or Northern Ireland;
  
• Experience with qualitative research methods (e.g. interviews, ethnography, discourse analysis), and an interest in working with creative and media-based materials;
  
• Sensitivity to ethical questions related to working with vulnerable communities and to issues of representation, access, and consent.
  

You will:

• Conduct independent doctoral research leading to a PhD dissertation;
  
• Publish in peer-reviewed academic journals and contribute to collective project outputs;
  
• Present research at international conferences;
  
• Contribute to the organisation of workshops and public-facing events;
  
• Engage in societal dissemination of research findings, particularly with NGOs charities, and community organisations;
  
• Work both independently and collaboratively in an interdisciplinary and international research team.
  

Assets (not required, but considered an advantage):

• Experience in researching prisons, carceral systems, or related social justice issues;
  
• Experience working with or researching NGOs, charities, or community-based organisations;
  
• Familiarity with media production (e.g. film, audio, digital media) or collaborative creative practices;
  
• Interest in or experience with publishing, editing, or curating media content;
  
• Familiarity with debates on media justice, prison abolition, or critical prison studies;
  
• Existing networks with organisations working in prison education in the UK.
  

What we offer

• We offer a doctoral scholarship for a period of one year. Following a positive evaluation, the scholarship can be renewed for another three years.
  
• The planned start date is September 2026, or as soon as possible after that date.
  
• Your monthly scholarship amount is calculated according to the scholarship amounts for doctoral scholarship holders.
  
• You will receive eco cheques, Internet-connectivity allowance, and a bicycle allowance or a full reimbursement of public transport costs for commuting.
  
• As a doctoral researcher, you will have access to a wide and varied range of courses and an educational credit through the Antwerp Doctoral School.
  
• Apart from the fieldwork, you will do most of your work at the City Campus of the University of Antwerp in a dynamic and stimulating working environment.
  
• Find out more about working at the University of Antwerp here.
  

Want to apply?

You can apply for this vacancy through the University of Antwerp’s online job application platform up to and including June 15, 2026 (by midnight Brussels time).

Click on the 'Apply' button and complete the online application form. Be sure to include the following attachments:

• Your CV (including the contact details of two referees);
  
• a motivation letter outlining your interest in the project and relevant experience;
  
• a writing sample in English (e.g. master’s thesis, student or academic paper);
  
• your course transcript and diploma (not applicable for University of Antwerp alumni).
  
• A short research proposal (max 2 pages, excluding references) in relation to the project, indicating how you would approach research on prison arts, media, and education in the UK and Northern Ireland.
  

Selection process

• Step 1: initial selection based on the application file;
  
• Step 2: interview with shortlisted candidates.
  

Shortlisted candidates will be invited for an interview (online or in person) in July 2026.

As part of the interview process, candidates will be asked to present their short research proposal aligned with the objectives of the WALLS2BRIDGES project.

If you have any questions about the online application form, please check the frequently asked questions or send an email to jobs@uantwerpen.be. If you have any questions about the job itself, please contact İpek A. Çelik Rappas, Principal Investigator (ipeka.celik.rappas@uantwerpen.be)

The University of Antwerp received the European Commission’s HR Excellence in Research Award for its HR policy. We are a sustainable, family-friendly organisation which invests in its employees’ growth. We encourage diversity and attach great importance to an inclusive working environment and equal opportunities, regardless of gender identity, disability, race, ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation or age. We encourage people from diverse backgrounds and with diverse characteristics to apply.

Apply here.

September 7, 2026

Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic

Deadline: May 10, 2026

Joint Communication, Social Justice and Democracy IAMCR Working Group conference & ECREA 2026 pre-conference

Call for contributions

Political ideology, religious faith, science and art are all informed by visions of hope, the promise or prospect of a good state of affairs in the future. While hope is shaped by ideas of the present (and the past), it is mainly forward-looking, articulating visions of possible futures.

Hope can be a powerful motivator for mobilisation and societal change. At the same time, aspirations for a better future may be instrumentalised or manipulated for political gain or financial profit. This conference focuses on the constructive force of hope, addressing visions, discourses, and practices of hope for democracy, peace and justice, as articulated in media representations and communicative practices.

By focusing on hope, the conference aims to foster intellectual reflection and dialogue, through diverse approaches and methods, on how spaces, practices, cultures, and technologies of communication can give visibility to or help articulate claims and inform struggles for fairer societies, dignity, and freedom.

A wide range of settings, fields and practices may serve as objects or loci of study (e.g., journalism, political communication, campaigning, activism, popular culture, art, history, education, religion), exploring how hope is represented, negotiated, rearticulated and performed by actors and groups in the social realm.

We welcome contributions addressing, but not limited to, the following thematic areas:

• how societal phenomena, challenges, and crises (e.g., climate change, migration, war and conflict, extremism) are mediated and reconfigured through narratives of hope at national and international levels;
  
• how different actors, social groups, and institutions (e.g., media, political parties, education, religion, art) negotiate their visions of hope in mediated environments;
  
• how visions of peace and justice are communicated in public discourse and through people’s struggles;
  
• how history is mobilised in communicative practices and public debates in articulations of better presents and futures;
  
• how space, time and technology inform narratives and imaginaries of hope;
  
• how imaginaries of hope are constructed in contexts of persistent curtailment of freedoms and rights, and increasing authoritarianism;
  
• how viable democratic presents and futures are imagined, under dire conditions of ongoingconflict, violence, or war;
  
• how struggles against injustice, oppression and authoritarianism inform, and are informed by, cultures and epistemes of hope.

Abstract length and submission deadline

Abstracts of 400–500 words should be submitted by 10 May 2026 via email to vaia.doudaki@fsv.cuni.cz

Please note that this conference will be held in person only; no arrangements will be made for online participation.

Decisions will be announced by 10 June 2026.

Date and location 

Date: 7 September 2026

Location: Centrum Voršilská, 5th floor, Charles University/Voršilská 144/1, Prague, Czech Republic 

The conference is scheduled for the day before the ECREA 2026 main conference begins. Brno, the host city of this year’s ECREA conference, is approximately a 2.5–3 hour train ride from Prague, with very frequent connections. 

Conference organisers

This is a joint Communication, Social Justice and Democracy IAMCR working group conference &ECREA 2026 pre-conference.

The conference is endorsed by the International and Intercultural Communication ECREA section, and is hosted by the Culture and Communication Research Centre (CULCORC) @ the Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism(ICSJ) (Charles University)

Contact: Vaia Doudaki, vaia.doudaki@fsv.cuni.cz

Scientific Committee

• Vaia Doudaki (Charles University, Czech Republic)
  
• Nico Carpentier (Charles University, Czech Republic)
  
• Ilija Tomanić Trivundža (University of Ljubljana, Slovenia)
  
• Andrea Medrado (University of Exeter, UK)
  
• Fernando Oliveira Paulino (University of Brasilia, Brazil)
  
• Tania Cantrell Rosas-Moreno (Loyola University Maryland, United States) 
  

For more information: https://iksz.fsv.cuni.cz/en/research/conferences/communicating-narratives-imaginaries-and-epistemes-hope