ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

Department of English and Media, BCU

The Doctoral Landscape Awards is an AHRC-funded initiative hosted by Birmingham City University (BCU), supporting the development of a vibrant and inclusive doctoral research culture in the arts and humanities. 

The scheme provides combined research expertise for the professional and personal development of the next generation of arts and humanities doctoral researchers. It delivers excellence in all aspects of research supervision and training. It provides access to a wide range of facilities, cohort events, and development opportunities across the university and a regional Hub comprising seven universities across the East and West Midlands.

For 2026 entry, BCU will offer six fully funded PhD studentships to UK/Home Students eligible for Home Tuition Fees through an open competition. Each year, at least one studentship will be dedicated to a home fee status candidate from a Global Majority background, continuing the legacy of BCU’s That's Me! Project widening participation initiative and offering bespoke professional development.

The Department of English and Media at Birmingham City University is inviting applications from students whose research interests connect with our fields of expertise in:

• Creative Writing
  
• English Linguistics
  
• English Literature
  
• Media and Cultural Studies
  
• Journalism
  
• Cultural Activism 
  
• Creative Industries
  
• Equality and Diversity in the Media Industries
  
• Games Cultures
  
• Film
  
• Gender and Sexuality
  
• History, Heritage and Archives
  
• Popular Music Studies
  
• South Asian Media
  

Enquiries about PhDs in the Department of English and Media can be directed to yemisi.akinbobola@bcu.ac.uk

The deadline for Doctoral Landscape Award funding applications is 27 January 2026 - 12.00 hours (noon, UK Time). For full details of eligibility, funding, research supervision areas, and for dates of our November application writing workshop, please visit our BCU DLA webpage here: www.bcu.ac.uk/research/doctoral-landscape-awards

June 26-27, 2026

Lake Bled, Slovenia

Deadline: February 3, 2026

https://www.bledcom.com/

Leading theme is Disaster, Health, and Organizational Crisis Communication. BledCom invites abstracts between 500 and 800 words (including title, keywords, and references) and panel proposals. We welcome all papers related to public relations and strategic communication, not just those addressing the conference theme. Submission deadline is February 3, 2026.

In a world increasingly defined by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity, crises are no longer exceptions.They have become the rule. Disasters—natural and man-made—continue to ravage communities. Global public health threats such as COVID-19 have revealed systemic vulnerabilities and communication breakdowns. Further, organizational crises—from product recalls to reputational scandals—threaten not only economic performance but also trust, legitimacy, and stakeholder relationships.

Crisis communication is at the heart of societal resilience. How organizations communicate before, during, and after, crises often determine whether trust in the organization is preserved or lost; whether harm is mitigated or exacerbated; and whether reputations survive or collapse. Managing crisis communication is also a defining function of modern public relations, whose practitioners increasingly operate at the intersection of strategy, ethics, and emergency response.  These reasons compelled BledCom  to again focus on this critical organizational function by selecting it as the theme.

Coombs defined organizational crisis as: "a perceived violation of salient stakeholder expectations that can create negative outcomes for stakeholders and/or the organization." This definition reminds us that crises are not only operational, but also social, perceptual, and relational. A modern crisis may be triggered by a cyberattack, a climate event, a health emergency, a viral tweet, or even an armed invasion (the nuclear threat is a clear and present danger in the 21st century). The responses must be equally complex, coordinated, and ethically grounded.

BledCom 2026 invites scholars, practitioners, and educators to explore the multifaceted world of crisis communication across domains including disaster response, public health, and organizational resilience. We encourage contributions that analyze crisis narratives, evaluate communication strategies, interrogate digital responses, or reflect on lessons learned across the three core crisis types as well as other types of crises as well

We therefore welcome presentations from scholars and practitioners focusing on the ongoing evolution of crisis communication.

Some topics relevant to the theme are:

• crisis communication management,
  
• internal communication in crisis management,
  
• social media and digital platforms and crisis communication,
  
• social listening and real-time feedback analysis,
  
• stakeholder activism and cancel culture,
  
• misinformation and disinformation challenges,
  
• ethics and equity in emergency messaging,
  
• cross-sector collaboration in crisis preparedness,
  
• comparative and international case studies,
  
• the influence of culture on crisis communication, and
  
• emotional, moral, and rational dimensions of stakeholder response.

As in previous years, BledCom welcomes all papers related to public relations and strategic communication, not just those addressing the conference theme. Panel proposals are also invited.

Guidelines for Submission

We invite abstracts between 500 and 800 words (including title, keywords, and references) and panel proposals.

Abstracts should include:

• Introduction and purpose of the study (including research question if applicable),
  
• Literature review (just long enough to situate the work in existing scholarship),
  
• Methodology (including data sources, rationale, and sample),
  
• Results and conclusions (highlighting implications and limitations),
  
• Practical and social implications.

Please provide 3–5 keywords that reflect your study. Use APA style (latest edition). Abstracts must be submitted anonymously, with identifying information included on a separate cover page. A list of references is optional but included in the word count.

Panel proposals should include:

• Title and focus of the panel,
  
• Name of the panel chair,
  
• Names of participants and titles or foci of their contributions.
  

Deadlines and Dates

Submission deadline: February 3, 2026

Notification of acceptance after peer review: March 3, 2026 

Full papers (up to 6,000 words): due September 15, 2026, for inclusion in conference proceedings 

Please send all submissions to: bledcom@fdv.uni-lj.si

Program Committee

• Dejan Verčič, University of Ljubljana & Herman & partnerji, Slovenia
  
• Krishnamurthy Sriramesh, University of Colorado Boulder, USA
  
•  Ana Tkalac Verčič, University of Zagreb, Croatia
  

BledCom 2026 Advisory Committee

• Amela Duratović Konjević, Slovenian Cancer Registry, Institute of Oncology Ljubljana
  
• Maja Jančič, University of Ljubljana
  
• Urška Kolar, National Institute of Public Health
  
• Samo Kropivnik, University of Ljubljana
  
• Saška Terseglav, University of Ljubljana & Association of Health Institutions of Slovenia
  
• Mitja Vrdelja, National Institute of Public Health

BledCom 2026 is supported by the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Slovenia and the Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency (ARIS), under project V5-24042.

June 22-23 2026

Bournemouth University, UK

Media School, MST 

Deadline: February 16, 2026

Academics, practitioners and research students are invited to submit competitive abstracts for presentation at the 14th International History of Public Relations Conference (IHPRC) which will again be held at Bournemouth University.

Since 2010, IHPRC has been the premier international conference addressing the history of public relations and related disciplines. It has attracted papers from around the world and led to a major expansion of publishing on the public relations history field in academic journals and research books.

Conference themes

Among the themes IHPRC continues to promote are:

• The history of public relations and its developing or diverging relationships with other disciplines such as marketing, HR, legal and corporate governance
  
• The historiography of public relations and the application of historical theories and interpretations to the history of PR; alternative and unheard histories and herstories; archaeological methodologies and theoretical analyses
  
• Seminal personalities or events that shaped the formation of public relations as a discipline (This can also include challenges to the “Great Man” or “Great Woman” approach)
  
• History of the PR/Communication departments of organisations (companies, associations, political organisations, NGOs, etc.)
  
• History of PR instruments (press releases, press conferences, campaigns, social media, etc.)
  
• Alternative approaches to the history of public relations, e.g. on the basis of culture (personal networks and influence) or via definitions of public relations
  
• The evolving naming of the field from propaganda and press agentry to corporate and strategic communications
  
• The evolution of public relations in nations, government and industry
  
• The history of public relations in specific sectors (for example, consultancy, education, health, and politics)
  
• The public relations of dissent and activism; historical analysis of public relations in activist and non-profit campaigns
  
• The evolution of public relations theory(ies) over time; the history of schools of thinking in public relations
  
• The formation of industry and professional bodies and their impact on public relations practice and education; professionalisation of public relations
  
• The ethics of public relations and its discussion over time
  
• Oral histories of public relations; discussion of this methodology

Papers for presentation at IHPRC 2026 will be selected, after peer review, on the basis of abstracts. Authors are invited to submit a single Word document. The first page of the word document should include the title of the paper, author(s) name(s) and affiliations. Page two onwards will include the abstract. The abstract will be of no more than two pages total length, including references. The abstract should express the purpose, methodology, findings and implications of the research. Author and affiliation details are to be presented only in first page and should not be identified in the abstract.

Abstracts must be presented in Word format, 12-point font size, single spacing with a 1-inch (25mm) margin on A4 page size. Submissions and enquiries should go to atheofilou@bournemouth.ac.uk.

Information on conference registration and conference hotels follows.

Given that the IHPRC will be taking place as from now on biennially (ie every second year rather than every year) the conference will be held in person rather than any other format.

Submissions – Deadline for consideration: 16 February 2026.

We look forward to welcoming PR scholars to Bournemouth in June 2026.

Follow the conference on @historyofpr and Facebook.com/IHPRC

November 6, 2025

Online conference

Visual Cultures Section

https://visualculturesecrea.wordpress.com/2025/10/15/conference-programme/

Scholars from 15 different countries will examine entanglements of visual cultures with memory, identity, gender, technology, and truth-making at this online conference. It will be a day to reflect on research objects, methods and interdisciplinarity in visual social research. How do visual cultures both reflect and challenge the deepening crisis of trust in democratic, scientific, and journalistic institutions? What roles do AI-generated images and deepfakes play in amplifying or destabilising collective perception? How do images, visual narratives, and aesthetic practices participate in shaping collective experiences, identities, and histories? In what ways do visual cultures and regimes (re)mediate but also disrupt collective memories, ideologies and identities? What methodological innovations are needed to “see through” complexity in our research?

Deadline: November 3, 2025

The International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors (ISWNE) and the Huck Boyd National Center for Community Media at Kansas State University are seeking proposals for papers that provide insight and guidance on general issues and/or everyday problems that confront community newspapers and their newsrooms, with particular reference to weekly general-interest publications with circulations under 10,000.

This competition is an extension of the Center’s former “Newspapers and Community-Building Symposium,” co-sponsored for 20 years by the National Newspaper Association (NNA) and its foundation. The competition’s ultimate goal is to engage academicians and community newspaper journalists in productive “conversations about community journalism.”

Proposals will first be peer-reviewed by faculty with expertise in community journalism. Final selection of the papers to be written will be made by a panel of working and retired community journalists who will evaluate the proposals on the basis of their potential value to newsrooms.

Completed papers will undergo a final academic peer review prior to publication in an issue of ISWNE’s Grassroots Editor. The schedule has been set up to ensure publication of all accepted papers by January 2027 or sooner.

Proposals from graduate students are especially encouraged, as are proposals with an international focus, or reflecting an international perspective on community papers’ newsrooms.

One paper will be selected by the community journalists panel for presentation at the 2026 ISWNE conference tentatively scheduled forJuly 15-19 in Cardiff, Wales. ISWNE and the ISWNE Foundation will provide the author with a complimentary conference registration as well as $250 toward travel. The paper’s author will be expected to make whatever arrangements are necessary to attend this conference or to present on Zoom.

A second place paper also will be selected and the authors of both top papers will receive complimentary one-year memberships in ISWNE.

Focus: Papers should deal with topics relevant to the newsrooms of community weeklies, particularly those with small staffs and circulations under 10,000. The papers should provide useful guidance on general issues and/or everyday problems that such newsrooms may face.

Examples could include legal, political, or ethical issues; alternative print/digital integration models; or surveys to determine successful techniques for staff recruitment/retention, for boosting online presence or to elicit “best practices” for special editions. Roundups of how states handle Sunshine Law violations or how papers train young reporters to be alert for such violations would also be of interest. So would explorations of new ways to convey information to a local audience (e.g., using AI) and how to monetize them. These, of course, are only some of the many areas on which research could focus.

Note that ISWNE members have access to the organization’s Hotline, where topics of current interest to weekly newsrooms are regularly discussed. Non-members may request temporary access by contacting Executive Director Chad Stebbins at cstebbins@mopress.com. This is one way to focus Proposals and the resulting papers on issues of concern to community weekly newsrooms.

Most successful proposals will deal with applied research, although theoretical papers that provide the basis for further applied research also are acceptable, as are general research topics that establish a clear connection to newsroom issues.

Guidelines for Developing Proposals: Proposals should be limited to a maximum of two pages. These proposals should explain clearly and concisely how the final papers will be of practical use to community weekly newsrooms. They should note any prior work on which they will build or which they will assess critically.

Proposals will be evaluated on the relevance and importance of the topic and on its value to newsrooms. Other criteria include originality, clarity of the writing, appropriateness of the methodology to be used, the likelihood that valid conclusions will be reached and the choice of materials that will be used to document the paper’s conclusions/support its recommendations.

Suggested Length for the Paper: 2,500 to 6,000 words.

Logistics for submission: Proposals should be submitted electronically to Huck Boyd Center Director Sam C. Mwangi at scmwangi@ksu.edu. The proposal itself should contain nothing that would identify the author. It must be accompanied by a separate title page containing full author contact information (name, email-address, mailing address, university and/or professional affiliation and phone number). These two items must be emailed by Nov. 3, 2025.

Other Dates:

• Authors of accepted proposals will be notified by Dec. 1, 2025.
  
• Completed papers are due to scmwangi@ksu.edu no later than March 15, 2026.
  
• The author of the paper selected for presentation at the 2024 ISWNE conference will be notified by April 15, 2026; peer review comments will be provided as soon as possible.
  
• Changes suggested by the second peer review will be sent to all other authors by July 31, 2026 for use in preparing the final version of their papers.
  
• Final versions of the papers should be sent electronically to Chad Stebbins at cstebbins@mopress.com by Sept. 15, 2026.
  

ISWNE was founded in 1955 to promote high standards of editorial writing, facilitate the exchange of ideas and foster freedom of the press in all nations. It aims to help members of the weekly press improve their editorial writing and news reporting and to encourage strong, independent editorial voices. Chad Stebbins has been ISWNE’s executive director since 1999.

The mission of the Huck Boyd National Center for Community Media, established in 1990, is to serve and strengthen local newspapers, radio stations, online media and other outlets that play a key role in the survival and revitalization of small towns in the United States. Gloria Freeland was the Center’s director from 1998 until her retirement in 2020. Sam C. Mwangi is the new director.

University of East Anglia, Faculty of Arts and Humanities

The Faculty of Arts and Humanities invites expressions of interest for Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowships to be held at the University of East Anglia (UEA).  Early Career Fellowships aim to provide career development opportunities for those who are at a relatively early stage of their academic careers, who are yet to hold a full-time permanent post but who have a proven record of research. The expectation is that Fellows should undertake a significant piece of publishable work (but should not be a reworking or extension of the doctoral research project) during their tenure. Fellowships have to start between 1 September 2026 and 1 May 2027.

Each year the Faculty supports a limited number of applications for projects in: the School of Media, Language and Communication Studies; the School of History and Art History; the School of Literature, Drama, and Creative Writing; the School of Politics, Philosophy and Area Studies, Interdisciplinary Institute for the Humanities; the Sainsbury Centre; the Sainsbury Research Unit and the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Culture. 

UEA is fully committed to supporting the scholarship and career development of these fellows, and each will be assigned an academic mentor and will be fully integrated into the life of their host School / unit.

A candidate may submit only one application per year. Previously unsuccessful applicants may reapply. 

Each Faculty at UEA has its own process so please make sure you follow the one for the faculty you want to be considered in.

If you are interested in applying, please:

• Read the guidance about the scheme at: https://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/funding/grant-schemes/early-career-fellowships 
  
• Make sure you meet the Leverhulme Trust eligibility criteria. Please note we cannot assess EoIs from applicants who do not meet this criteria.
  
• Make contact with the Faculty of Arts and Humanities academic member of staff closest to your research area to ask if they act as your mentor if successful and provide advice on your application.
  

Unsupported applications will not be considered.

To find a mentor, please see: https://www.uea.ac.uk/about/faculties-and-schools/faculty-of-arts-and-humanities/research/fellowships

Expression if interest form can be found HERE.

Complete the expression of interest form and submit to hum.research@uea.ac.uk by 9am on Monday 17th November. 

International Journal of Communication (Special Section)

Deadline: May 31, 2026 (full papers)

Information overload and political and news fatigue are part of everyday life. Few of us can or want to stay up to speed on every issue or engage equally across all issues and arenas. This special section asks how citizens share, delegate, or even outsource the work of democracy, and when does this distribution empower citizens, and when does it deepen inequality. We invite contributions that rethink how contemporary democratic engagement is practiced, organized, and mediated. Theoretical, qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-method work are all welcome, and especially from underrepresented contexts. 

To help authors connect and refine ideas, we are also hosting a workshop in Bergen (Norway) in early March 2026. It will be a chance to meet, discuss, and develop work-in-progress together. Not mandatory but encouraged. 

Key dates:

Abstracts (for workshop): 15 December 2025

Workshop: Early March 2026, Bergen 

Full paper submission: 31 May 2026 

Expected publication: Summer 2027 

Read the full call and submission details here: https://www4.uib.no/en/research/research-projects/distributed-and-prepared-a-new-theory-of-citizens-public-connection/call-for-papers-special-section-on-distributed-citizenship   

For inquiries, feel free to contact us (details in the link). 

Guest Editors: Emilija Gagrčin, Hallvard Moe, Özlem Demirkol-Tønnesen, and Mehri Agai / Media Use Group, University of Bergen: https://www4.uib.no/en/research/research-groups/bergen-media-use-research-group 

Funded by the European Union (ERC, PREPARE, 101044464). 

June 1-2, 2026

Cardiff University in Cardiff, UK

Deadline: December 31, 2025

Host: Data Justice Lab

Although contested and multifaceted, the field of data justice continues to engage critical debates on the societal implications of datafication in all its iterations, from social media to platform capitalism to the current hype around Artificial Intelligence (AI). Much of this focus has been on the potential harm of such technologies on different communities and on the societal shifts associated with their uses by a diverse range of actors. Less focus, perhaps, has been on the way the advent of data-driven technologies has intermingled with and transformed the state. From high-stake uses, such as those revealed in the Snowden leaks, to crisis management as evidenced during the Covid-19 pandemic, to the mundane and everyday delivery of public services, platforms and AI systems are now deeply embedded within roles and functions associated with the state. At the same time, the state has been instrumental in the advancement of datafication and the role that technology, and its providers, now play in society. At a time when governments and technology companies are seen to be closer than ever, examining their relationship and its consequences seems pivotal for our understanding of data justice.

This two-day conference will therefore explore the role and transformations of the state in an age of datafication and what this means for social justice and resistance. It will examine the interrelations between data-driven technologies and government, the changing role of corporations, emerging popular responses, and efforts to democratise datafication. Hosted by the Data Justice Lab at Cardiff University’s School of Journalism, Media and Culture (JOMEC) in the UK, it will bring together international scholars, practitioners and community groups to discuss the nature and implications of the datafied state.

Keynote Speakers include:

• Nick Srnicek, King’s College London, UK
  
• Sarah Myers West, AI Now, US
  
• Oriana Bernasconi, UC Chile, Chile

Submission of abstracts of max 500 words to DataJusticeLab@cardiff.ac.uk

Deadline for submissions of abstracts: 31st of December, 2025

Conference registration fees:

• £175 / £150  (early bird)
  
• £125 / £100 students (early bird)
  

Conference registration deadlines:

• 6th of March 2026 – early bird
  
• 17th of April 2026 – final deadline

We hope to see you there!

Internet Histories (Special Issue)

Deadline: May 1, 2026

All submitted and accepted articles will be considered for inclusion in a special issue “Interrogating Trust & Safety”

Special issue guest editors Amanda Menking and Toby Shulruff encourage authors to interrogate trust and safety from a range of perspectives, prioritizing academic rigor and historical dimensions.

Please see the full call for papers here: https://think.taylorandfrancis.com/special_issues/interrogating-trust-safety/ 

Kind regards of behalf of

The editors of Internet Histories and the guest editors

Asger Harlung,

Editorial Assistant, Internet Histories

Sinikka Torkkola, Anna Sendra Toset

How is digitalization transforming healthcare communication, and how is it reconstructing patienthood? Published by Routledge and co-authored by Sinikka Torkkola and Anna Sendra Toset, Healthcare and Patient Communication in the Digital Era: A Patienthood and Patient Perspective examines the digitalization of healthcare communication through empirical case studies from three viewpoints: illness or the perspective of patients, disease or the perspective of healthcare professionals, and sickness or the perspective of society. Overall, the book outlines how the sociocultural understanding of patienthood is altered by the ways digitalization is changing healthcare communication.

Healthcare and Patient Communication in the Digital Era: A Patienthood and Patient Perspective can be found in the following link: https://www.routledge.com/Healthcare-and-Patient-Communication-in-the-Digital-Era-A-Patienthood-and-Patient-Perspective/Torkkola-SendraToset/p/book/9781032857336