ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München

3 years (initial contract), starting 1st October 2026. Annual gross salary of between 44,493 and 63,239 Euros, depending on qualifications and experience.

Application deadline: 15th July.

https://job-portal.lmu.de/jobposting/bc6a8769c81b40692c353e8eeab443df8680d1fe0?ref=homepage

The Department of Media and Communication at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München is one of the largest and highest-ranked communication science departments in Germany. The Department invites applications for a PhD candidate to work with Professor Neil Thurman and his team.

This PhD position focuses on media audience measurement, understood as the ongoing, industrialised measurement of media audiences that produces television ratings, newspaper and magazine readership and circulation figures, and estimates of websites’ and apps’ unique users and related metrics.

The candidate will investigate audience measurement as a central infrastructure of modern media systems: a set of practices through which audiences are counted, valued, represented, and made actionable for commercial, regulatory, and research purposes.

The topic can be approached from a range of perspectives, including the economics and organisation of the audience measurement industry; its historical development across the twentieth century; its changing forms in the twenty-first century; and the methodological challenges of measuring audiences across multiple platforms, devices, and services.

The candidate may also explore critical debates surrounding audience commodification, surveillance, transparency, and advertising fraud, as well as the disruption created by streaming services, social media platforms, and other digital intermediaries.

The focus is intentionally broad, allowing the successful applicant to develop an original research project on how audience data are produced, governed, contested, and used in practice by media companies, advertisers, policymakers, and researchers.

Tasks and responsibilities:

• Conduct independent and collaborative research on the above-mentioned topic, including as part of the preparation of a doctoral thesis (either a monograph or a cumulative dissertation)
  
• Contribute to the development of new research projects (external funding/grant proposals)
  
• Teach approximately 2.8 contact hours per week per semester (3.75 SWS). One teaching hour (SWS) equates to 45 minutes of contact time
  
• Contribute to other teaching and administrative activities
  

Qualifications:

• Applicants must hold a Master’s degree in a relevant discipline — such as media and communication, sociology, history, economics, management, law, or public policy — and should have a strong academic interest in audience research, media industries, media history, media policy and regulation, media economics, or related work on quantification, platforms, and metrics
  
• Strong interest in the above mentioned research topic
  
• Fluency in English (written and oral)
  
• Working knowledge of German is an advantage
  

Benefits:

• A funded (75%) PhD position (initially for three years) on the TV-L E13 salary scale
  
• Annual gross salary of between 44,493 and 63,239 Euros, depending on qualifications and experience
  
• A pleasant, collegial work environment in one of Germany’s largest and highest-ranked media and communication departments
  
• A workplace in LMU’s Department of Media and Communications, which occupies a centrally-located building on the edge of Munich’s English Garden park. Munich is an attractive and vibrant city close to the Alps
  
• Close supervision within a collaborative and supportive research environment
  
• The opportunity to pursue a Ph.D
  
• Flexible, family-friendly working model (e. g. Some remote work is possible).
  
• People with disabilities who are equally as qualified as other applicants will receive preferential treatment.
  

How to apply:

Applications should be sent as soon as possible to Prof. Dr. Neil Thurman at <neil.thurman@ifkw.lmu.de>, and at the latest by 15th July 2026.

The following materials (in English only) should be included, as a single PDF:

• Covering letter describing your suitability for the position.
  
• CV including publications (if any).
  
• Academic transcripts and certificates.
  
• Contact details of two referees.
  
• Examples (if any) of academic writing in English (publication(s), BA and/or MA theses).
  

November 18-19, 2026

UKEN, Krakow, Poland

Deadline: October 30, 2026

Online conference organized by the Methodological Forum of Young Media Researchers, Media Research Center, UKEN, Kraków. Participation in the conference is free of charge.

Main topics:

• Media and Digital Competences in Practice
  
• Digital Agency and Participation
  
• Risks: Addictions, Manipulation, Colonization
  
• AI and Technologies in Media Education 4.0
  
• Institutions, Methodology, and Strategies
  

1. Media and Digital Competences in Practice

Introduction:

Contemporary media, functioning as the primary communication infrastructure of late modern societies, require a redefinition of media competence. From a cultural studies perspective, such competence should be understood as a form of symbolic competence that enables individuals to navigate media environments autonomously and to deconstruct media messages. From sociological and political science perspectives, media competence is an instrument of empowerment and a prerequisite for participation in public life. In media studies, it is a set of skills that allows for analyzing the intentionality of media messages, identifying mechanisms of influence, and engaging in conscious content production.

Related topics:

• Critical thinking toward media messages: deconstruction, exposure, “decolonization”
  
• Information verification and fact-checking: towards active reception practices and a “suspicious” reading
  
• From audience to creator: shifting from consumption to creativity and conceptualization of media experiences
  
• Analysis of image, sound, narrative, and media contexts: methods of studying media messages and narratives
  
• Ethics in communication and media: theoretical aspects and actual media practices
  
• Cybersecurity and privacy protection: analysis of educational practices
  
• Digital competences of students, teachers, and parents: systems thinking and lifelong learning
  
• Digital inclusion and reducing media exclusion: projects and implementations
  

2. Digital Agency and Participation

Introduction:

Digital agency should be understood as a form of mediated emancipation, where individuals possess both the technological and cultural capacity to generate meaning and initiate social action. Sociologically, it manifests as performative subjectivity; in cultural studies, as a form of transmedia practice positioning individuals as prosumers (Toffler), co-creators of discourse, and initiators of narratives. From a media studies perspective, this phenomenon signals the erosion of the traditional sender–receiver dichotomy and the consolidation of the user’s status as a social actor and media content producer. Digital participation—understood as engagement in social processes through media—constitutes a key element for developing quality-oriented, civic, and creative education.

Related topics:

• Media agency across generational cohorts: empowerment, autonomy, emancipation
  
• From audience to prosumer: creativity and online civic engagement
  
• Digital participation: engaging students and communities in social action through media
  
• Social campaigns and media initiatives as tools for social, political, and cultural change
  
• Gamification, storytelling, and project-based education
  
• Media labs, educational hackathons, student-led projects
  

3. Risks: Addictions, Manipulation, Colonization

Introduction:

This module focuses on analyzing systemic mechanisms that generate risk in media ecosystems. Digital addiction, communication-related violence, disinformation, and algorithmic profiling are not merely individual phenomena but are embedded within the structural logic of the attention economy. Sociologically, such risks may be interpreted as forms of symbolic violence (Bourdieu); from a cultural studies perspective, as the colonization of imagination and communication practices by dominant technological platforms. In media education, a key challenge is fostering epistemic resilience, enabling individuals to consciously resist algorithmic hegemony while maintaining cognitive and decision-making autonomy. The analysis of media risks should address both the individual level (behavioral mechanisms) and the structural level (regulatory aspects of platform functioning).

Related topics:

• Media addictions (scrolling, binge-watching, doomscrolling) and media affordances: towards interactive and interaction-based research methods
  
• Risky online behaviors (hate speech, cyberbullying, trolling) in the context of network ethnography and cybercultural studies
  
• Disinformation, digital propaganda, fake news: research methods and prevention of online threats
  
• Digital colonization: platform hegemony and technological dependency—quantitative and qualitative research perspectives
  
• Data extraction and the algorithmic economy
  
• Epistemic resistance: how education can support independent knowledge and thinking
  
• Algorithmic manipulation and power asymmetries in media
  

4. AI and Technologies in Media Education 4.0

Introduction:

The integration of artificial intelligence into the production, distribution, and reception of media content transforms the ontology of media. AI functions as a non-normative agent capable of generating meaning and constructing representations of reality, which necessitates expanding media competence to include reflexivity toward tools that automate interpretation. Sociologically, AI reshapes traditional human–technology relations; in cultural studies, it becomes a form of hybrid technological creativity; in media studies, it shifts boundaries between constructing and reproducing messages.

Related topics:

• Artificial intelligence and media production/reception (deepfakes, generative media)
  
• Use of AI in teaching—opportunities and challenges
  
• Algorithmic justice and anti-discrimination education
  
• Decoloniality in AI design (decolonial AI)
  
• Cybersecurity in the context of AI tools
  

5. Institutions, Methodology, and Strategies

Introduction:

This module focuses on the systemic dimension of media education as both a cultural and political-educational project. Institutions—schools, universities, NGOs, research centers—serve as mediators between individuals and media environments. Sociologically, they constitute infrastructures for distributing social competences; in cultural studies, they are spaces for negotiating communication norms and values. From a media studies perspective, the need for methodological pluralism is evident—incorporating both qualitative approaches and digital data analysis. A key challenge lies in translating academic reflection into actionable policy and educational initiatives that support media competence development, certification, and partnerships among academia, education, and media sectors.

Related topics:

• The role of schools, universities, NGOs, and media in Media Education 4.0
  
• Partnership models across educational, social, and media sectors
  
• Strategies for implementing media education (education policies, programs)
  
• Funding for media projects and educational innovation
  
• Methodological pluralism in media research
  
• Research ethics and data protection compliance
  
• Methods of disseminating research findings and scholarly communication
  
• Monitoring, evaluation, and certification of media competences
  

We invite you to submit paper proposals and abstracts via the submission form.

Deadline: 30 October 2026. Participation in the conference is free of charge.

Deadline: September 15, 2026

 Digital Geography and Society

Welfare state geographies are undergoing increasing digitalization and datafication, as digital and data-driven technologies and associated practices are embedded in welfare institutions and shape interactions with citizens. Digital welfare systems are often assumed to provide more convenient and personalized services, flexible working practices, cost-efficiency and in some cases more just decisions. At the same time, they create frictions and contradictions when systems fail to function as intended or enhance biases. We call these digital vulnerabilities.

Guest Editors:

Dr. Desirée Enlund

Department of Thematic Studies, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden

Dr. Maria Arnelid

Department of Health, Medicine and Caring Sciences & Department of Thematic Studies, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden

Dr. Petter Falk

Department of Culture and Education, Södertörn University, Stockholm, Sweden

Dr. Anne Kaun

Department of Culture and Education, Södertörn University, Stockholm, Sweden

Dr. Sara Mörtsell

Department of Arts and Cultural Sciences, Lund University, Lund, Sweden

Special issue information:

This Special Issue invites contributions that attend to the geographies produced in, through, and of digital vulnerabilities and how these contribute to uneven digital geographies.

Manuscript submission information:

The Digital Geography and Society’s submission system is open for submissions to our special issue titled “Digital Vulnerabilities: Spatial Perspectives on the Datafied Welfare State”.

Interested to contribute to this special issue, then kindly send a maximum 250-word abstract to Dr. Desirée Enlund(desiree.enlund@liu.se) before 15th September 2026.

All submissions deemed suitable to be sent for peer review will be reviewed by at least two independent reviewers. Once your manuscript is accepted, it will go into production and will be simultaneously published in the current regular issue and pulled into the online Special Issue.

Articles from this Special Issue will appear in different regular issues of the journal, though they will be clearly marked and branded as Special Issue articles.

Please see an example here.

Further, kindly ensure to read the Guide for Authors before writing your manuscript. The Guide for Authors and link to submit your manuscript is available on the Journal’s homepage at Digital Geography and Society.

Important dates:

• 15 September 2026: Abstract submission (a maximum 250-word abstract to Dr. Desirée Enlund desiree.enlund@liu.se)
  
• 31 January 2027: Full paper submission 
  
• February – August: Review and revision phase
  
• October 2027: Publication
  

Deadline: September 1, 2026

We invite chapter proposals for the Research Handbook on Communication in China, an edited volume under contract with Edward Elgar Publishing, edited by Dechun Zhang (University of Copenhagen) and Jun Liu (University of Copenhagen).

The handbook aims to provide a comprehensive and state-of-the-art assessment of communication scholarship in and on China. As China plays an increasingly significant role in global politics, economics, technology, and digital governance, understanding communication processes within and beyond China has become more important than ever. Bringing together leading and emerging scholars, the volume seeks to examine, synthesize, and critically reflect on communication in China across political, social, cultural, technological, and international dimensions.

We welcome contributions from communication studies, media studies, political science, sociology, China studies, international relations, science and technology studies, and related fields.

Suggested topics include (but are not limited to):

• Media systems, journalism, and communication governance

• Political communication, propaganda, and censorship

• Digital politics, social media, and public opinion

• Platform capitalism and digital economies

• Digital culture, identity, and social inequalities

• Artificial intelligence, algorithms, and communication technologies

• International communication, public diplomacy, and China's global influence

Submission Guidelines:

• Chapter proposal (300–500 words)

• Short biographical note (100–150 words) for each author

• Submission deadline: 1 September 2026

For submissions and inquiries:

Dechun Zhang: dezh@hum.ku.dk and Jun Liu: liujun@hum.ku.dk

Please find the full Call for Chapters: https://drive.google.com/file/d/15SYAWZ_ZXmIQCbqaacy-x-wd8W9gVmmN/view?usp=sharing.

We would be grateful if you could circulate this call among colleagues and networks who may be interested in contributing.

November 5-6, 2026

Lusofona University, Portugal

Deadline: July 19, 2026

On 5 and 6 November 2026, Lusófona University will host the European conference for the NewsArcade – Seriously Play the News in the Classroom! project (Project Number 101186092).

The event has an open call for papers for various presentation formats until 19 July. A special issue of the International Journal of Games and Social Impact is planned for publication following the event.

https://cicant.ulusofona.pt/agenda-news/news-events/21055-newsarcade-european-conference-2026

Media and Communication

Deadline: October 15, 2026

Academic Editor(s): Berta García-Orosa (University of Santiago de Compostela), Jorge Vázquez-Herrero (University of Santiago de Compostela), and Tomás Dodds (University of Wisconsin – Madison)

• Submission of Abstracts: 1-15 October 2026
  
• Submission of Full Papers: 15-28 February 2027
  
• Publication of the Issue: July/December 2027
  

About the Issue

When discussing the state of mass communication, academic debates oscillate between two simultaneous yet contradictory views: Some have celebrated the democratizing potential of new digital platforms to facilitate citizen discussion and lower barriers to information access; others, however, point to the risks associated with big tech platforms, particularly discursive fragmentation, incivility, and biased algorithmic architectures.

Moreover, traditionally hegemonic actors in the public sphere—the state, political parties, and the media—are experiencing a weakening of their roles, with some of their functions transferring to more volatile, new actors. Additionally, the rapid rise of AI in newsrooms once again places journalism at a turning point.

This thematic issue is structured around two interconnected dimensions: the quality of deliberation in relation to normative models, and the media’s role as mediators of political discourse. The objective is to examine how digital spaces—and increasingly, AI-driven communication environments—reconfigure traditional discussion practices through two main axes: (a) the role of media, digital architectures, and algorithmic systems; and (b) methodological innovation and hybrid intelligence.

We invite submissions related to the following thematic areas, although the list is not exclusive:

• Operationalizing deliberative quality in hybrid media environments and emerging actors in digital public spheres;
  
• The social role of deliberative journalism in the age of AI;
  
• Platform affordances and deliberative design;
  
• Democratic backsliding, disinformation, and resilient public spheres;
  
• Deliberation beyond Western democracies from comparative and global perspectives;
  
• Intelligence methodologies for studying online deliberation and journalism;
  
• AI and the democratic functions of journalism;
  
• Algorithmic curation and information diversity in journalism.
  

Submissions may take various forms, including empirical research or theoretical essays that advance scholarly understanding of deliberation, journalism, and democracy in the age of AI.

Instructions for Authors

Authors interested in submitting a paper for this issue are asked to consult the journal's instructions for authors and submit their abstracts (maximum of 250 words, with a tentative title) through the abstracts system (here). When submitting their abstracts, authors are also asked to confirm that they are aware that Media and Communication is an open access journal with a publishing fee if the article is accepted for publication after peer-review (corresponding authors affiliated with our institutional members do not incur this fee).

Open Access

Readers across the globe will be able to access, share, and download this issue entirely for free. Corresponding authors affiliated with any of our institutional members (over 100 institutions worldwide) publish free of charge. Otherwise, an article processing fee will be charged to the authors to cover editorial costs. We defend that authors should not have to personally pay this fee and encourage them to check with their institutions if funds are available to cover open access publication costs. Further information about the journal's open access charges can be found here.

Please visit this link to view the latest books available to review in the Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television: Journal - IAMHIST.

If you are interested, please send a message (mentioning the full title of the book and your postal address) to Veronica Johnson (Veronica.Johnson@outlook.ie).  It would help if you could tell us a bit about your own research and expertise and/or why you are interested in reviewing this title. This will allow us to direct the books to the most appropriate reviewers. Please indicate anything that you think would be helpful.

Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research 

The Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER)  is recruiting a Research Associate (Post-doc, f/m) in Regional studies, Migration studies or Communication Sciences

Ref : 26-14

24 months fixed-term contract

Full-time, 40hours/week

Department: Urban Development and Mobility (UDM)

Work location: Belval (Luxembourg)

Deadline to submit applications : June 28th, 2026 at midnight CET

Foreseen start date : September 1st, 2026

Project description

The Research Associate will be employed as part of the PECS research project (Populism in the European Cross-Border Space: Discourses of Right-Wing Populists on Migration within Regional Europe). This project is funded under the WEAVE program and involves the following partners: the Department of Linguistics at the University of Vienna (Austria), the Peace Institute (Slovenia), and the Urban Development and Mobility department of LISER (Luxembourg).

The objective of the PECS project is to study the political discourses produced by European right-wing populist parties regarding migration at the scale of cross-border regions. The theoretical framework integrates critical discourse analysis, migration issues, borders and regions as geographical objects of study, as well as intersectionality theory.

The comparative approach adopted by PECS focuses on three types of cross-border regions involving Austria, Slovenia, and Luxembourg: (1) The European Union as a cross-border macro-region, (2) the Meso-regions based on international links between neighboring states and region and (3) the Cross-border micro-regions defined by functional integration processes.

The investigation is based on Critical Discourse Analysis (Discourse-Historical Approach) regarding migration, conducted through various discourse genres (manifestos, social media, minutes/proceedings, interviews) by representatives of selected right-wing populist parties in the cross-border regions.

Your missions

The successful candidate will have the following responsibilities:

Assist the LISER Principal Investigator in collecting texts related to the positions of right-wing populist parties and activists on migration within the cross-border regions monitored by LISER. These regions include the EU (in cooperation with the University of Vienna and the Peace Institute), the Greater Region Saar-Lor-Lux, and the Luxembourg-centered metropolitan region (encompassing the Grand Duchy and neighboring border towns) ;

Collect materials including interviews, strategic documents, political minutes, mass media texts, and social media posts dealing with migration in Europe at different spatial scales ;

Encode collected texts into a MAXQDA database to facilitate comparative analysis with researchers from the University of Vienna and the Peace Institute, following a shared codebook ;

Analyze encoded data on the positions of selected parties regarding migration at the cross-border regional scale ;

Prepare at least two articles publishable in peer-reviewed scientific journals indexed in Scopus.

Your profile

PhD in a relevant field of social sciences (e.g., Regional Studies, Migration Studies, Communication Sciences) ;

Expertise in qualitative research, particularly in Critical Discourse Analysis and social media analysis ;

Proficiency in qualitative research software (e.g., NVivo, MAXQDA) ;

Knowledge of right-wing populism in Europe ;

Knowledge of EU migration issues and policies ;

Scientific publications in Regional Studies, Migration Studies, Critical Discourse Analysis, or Communication Sciences ;

Proficiency in French and German (key languages of the case studies followed by LISER) and good command of English (working language of the research consortium and language of future research articles with proofreading support). Knowledge of Luxembourgish is considered an asset ;

Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to work effectively within a multidisciplinary and multicultural research team.

LISER particularly encourages female researchers to apply

What we offer

A dynamic and international research environment with attractive working conditions and a stimulating work environment ;

Flexibility in the organisation of the working hours and the possibility of teleworking ;

Competitive remuneration according to the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) in force (half of a 13th month salary, meal vouchers, etc.) ;

Investment in career support and development (trainings, seminars, participation to international meetings and conferences) ;

32.5 days of annual leave for a full-time contract.

How to apply

Please submit your complete application in English via https://jobs.liser.lu/jobs by including the following documents before June 28th, 2026:

• Your curriculum vitae ;
  
• Motivation letter ;
  
• A recent piece of research ;
  
• A copy of your PhD diploma;
  
• 2 reference letters (to be sent separately per email to recruitment@liser.lu).
  

Deadline to submit applications: June 28th, 2026 at midnight CET

Please note that interviews will be conducted in English

For any content-related questions, please contact Dr. Christian LAMOUR at christian.lamour@liser.lu

For administrative matters, please contact Mrs. Vanya KIROVA at recruitment@liser.lu

Why LISER?

LISER is a publicly funded research institute located in Luxembourg and dedicated to applied empirical research in economic, social and spatial sciences. The Institute attracts top researchers from all over the world and high-level student training is a vibrant part of the Institute’s activities. LISER staff consists of approx. 200 employees, about 60% of the staff being researchers; mainly from the fields of economics, geography and sociology. The vision of the institute is to be a socio-economic research institute internationally recognised, focused on scientific excellence and societal impact, able to contribute through multi-disciplinary and intersectoral research, in an active and inclusive way to a sustainable and inclusive society at national and international level.

The institute is located on the new Belval campus in the south of Luxembourg (Cité des Sciences, Luxembourg), which hosts the University of Luxembourg and a substantial part of the country’s publicly funded research facilities, i.e. LISER, the Luxembourg Income Study (LIS) cross-national data centre, the Luxembourg institutes of Health (LIH) and of Science and Technology (LIST). Information on research in Luxembourg is accessible via the national EURAXESS platform.

Deadline: June 30, 2026

During our last conference, Women’s Communication Rights in the Digital Era in Lisbon, we made a zine to explore feminist practices and spaces of solidarity through collective making. 

The zine is neither polished nor finished. It is meant to be a living archive of encounters, dialogues and ideas about feminism, media and connections between research and activism. 

We would like to open the call for additional contributions to the zine, engaging with the question how can we create ‘feminist ideas, reflections, and imaginaries of resistance, solidarity, and accessibility in academic and activist spaces’

If you would like to add your own page, please send your contribution (A4) to genderandcommunication.ecrea@gmail.com by June 30th.

All pages will be added to the zine, which will be distributed at the next ECREA conference in Brno, where we will also host a small zine launch (more info coming soon).

 June 22, 2026

Online

Register HERE.

This webinar, organised by the ECREA's Audience and Reception Studies section is about Navigating AI in Academia. 

Professor Christina Silver from University of Surrey, will be focusing on "Generative-Al for Qualitative Analysis: Ethical and Methodological Considerations":

The availability of Generative AI tools raises a number of questions for qualitative researchers and the practice of qualitative data analysis. Her talk will allow to map out the landscape and highlight core ethical and methodological issues that qualitative researchers must consider before using these tools for qualitative studies. These include data security and privacy, informed consent, methodological congruence, and the nature of interpretation, as well as the socio-political and environmental consequences arising from the development and use of Generative AI. 

Professor Dennis Nguyen from Utrecht University, will take us through "Al Imaginaries and Risks of Fragmentation in Academia":

How contemporary debates about AI are driven not only by technological developments themselves but also by competing AI imaginaries rooted in different disciplinary traditions, professional roles, institutional interests, and normative commitments. In his talk he will be drawing on a series of his studies examining the societal impact of AI in both higher education and scientific research. Combining qualitative, computational, and survey-based approaches, it explores how different stakeholders—including researchers, educators, students, and policymakers—understand, evaluate, and respond to emerging AI technologies. Across these contexts, the findings reveal significant variation in assumptions about what AI is, what it can do, what risks it poses, and what role it should play in knowledge production, teaching, and learning.

We are looking forward to joined by all of you. Please reach out to us by emailing at our section email audienceandreceptionsection@gmail.com in case of any queries.