ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

Cardiff University

We are seeking a talented mix of high-profile, innovative, current and future leaders of research to join our values-driven, pioneering, and vibrant university as part of our allocation of the UKRI Global Talent Fund initiative.

Open to international applicants currently living and working outside the UK, we want to appoint Global Talent Senior Research Fellows and Professors to accelerate our research leadership in key strategic areas aligned to the following UK industrial strategy areas. One of these areas is creative industries, including digital technologies.

The successful candidates will be well-established in their fields and have a significant portfolio of research with an established track record of publication and research grants and national, emerging, or international reputation in their chosen research area. Importantly, successful candidates will have the ability to drive areas of research and innovation in partnership with external partners and other disciplines.

If you feel that you have the skills, enthusiasm and drive to meet this challenge, we'd love to hear from you.

Find out more information, and how to apply, on our website.

April 24, 2026

Online

Deadline: March 16, 2026

For more details, click here https://ierlab.com/influencer-diplomacy/

The Influencer Ethnography Research Lab (IERLab)  is calling for submissions for our upcoming symposium on Influencer Diplomacy, to be held online via Zoom on 24 April 2026. 

Recent research on influencers has highlighted their growing presence in political arenas. Concepts such as ‘political influencers’ (Schwemmer & Riedl 2025), ‘political relational influencers’ (Goodwin et al. 2023), ‘propaganda influencers’ (Woolley 2022), or ‘influencers as ideological intermediaries’ (Arnesson 2023) capture the varied ways creators engage with political content, whether by shaping public opinion, amplifying state messaging, or embodying ideological narratives. Within these political capacities, influencers are playing an increasingly prominent role in diplomacy, though their involvement is met with mixed responses. For example, the European Union’s use of influencers on platforms such as TikTok to engage younger audiences reflects an institutional embrace of influencer-led diplomacy (DiSario 2026), as does the positive reception of American streamer iShowSpeed’s state-sanctioned tour of China (Latifah Aini 2025). By contrast, Chachavalpongpun (2025) critiques how influencers have leveraged the Thai–Cambodian border conflict to expand their digital visibility in ways that intensify geopolitical tensions, while Colombian influencers have faced backlash for promotional activities in Israel (Freixes 2025). Together, these examples reveal that the involvement of influencers in diplomatic arenas warrants closer attention, as they are not merely amplifying diplomatic messages but are actively shaping diplomatic processes, mediating between publics, political conflict, and state agendas.

Research on political influencers has shown how digitally native creators blend advocacy (Riedl et al. 2021; Martin et al. 2024), self-branding (Ong et al. 2022), and platform vernaculars (Harris et al. 2023) to engage audiences through affective and narrative labour (Goodwin et al. 2023; Martin et al. 2024). While this literature has focused primarily on domestic politics, recent studies demonstrate growing overlaps between influencer practices and diplomacy. For example, Lo Presti et al. (2025) identify ‘geopolitical influencers’ shaping public discourse around international conflicts, while Arnesson (2024) shows how state-sponsored trips by Swedish influencers function as soft power and perception management. Influencers also enact diplomacy through semi-official and spontaneous practices, including war influencing (Divon & Eriksson Krutrök 2025; Taher et al. 2025;) and activist interventions that reshape international perceptions of nationhood (Casas 2025). Taken together, these studies reveal influencers operating across multiple diplomatic registers, yet without a shared definition of ‘influencer diplomacy’.

The uncertain boundaries of ‘influencer diplomacy’ reflects broader transformations in diplomacy itself. Diplomacy has traditionally been understood as negotiation among states through official representatives (Cornago 2022). However, diplomacy has expanded beyond its traditional focus on state actors, to include a broader range of actors and practices. Cultural diplomacy shifts representation away from diplomats, with the state using culture to foster trust, promote the nation, and shape international perceptions (Kim 2017). Citizen diplomacy moves diplomacy further from the state, as individuals undertake diplomatic work through journalism, activism, and community initiatives, acting as political agents in their own right (Anton & Moise 2022). Meanwhile, everyday diplomacy highlights how diplomacy unfolds in ordinary, mundane encounters, showing how international relations are experienced and enacted outside formal state institutions (Jones & Clark 2015; Marsden et al. 2016).

In the age of influencers, diplomacy is shaped further by branding infrastructures, visibility economies, and platform logics. For example, government–influencer collaborations are often regulated through commercial frameworks that inadequately capture their political implications (Annabell et al. 2025), while political and diplomatic communication increasingly adopts influencer-oriented logics of metrics, relatability, and attention—or ‘wanghong thinking’—shaping practices in China (Xu 2024). Meanwhile, influencers on platforms like TikTok also enable states to reach foreign audiences while circumventing official restrictions (Fjällhed et al. 2024), raising concerns about instrumentalisation and blurred boundaries with propaganda (Ong et al. 2022; Reveilhac 2025; Wooley 2022; Xu & Schneider 2025). Scholars further question who counts as an influencer and what agency these actors hold: Anton and Moise (2022) situate influencer diplomacy within citizen and informal diplomacy; Casas (2025) includes artists, minor celebrities, activists, and indigenous cultural producers; and Tian et al. (2025) and Manfredi et al. (2024) highlight overlaps between politicians, influencers, and citizen journalists, underscoring the lack of a shared definition.

Context-specific studies illustrate how influencer diplomacy operates across multiple registers and produces varied impacts. In Indonesia, for example, influencers can soften national symbolism, potentially signalling shifts in paternalistic governance, while also intersecting with nation branding moments such as sporting events (Li & Feng 2022; Ratriyana et al. 2024). In China, state-curated collaborations privilege particular racialised and national subjectivities, raising questions about imagined diplomatic audiences, while foreign YouTubers are incorporated into official networks through reposting by diplomats and state media (Brockling et al. 2023; Cho-Li et al. 2025). In Russia, unofficial actors such as the Night Wolves biker group are embedded within national influence ecosystems (Boichak 2023). Wartime and border-region contexts further illustrate these dynamics: Brazilian influencers shape narratives around the Russia-Ukraine war (Pelevina & Salojärvi 2025), and 'pro-China foreign political influencers' share content across borders in international contexts to reshape global reputation and national image (Tian et al. 2025). Studies also highlight influencers’ own strategies, balancing official collaborations, spontaneous content, personal branding, audience expectations, and political sensitivities, while leveraging participation for visibility and professional gain in China and Korea (Lee & Abidin 2022; Lee & Alhabash 2022; Xu & Qu 2025). At the level of everyday diplomacy and transnational imaginaries, Chinese vloggers also participate in shaping ‘unofficial geopolitics’ in Pakistan (Zoppolato & Culcasi 2026).

In this symposium, we focus on the generative concept that we call influencer diplomacy. We see this as the ways in which influencer cultures, practices, and industries impact diplomatic processes, from influencers assuming diplomatic roles and politicians adopting influencer strategies, to marketing firms leveraging influencer infrastructures in the mediation of international relations. Influencer diplomacy operates not only at formal state and institutional levels but also intersects with everyday politics, shaping public discourse and social engagement. Moreover, it must account for how influencers, as platform-savvy actors, tailor diplomatic communication to the vernaculars, norms, and affordances of specific digital platforms. 

To explore this phenomenon in more detail, the Influencer Ethnography Research Lab (IERLab) will be hosting a one-day online symposium (on Zoom) to examine the evolving practice of influencer diplomacy. We invite submissions from humanities and social sciences, including but not limited to media studies, cultural studies, sociology, anthropology, political science, area studies, and international relations. We particularly welcome submissions that focus on empirically grounded research and comparative case studies. 

Selected papers will be considered for a peer reviewed edited collection. As such, we are only able to consider original, previously-unpublished abstracts/papers. Suggested topics include but are not limited to: 

• Influencers as official and unofficial intermediaries in diplomatic endeavours
  
• Motivations, labour, and negotiation in influencers’ diplomatic practice
  
• Politicians adopting influencer strategies in international communication
  
• The role of affect, intimacy, authenticity, and storytelling as diplomatic resources
  
• Audience participation, public formation, and the politicisation of influencer collaborations
  
• Influencer diplomacy as both a practice and a governing logic: how diplomacy increasingly ‘thinks like an influencer’
  
• Influencer diplomacy in crisis, conflict, humanitarian, and wartime contexts
  
• Regulation, disclosure, and governance of state–influencer collaborations

To be considered for the symposium, please submit a 250-word abstract and 100-word bio via the Google form below by 1700hrs (GMT+8) 16 March 2024. Notifications of acceptance will be sent on 20 March 2024. We gladly welcome co-authored submissions; to keep presentations consistent, each submission is limited to one presenter, preferably the corresponding author. Please submit via this form: https://forms.gle/7EWBPEuR4gk3ceKK7 

All enquiries should be directed to contact@IERLab.com

Key Dates:

• 16 March 2026: Abstracts and biographies due
  
• 20 March 2026: Notifications of acceptance
  
• 24 April 2026: Influencer Diplomacy Symposium
  

We look forward to receiving your submissions.

Faye Mercier, Wuxuan Zhang, Prof. Crystal Abidin

Influencer Ethnography Research Lab (IERLab), Curtin University

References:

Aini, Fauzia Latifah. 2025. ‘Changing China’s Global Image through IShowSpeed Visit’. Modern Diplomacy, April 26. https://moderndiplomacy.eu/2025/04/26/changing-chinas-global-image-through-ishowspeed-visit/.

Annabell, Taylor, Catalina Goanta, Thijs Kelder, and Felix Pflücke. 2025. ‘Sponsored by the State: The Private Regulation of Government Influencers’. Journal of Consumer Policy, ahead of print, September 16. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10603-025-09598-x.

Anton, Anca, and Raluca Moise. 2022. ‘The Citizen Diplomats and Their Pathway to Diplomatic Power’. In Diplomacy, Organisations and Citizens: A European Communication Perspective, edited by Sónia Pedro Sebastião and Susana de Carvalho Spínola. Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-81877-7_13.

Arnesson, Johanna. 2023. ‘Influencers as Ideological Intermediaries: Promotional Politics and Authenticity Labour in Influencer Collaborations’. Media, Culture & Society 45 (3): 528–44. https://doi.org/10.1177/01634437221117505.

Arnesson, Johanna. 2024. ‘“Endorsing a Dictatorship and Getting Paid for It”: Discursive Struggles over Intimacy and Authenticity in the Politicisation of Influencer Collaborations’. New Media & Society 26 (3): 1467–83. https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448211064302.

Boichak, Olga. 2023. ‘Mapping the Russian Political Influence Ecosystem: The Night Wolves Biker Gang’. Social Media + Society 9 (2): 20563051231177920. https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051231177920.

Brockling, Marie, Haohan Lily Hu, and King-wa Fu. 2023. ‘The Role of “State Endorsers” in Extending Chinese Propaganda: Evaluating the Reach of Pro-Regime YouTubers’. International Journal of Communication 17 (September): 23–23.

Casas, Ccory Yamina Silva. 2025. ‘Digital Ambassadors of Peru: Cultural Diplomacy in the Age of Content Creators’. Política Internacional, no. 137 (June): 253–68. https://doi.org/10.61249/pi.vi137.225.

Chachavalpongpun, Pavin. 2025. ‘How a Thai Influencer Is Profiting From the Border Conflict With Cambodia’. The Diplomat, August 20. https://thediplomat.com/2025/08/how-a-thai-influencer-is-profiting-from-the-border-conflict-with-thailand/.

Cho-Li, Qiuyue, Rebecca Frazer, Tse-hsi Chien, and Spiro Kiousis. 2025. ‘Pro-China YouTubers in Digital Diplomacy: Shaping Americans’ Perceived Credibility, Trust, Media Engagement, and Attitudes Towards China’. SSRN Scholarly Paper No. 5496847. Social Science Research Network, September 17. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5496847.

Cornago, Noé. 2022. ‘Diplomacy’. In Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace, & Conflict (Third Edition), Third Edition, edited by Lester R. Kurtz. Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-820195-4.00137-0.

Di Sario, Federica. 2026. ‘“We Would Be Foolish If We Didn’t Use Influencers”: The EU’s Bet on TikTok Diplomacy’. The Parliament Magazine, January 14. https://www.theparliamentmagazine.eu/news/article/we-would-be-foolish-if-we-didnt-use-influencers-how-the-eu-is-bypassing-traditional-media.

Divon, Tom, and Moa Eriksson Krutrök. 2025. ‘The Rise of War Influencers: Creators, Platforms, and the Visibility of Conflict Zones’. Platforms & Society 2 (December): 29768624251325721. https://doi.org/10.1177/29768624251325721.

Fjällhed, Alicia, Matthias Lüfkens, and Andreas Sandre. 2024. ‘New Trends in Digital Diplomacy: The Rise of TikTok and the Geopolitics of Algorithmic Governance’. The Oxford Handbook of Digital Diplomacy, 288–96.

Freixes, Josep. 2025. ‘Controversy over Colombian Influencers’ “War Tourism” in Israel’. Colombia One: News from Colombia and the World, November 12. https://colombiaone.com/2025/11/12/colombia-influencers-war-tourism-israel/.

Goodwin, Anastasia, Katie Joseff, Martin J. Riedl, Josephine Lukito, and Samuel Woolley. 2023. ‘Political Relational Influencers: The Mobilization of Social Media Influencers in the Political Arena’. International Journal of Communication 17 (February): 21–21.

Harris, Brandon C., Maxwell Foxman, and William C. Partin. 2023. ‘“Don’t Make Me Ratio You Again”: How Political Influencers Encourage Platformed Political Participation’. Social Media + Society 9 (2): 20563051231177944. https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051231177944.

Jones, Alun, and Julian Clark. 2015. ‘Mundane Diplomacies for the Practice of European Geopolitics’. Geoforum 62 (June): 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2015.03.002.

Kim, Hwajung. 2017. ‘Bridging the Theoretical Gap between Public Diplomacy and Cultural Diplomacy’. The Korean Journal of International Studies 15 (2): 293–326. https://doi.org/10.14731/kjis.2017.08.15.2.293.

Lee, Heijin, and Saleem Alhabash. 2024. ‘The Role of Social Media Influencers in Public Diplomacy and Relationship Building with Foreign Publics’. SSRN Scholarly Paper No. 4915071. Social Science Research Network, August 3. https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=4915071.

Lee, Jin, and Crystal Abidin. 2022. ‘Oegugin Influencers and Pop Nationalism through Government Campaigns: Regulating Foreign-Nationals in the South Korean YouTube Ecology’. Policy & Internet 14 (3): 541–57. https://doi.org/10.1002/poi3.319.

Li, Xiufang (Leah), and Juan Feng. 2022. ‘Influenced or to Be Influenced: Engaging Social Media Influencers in Nation Branding through the Lens of Authenticity’. Global Media and China 7 (2): 219–40. https://doi.org/10.1177/20594364221094668.

Lo Presti, Letizia, Veronica Capone, and Giulio Maggiore. 2025. ‘Geopolitical influencers: examining their role in shaping opinions on international conflicts’. Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy 19 (2): 245–63. https://doi.org/10.1108/TG-12-2024-0300.

Marsden, Magnus, Diana Ibañez-Tirado, and David Henig. 2016. Everyday Diplomacy. The Cambridge Journal of Anthropology. September 1. https://doi.org/10.3167/ca.2016.340202.

Martin, Zelly, Gabrielle D. Beacken, Inga K. Trauthig, and Samuel C. Woolley. 2024. ‘Embodied Political Influencers: How U.S. Anti-Abortion Actors Co-Opt Narratives of Marginalization’. Social Media + Society 10 (2): 20563051241245401. https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051241245401.

Pelevina, Nuppu, and Virpi Salojärvi. 2025. ‘YouTube as a narrative battlefield: Brazilian social media influencers and the Russian war in Ukraine’. The Communication Review 28 (4): 363–86. https://doi.org/10.1080/10714421.2025.2545676.

Ratriyana, Ina, Desideria Cempaka Wijaya Murti, and Immanuel Dwi Asmoro. 2024. ‘#IndonesiaRepresent: Investigating Nation Branding at International Fashion Events through the Presence of Social Media Influencers’. Asiascape: Digital Asia 11 (1–2): 56–84. https://doi.org/10.1163/22142312-bja10056.

Reveilhac, Maud. 2025. ‘Mapping Government Use of Social Media Influencers for Policy Promotion’. Media and Communication 13 (0). https://doi.org/10.17645/mac.10371.

Riedl, Magdalena, Carsten Schwemmer, Sandra Ziewiecki, and Lisa M. Ross. 2021. ‘The Rise of Political Influencers—Perspectives on a Trend Towards Meaningful Content’. Frontiers in Communication 6 (December). https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2021.752656.

Riedl, Martin J., Josephine Lukito, and Samuel C. Woolley. 2023. ‘Political Influencers on Social Media: An Introduction’. Social Media + Society, ahead of print, June 7. Sage UK: London, England. https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051231177938.

Ryan, Fergus, Daria Impiombato, and Hsi-Ting Pai. 2022. ‘Policy Brief: Frontier Influencers: The New Face of China’s Propaganda’. ASPI International Cyber Policy Centre. https://cms2.dijitalhafiza.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/1_compressed-1.pdf.

Schwemmer, Carsten, and Magdalena Riedl. 2025. ‘From Hashtags to Ballots: Conceptualizing Political Influencers and Evaluating Their Impact on Election Outcomes’. PLOS ONE 20 (5): e0321592. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0321592.

Taher, Ahmed, Hoda El Kolaly, and Nourhan Tarek. 2025. ‘Examining Crisis Communication in Geopolitical Conflicts: The Micro-Influencer Impact Model’. Journalism and Media 6 (3). https://doi.org/10.3390/journalmedia6030116.

Tian, Leiyuan, Fan Liang, and Zhao Alexandre Huang. 2025. ‘China Defenders From Abroad: Exploring Pro-China Foreign Political Influencers on X/Twitter’. Social Media + Society 11 (3): 20563051251358526. https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051251358526.

Woolley, Samuel C. 2022. ‘Digital Propaganda: The Power of Influencers’. Journal of Democracy 33 (3): 115–29.

Xu, Jian. 2024. ‘From “Wanghong” to “Wanghong Thinking”: New Research Agenda and Critical Reflection’. Communication and the Public 10 (2): 81–85. Sage UK: London, England. https://doi.org/10.1177/20570473241264896.

Xu, Jian, and Lina Qu. 2025. ‘“Telling China’s Stories Well” through Wanghong’. In Asian Celebrity Cultures in the Digital Age, edited by Glen Donnar, Divya Garg, and Jian Xu. https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.34206972.8.

Xu, Jian, and Florian Schneider. 2025. ‘Influencers as Emerging Actors in Global Digital Propaganda’. European Journal of Cultural Studies, July 5, 13675494251351221. https://doi.org/10.1177/13675494251351221.

Zoppolato, Davide Giacomo, and Karen Culcasi. 2026. ‘Social Media Geopolitics: The “Unofficial Geopolitics” of Chinese Vloggers in Pakistan’. Geopolitics 31 (1): 313–33. https://doi.org/10.1080/14650045.2025.2499133.

University of Manchester, UK

The CreativeAI studentships (2026-29) - fully-funded PhD studentships on cutting-edge creativeAI projects - will explore the rapidly evolving relationship between creativity and artificial intelligence (AI), considering what AI does for creativity and what creativity does for AI. 

Six supervisor-led interdisciplinary projects bring together outstanding expertise by over 15 academic staff in arts, languages and cultures, computer science, social anthropology and law to address timely societal questions around AI’s impact on agency, authorship, imagination, inequality, and social relationships.

Studentships will be organised around three strands: AI for creativity, creativity for AI, and creativity of AI, supported by a methodological training theme, creative AI methods.

The Centre for Digital Humanities, Cultures and Media (DHCM) will serve as the intellectual and organizational home of the CreativeAI studentships, with members already working at the intersection of AI, creativity, society, and culture.

Key features of this studentship

• Receive a fully funded studentship covering tuition fees and an annual stipend at the UKRI rate (previously 2025/26 £20,780 per year) for 3.5 years.
  
• Research Training and Support Grant (RTSG): £3,000 total over 3.5 years.
  
• CreativeAI studentship methods training and cohort-building activities.
  

The deadline for applications is March 30, 2026. Prospective applicants are encouraged to contact the project leads in question. General questions about the CreativeAI studentships can be directed to Sam Hind (sam.hind@manchester.ac.uk).

For more details, see: https://www.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/study/postgraduate-research/funding/list-of-awards/creativeaistudentships

July 15-17, 2026

Barcelona, Spain

Deadline:  March 10, 2026

The techno-deterministic paradigm of AI has exacerbated social challenges. Academia is mobilising to assess the impact of AI in society and understand how to contribute to shaping this paradigm. This summer school aims to explore the social, ethical, and political challenges posed by contemporary artificial intelligence systems, with particular attention to any form of discrimination, including all intersectional manifestations of ageism, racism, sexism, ableism, and others. Thus, the focus is on the critical examination of how power relations enter algorithmic systems, including the roles of data practices and institutional arrangements, and on how we can reimagine accountability, anti-discriminatory action, and inclusion in automated socio-technical environments.

More info: https://anyage.ai/article/shaping-ai-for-inclusion-barcelona-summer-school-2026

August 17-19, 2026

Vilnius, Lithuania

Deadline: April 20, 2026

The Nordic Network of Intercultural Communication (NIC) Conference 2026 will take place in Vilnius, Lithuania, from 17 to 19 August 2026. 

The NIC Conference is an annual interdisciplinary event, held for the 32nd time in 2026. It brings together researchers, teachers, students, and practitioners from the Nordic and Baltic regions and beyond to discuss topics related to intercultural communication. 

The theme of this year’s conference is „Intercultural communication for change“. With this theme, we invite contributions that explore intercultural communication as a process of (ex)change of meanings, understandings, values, and knowledge, and examine its role in contexts of transformation and uncertainty. We particularly welcome work addressing intercultural communication as a response to change, a driver of change, or a means of anticipating, managing, and potentially preventing disruptive forms of change, including crises. We also encourage critical reflection on the relationship between intercultural communication research, practice, and policy, including possible mismatches between them and the ways research can (or should) contribute to changes in individual behaviours, professional practices, education, and public policy.

In addition to contributions addressing the conference theme, we also welcome proposals concerning other aspects of intercultural communication.

We invite submissions from researchers at all career stages, as well as practitioners, across the social sciences and humanities.

The deadline for abstract submissions is 20 April 2026.

For further details, including the full Call for Abstracts, important dates and submission guidelines, please visit the NIC Vilnius 2026 conference site: https://www.nicvilnius2026.kf.vu.lt/

D:

The Nordic Intercultural Communication Network (NIC) Conference is an annual interdisciplinary event, held for the 32nd time in 2026. It brings together researchers, teachers, students, and practitioners to discuss topics related to intercultural communication. This year, the conference will particularly focus on intercultural communication as a way of engaging with change at multiple levels and on the implications of intercultural communication research for policy-making and institutional and educational practices, while also welcoming contributions on other topics in intercultural communication.

August  16-22, 2026

Jönköping University Sweden

Deadline: March 1, 2026

Democracy depends on engaged citizens. And yet, the most powerful discourses surrounding engagement are strategically designed to drive commercial markets. As a counterpoint to this horizon, the main purpose of this PhD residential course is to understand theories and methods of media engagement not as a metric but as a marker of power relations.

This 7.5 credit course offers an international platform for PhD researchers to write, present and receive feedback on work in progress from global experts on theories and methods for media engagement. The course will cover key concepts for engagement, including political and public spheres, digital media and AI related technologies, social movements and mobilisation, transmedia engagement, and cultural citizenship and popular culture.

Key Highlights:

Mentoring and networking with world leading scholars and international doctoral researchers; slow thinking, with time to write thesis chapters and peer reviewed journal articles; residential setting of Gränna Campus, overlooking the great lake of Vättern, with easy access to local food and crafts, clear water swimming, nature walks and mountain views; social events, including trips to the historical island of Visingsö.

Teaching Team:

course leader Annette Hill (co author with Dahlgren of Media Engagement Routledge 2023), Peter Dahlgren (author of Media and Political Engagement 2009), Renira Gambarato (author of Streaming Media and Cultural Memory in a Postdigital Society 2024) and Hario Priambodho (author The Cult Film Atmosphere 2025).

Website and application: for information on the course, application process, fees, and key dates see https://ju.se/samarbeta/event-och-konferenser/event/phd-summer-course-media-engagement.html

Contact Annette Hill (Annette.hill@ju.se)

We want to invite you to participate in an expert survey that addresses a key political topic of our time: the future of democracy in the digital age and the rise of authoritarianism. 

The EU research project INNOVADE: Innovative Democracy through Digitalisation https://innovade-democracy.eu/ studies digital democracy. Paderborn University’s INNOVADE research team (led by Christian Fuchs) runs the Futures of Digital Democracy Survey (FDDS): 

https://bit.ly/fdds_1 

https://digital-democracy.net/d/index.php/111849 

Particiation will take about five minutes. 

The goal of the survey is to analyse how digital media experts assess the potential futures of digital society and the Internet and what visions they have for these futures. 

INNOVADE will use the results of the survey as inputs to European Union policy debates on the future of democracy (that is currently being discussed as part of the European Democracy Shield’s goal to strengthen the EU’s democratic resilience, digital autonomy/sovereignty from big tech, etc.). 

The survey has two rounds. In the first round, we ask for basic assessments. In a follow-up round, we report some of the first round results to the participants and ask for further assessments. After the survey’s second round is completed, all data will be published anonymously as an open data set. 

We’d be happy if you were able to participate. The first round is open until 23 February 2026. The second round will take place some time in March or April. 

https://bit.ly/fdds_1 

https://digital-democracy.net/d/index.php/111849 

Below you find some links to research that INNOVADE has already conducted on the topic of digital democracy. 

With kind regards 

Christian Fuchs 

on behalf of the Paderborn University INNOVADE research team 

Relevant INNOVADE reports: 

Christian Fuchs: What is and How Do We Achieve a Resilient Digital Democracy? https://doi.org/10.12688/openreseurope.21988.1 

Christian Fuchs, Joel Museba, Kevin Friesch: White Paper: The Futures of Digital Democracy. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17747936 

Christian Fuchs (Editor) Interdisciplinary Knowledge Base on Digital Democracy. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17079016 

Deadline: March 6, 2026

Call for Chapters

Editors: Muhammad Jameel Yusha'u & Lara Martin Lengel

Communication for development has evolved over the last seventy to eighty years with impactful contributions from leading scholars. The impact of their work has reverberated beyond academic circles, shaping policy and practice especially in the global south.

These groundbreaking contributions include the modernization theories of the 1950s and 1960s led by Daniel Lerner, Wilbur Schramm and Everett Rogers whose insights on the stages of modernization, the contribution of mass media to national development, and the diffusion of innovation became guiding principles for engaging with publics for decades.

The work of dependency and other critical theorists, especially in the 1970s, provided an alternative view in communication for development and by extension the international development trajectory. Thinkers like Andre Gunder Frank, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Samir Amin, Walter Rodney, Luis Ramiro Beltrán and Paulo Freire recalibrated the debates by bringing to the fore issues of inequality, internal failure dynamics and the need for communication to address power imbalances.

The 1980s and 1990s introduced a seismic shift in the communication for development discourse by focusing on participatory approaches to communication. The works of Paulo Freire, Paolo Mefalopulos, Jan Servaes, Thomas Tufte, Alfonso Gumucio Dagron,  and Srinivas Melkote among others reshaped the debate particularly on the need for community engagement and sustainable social change.

The adoption of the Millennium Development Goals in the 2000s and the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015 as well as the technological revolutions spurred by the internet and the sudden emergence of COVID-19 that rebooted how people communicated had profound impact on communication for development, leading to calls on the United Nations to reconsider the 17 SDGs by adding SDG18—Communications for All, to ensure that the role of communication does not take a back seat in the development process.

While this is going on, the phenomenon of artificial intelligence has emerged as a transformative force. Thisrevolutionary phenomenon is altering how development is implemented at individual, country and continental levels. Artificial intelligence is likely to define the development path in the 21st century with profound impact on all sectors, be it health, education, infrastructure, poverty alleviation, food security, energy access, and climate action. Artificial intelligence presents new promises, yet also presents challenges that may exacerbate inequality. The algorithmic governance of information flows, the concentration of AI capabilities in the global north, and the potential exclusion of marginalized voices from AI-mediated development discourse demand urgent scholarly attention.

This reality calls for rethinking of how communication for development will be implemented in the coming decades. The aim of this book, currently under consideration by the renowned publisher, Wiley-Blackwell, is to examinecommunications for development in light of the rise of artificial intelligence. It aims to revisit previous theories, models and approaches to communications for development and assess their potency or otherwise in the artificial intelligence century. Communication for Development 2.0 intends to be a major scholarly collection and reference work that will shape the communication for development discourse in the AI era. We seek contributions from established and emerging scholars to critically review and propose new approaches to communications for development in light of artificial intelligence and its implications for development practice.

Potential chapter topics comprise but are not limited to the following:

• Diffusion, innovation and artificial intelligence
  
• Participatory communication and artificial intelligence
  
• Communication for development, artificial intelligence and inequality
  
• Communicating national development in the age of artificial intelligence
  
• Development communication and artificial intelligence in the global south
  
• Development communication and artificial intelligence in the global north
  
• Communicating social change in the era of artificial intelligence
  
• Data colonialism, artificial intelligence and communications for development
  
• Artificial intelligence infrastructure and communication for development
  
• Communication for development, language and artificial intelligence
  
• Digital inequality, artificial intelligence and development communication
  
• AI divide and digital dependency
  
• Communicating Sustainable Development Goals in the AI era
  
• AI ethics and communication for development
  
• Algorithmic governance and development communication
  
• AI literacy and capacity building in development contexts
  
• Case studies of AI applications in development communication practice
  

Submission Requirements

Prospective authors should send their abstract submissions to Muhammad Jameel Yusha'u (mjyushau@gmail.com) by 6th March 2026. Abstracts should comprise the following:

• 250 words abstract
  
• Institutional affiliation
  
• Corresponding email address
  
• 200 words author bio
  

All submissions should be in Word document format. Authors whose abstracts have been accepted will be notified by 3rd April 2026. Final chapters should be between 5,000- and 6,000-words and will be due by 12thJune 2026. Co-authored chapters will be considered. Full papers will undergo a rigorous peer review process. Submitted work must be original and not under consideration elsewhere.

Link to DOCA: https://www.hope.uzh.ch/doca/

Link to the Call: https://t.uzh.ch/1Wn

The Database of Variables for Content Analysis (DOCA) invites researchers to submit variable entries on the overarching theme of digital publics.

Digital publics refer to communicative spheres in networked digital media where individuals and groups exchange and negotiate opinions on public issues. DOCA seeks entries on variables such as platform affordances, publicness levels, audience engagement, networked visibility, deliberative quality, polarization, community governance, user-generated visuals, and automated indicators (e.g., sentiment, network structures, visibility analytics)...  

We are looking for contributions that systematize and operationalize key variables and constructs for the analysis of digital publics, using both standardized and automated content analysis approaches. DOCA provides an open-access infrastructure for documenting and enabling the comparability of content-analytical variables in communication research.

Interested authors are invited to indicate which variable or construct they intend to contribute by May 3, 2026. Final entries (approximately 2–3 pages) are due by June 28, 2026. More information: https://t.uzh.ch/1Wn

We are very much looking forward to your submissions.

Franziska Oehmer-Pedrazzi, University of Applied Sciences of the Grisons FHGR; Sabrina H. Kessler, University of Zurich; Edda Humprecht, University of Jena; Katharina Sommer, ZHAW; Laia Castro Herrero, Universitat de Barcelona; Nicole Bizzotto, University of Zurich; Philippe Sloksnath, University of Zurich

May 22-23, 2026

Bucharest, Romania

Deadline: April 10, 2026

Venue: Faculty of Letters, Bucharest / Department of Communication Sciences & National University of Theatre and Cinematography "I.L. Caragiale", Bucharest / Animation Department

Email for inquiries and submission: eugen.istodor@unibuc.ro

Format: Hybrid / The conference has a section for online presentations

Open to: Undergraduate students, Master’s students, PhD candidates, and Academic Faculty/Researchers

The conference organizers do not provide accommodation or meals. There is no participation fee.

 Call for Papers

We live in an era of "polycrisis," where the absurdity of reality seems to surpass any fiction. From the trenches of Eastern Europe to the ruins of the Middle East, and from the courts of digital public opinion to the algorithms that curate our reality. Under these conditions, humor has ceased to be merely a form of entertainment. It has become a weapon, a survival mechanism, a propaganda tool, and, sometimes, the last refuge of freedom.

This conference aims to explore the functions, failures, and mutations of humor in the present day. How can we still laugh when the news cycle is dominated by images of atrocity? Are there any "harmless jokes" left in the age of ideological surveillance?

We invite researchers, critics, and practitioners to submit proposals addressing the following critical themes:

1. Humor Under Siege: Cancel Culture and the New Blasphemies

In a cultural climate marked by hypersensitivity and social vigilantism, comedy has become a minefield.

Humor as the last bastion of free speech vs. social responsibility. Is the comedian a hero defending the truth at any cost (even if it offends), or an opinion leader who must take care not to incite hate or "punch down"?

Analysis of comedian "deplatforming" mechanisms. Pressure on content hosts to sanction speech deemed offensive. Algorithmic censorship on social networks (*shadowbanning*). Access to an audience — a privilege conditioned by moral conformity.

Cancel Culture as a form of Censorship (The New Inquisition). It is not the state that censors you, but your neighbors. In "Cancel Culture," the sentence (deplatforming) precedes the trial, and context is often ignored in favor of a 10-second out-of-context clip.

The "Chilling Effect" (Self-censorship). The homogenization of art and the forced "sanitization" of discourse.

The tyranny of the vocal minority which succeeds in intimidating corporations and organizers. The impossibility of forgiveness: Cancel Culture tends to judge past actions (from 10-20 years ago) through the moral lens of the present, without offering a clear path to rehabilitation.

2. Laughter in the Time of Algorithms: Techno-Feudalism and Meme Warfare

In an era defined by what Yanis Varoufakis calls "techno-feudalism," humor is a commodity and a currency.

Memes as tools of political propaganda and radicalization.

How do TikTok and X (Twitter) algorithms shape the collective sense of humor?

Ownership of laughter: Who owns the joke in platform capitalism? Post-internet irony and digital alienation.

3. Dark Humor and the Horrific: The War all around

Can humor coexist with tragedy in real-time? How does satire transform in the face of extreme violence?

Humor as a coping mechanism (psychological survival) for populations under bombardment. The memeification of war: From "Saint Javelin" to frontline soldiers' TikToks.

The role of political caricature in contemporary asymmetric conflicts.

4. NSFW: Eroticism, the Grotesque, and Taboo

In a society increasingly puritanical in public discourse but saturated with pornography in private, NSFW (*Not Safe For Work*) humor becomes a space for contestation.

The return of the grotesque and bodily humor (scatological, sexual). Pornography and parody: Cultural intersections.

The limits of obscenity: What is still considered "shocking" today? OnlyFans, performative sexuality, and humor as a fetish.

We are also open to any theme related to humor as the main character of these times.

Submission Guidelines

Please submit an abstract of maximum 300 words, accompanied by a short author biography (max. 100 words), to the email address: eugen.istodor@unibuc.ro

Proposals are accepted in: Romanian, English.

Important Dates:

• Submission Deadline: April 10, 2026
  
• Notification of Acceptance: April 20, 2026
  
• Conference Date: May 22-23, 2026
  

The organizing committee:

Nina Mihăilă, Matei Branea, National University of Theatre and Cinematography "I.L. Caragiale", Bucharest

Eugen Istodor, Faculty of Letters Bucharest