ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

June 28-30, 2027

University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Deadline: December 1, 2026

“Provokaties zijn aanleidingen | Provocations are catalysts”

Roel van Duyn, “Van palingoproer tot provohappening,”

Provo, no. 3 (22 September 1965)

Console-ing Passions was founded in 1989 by a group of feminist media scholars and artists looking to create a space to present work and foster feminist scholarship on issues of television, culture, and identity. Since its first conference at the University of Iowa in 1992, Console-ing Passions has expanded to become not only the most important conference for scholars studying gender in television but also among the top conferences for feminist scholars of media more broadly.

In 2027, Console-ing Passions comes to Amsterdam under the theme Provocations. Our motto takes inspiration from Amsterdam’s Provo movement and Roel van Duyn’s proposition that provocations are aanleidingen: they serve as catalysts to create occasions (or the Provos’ favorite word, “happenings”) in which pre-existing as well as emergent conflicts and contradictions become visible. Amsterdam offers a resonant history for thinking about provocation in these terms, from the Provos’ playful interventions in public life to feminist and queer actions that used disruption and media visibility to challenge established norms and inequalities. In line with this genealogy, we envision CP 2027 becoming such an occasion: a provocative space for feminist media scholarship to encounter, question, and rework its objects, histories, methods, and futures.

The 2027 Conference Organizing Committee in the Department of Media Studies / Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis (ASCA) at the University of Amsterdam invites proposals for individual papers, pre-constituted panels, and pre-constituted roundtables addressing media, broadly conceived, through intersectional feminist perspectives, including questions of gender, sexuality, race, class, disability, coloniality, and other systems of power and inequality. Proposals need not address the conference theme, but we particularly welcome reflections on what provocation might mean for feminist media studies. How have media and media practices been provocative, and how do understandings of what is “provocative” change and collide? Who gets to provoke, and who is presumed to be provocative by speaking, appearing, desiring, refusing, embracing or making media? What happens when boundaries between media, disciplines, generations, publics, or forms of knowledge are disturbed? How might provocation operate epistemologically or methodologically, making different objects, archives, relations, pleasures, or ways of knowing perceptible? And what might such questions provoke us to reconsider about the histories, boundaries, and futures of feminist media scholarship itself?

CP 2027 will be an in-person conference because this is a better experience for everyone involved. Virtual participation can be accommodated, but only in exceptional circumstances and on a case-by-case basis.

We are working to make childcare and mobility support available during CP 2027 and will provide further information as options are confirmed.

Submission Guidelines

We invite proposals in the following formats:

Individual papers

A title and abstract of up to 300 words.

Pre-constituted panels

Three papers plus one provocateur, who will offer a critical response and moderate the discussion. Proposals should include a panel title, a 150-word rationale, and a title and abstract of up to 300 words for each paper.

Pre-constituted roundtables

Four or five participants and one provocateur, who will moderate and enliven the discussion. Roundtables should be designed around exchange rather than a sequence of short papers. Proposals should include a title and up to 400 words identifying the central question or tension, explaining the envisioned format and participants’ contributions, and indicating how the session will create space for wider discussion. Experimental and original formats are particularly welcome.

All proposals should include a brief biographical note of up to 100 words for each participant. Panels and roundtables bringing together different career stages, institutional locations, and perspectives are encouraged.

A delegate may participate in a maximum of two capacities across the conference programme.

Proposals should be submitted via this form by Tuesday, 1 December 2026, 23:59 Central European Time (CET). Submission link: https://forms.gle/1i62NU3NGJ3SYbwJ7

Notifications of acceptance will be sent in late January 2027.

For questions about the conference or the submission process, please contact the organizing committee at cp27-fgw@uva.nl.

Please watch for updates and news at http://www.console-ingpassions.org/ and on the conference website, which is expected to go live at the end of September.

Conference Organizers: Misha Kavka and Balázs Boross Department of Media Studies / ASCA, University of Amsterdam

November 19-21, 2026

University of Lodz, Department of Pragmatics, Poland

Deadline (EXTENDED): October 15, 2026

Positioned within contemporary struggles over public meaning, social affiliation and political legitimacy, digital religion is articulated through mediated practices in which claims about faith, community, authority and truth become resources for negotiating belonging, morality, identity and power.

Digital Religion V invites papers that examine these practices at the interfaces of discourse, society and politics, with a focus on digital religious discourse both as product and as practice: as a textual and multimodal form, and as situated action involving the production, distribution, and consumption of religious meanings across platforms, publics and institutional contexts. 

The interfaces are approached as sites of contact and tension, with religious doctrine informing everyday moral judgement, ritual participation intersecting with activism, institutional authority being negotiated alongside influencer charisma, and private spirituality assuming sociopolitical significance. Central to these processes are conceptualization, representation, recontextualization and affect: religious meanings are made cognitively accessible, salient, and invested with the emotional force. Digital affordances, in turn, enable their circulation across genres, platforms and publics, attaching them to causes and conflicts and intensifying the interplay between religious expression, social affiliation and political positioning.

We invite papers addressing, but not limited to, the following questions and areas:

• How does digital religious discourse shape public debates, legitimise authority or mark the limits of belonging?
  
• How do social and political conflicts become legible through religion in platformed public communicative practice?
  
• Under what conditions do digital religious practices sustain care, solidarity, memory and participation, or produce antagonism, exclusion and radicalisation?
  
• What happens when politics borrows religious repertoires, when religious actors adopt platform tactics, and when platforms order religious visibility?
  
• How are institutional religion, lived religion, spirituality, atheism and anti-religious discourse brought into contact in digital environments?
  
• How are religious authority, expertise, authenticity, charisma and credibility established, challenged or displaced under conditions of platformed visibility?
  
• How do religious symbols, narratives, values and moral vocabularies enter nationalism, populism, conspiracy cultures, extremism and culture-war discourse?
  
• How do metaphors organise the affective and moral intelligibility of digital religious discourse, shaping how publics recognise threat, victimhood, duty, crisis, hope or belonging?
  
• How are religious identities politicised, and how are social or political conflicts religionised, across digital platforms?
  
• How do digital religious discourses construct publics, counter-publics, minorities, moral communities, dissent and exclusion?
  
• How are gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, migration, diaspora, class, generation and disability articulated through religious and anti-religious discourse online?
  
• How does digital religious communication respond to war, displacement, ecological crisis, violence, inequality, insecurity and social change?
  
• How does affect shape the public force of digital religion, from fear, hope and compassion to resentment, moral outrage, grief and collective grievance?
  
• How do digital affordances, algorithms, metrics, moderation, recommendation systems and visibility regimes condition religious discourse and participation?
  

We welcome theoretical, methodological and empirical papers from media and communication studies, discourse studies, religious studies, theology, sociology, anthropology, political science, linguistics, cultural studies, digital humanities and related fields. Contributions may focus on particular platforms, communities, traditions, controversies or media genres, as well as on comparative, transnational or historical perspectives.

The conference will be organised in a hybrid format, with the possibility of both on-site and online participation. While the main conference language is English, a limited number of papers in Polish may also be accepted.

Keynote speakers

Prof. Elizabeth Poole, Keele University, UK

Dr. Stephen Pihlaja, Aston University UK

Conference date

November 19-21, 2026

Conference venue

Faculty of Philology

University of Lodz

Pomorska 171/173

90-236 Lodz, Poland

Conference website

https://www.ethicsinmedia.eu/digital-religion-2026

Conference email

digital.religion@uni.lodz.pl 

Submissions and deadlines

Abstracts in English, along with a short bio including full name, email address and affiliation, should be submitted by September 30th, 2026 via the conference submission form at:  https://www.ethicsinmedia.eu/digital-religion-2026

Extended deadline: 15th October 2026

Notifications of acceptance will be sent to authors by October 7th, 2026.

Conference fee

The conference fee is EUR 80, and the payment deadline is November 3rd, 2026.

A reduced fee for PhD students and participants from low-income countries is EUR 50.

Bank transfer and exchange costs are paid by participants. 

Conference fees should be transferred to the following bank account:

Please ensure that the participant’s name and “Digital Religion 2026” are included in the payment reference.

The bank account holder:

Uniwersytet Łódzki / University of Łódź

PL 26 1240 3028 1111 0011 7022 1640

BIC/SWIFT: PKOPPLPW

Bank: Bank Polska Kasa Opieki S.A., II Oddział w Łodzi

ul. Piotrkowska 270, 90-361 Łódź 

For participants from Poland – additional financial information

Osoby, które będą potrzebowały faktury, prosimy o dokonanie płatności przelewem do 03.11.2026 i wpisanie danych do faktury w formularzu zgłoszeniowym.

Dane do faktury dla uczestnika konferencji ‘Digital Religion 2026’:

Imię i nazwisko:

Nazwa i adres instytucji:

NIP Instytucji:

Upoważniam Uniwersytet Łódzki w Łodzi do wystawienia faktury VAT bez mojego podpisu:

Data i czytelny podpis

Any inquiries and questions regarding the conference should be sent to digital.religion@uni.lodz.pl 

Proceedings

Selected papers will be considered for publication in Lodz Papers in Pragmatics (De Gruyter-Brill) and an edited volume with an international publisher.

Organizing committee

Monika Tosik, Department of Pragmatics, University of Lodz, Poland 

Jaroslav Franc, Department of Communication, Palacky University Olomouc, Czech Republic

Renata Sedlakova, Department of Communication, Palacky University Olomouc, Czech Republic

Damian Guzek, Center for the Study of the Digital Public Sphere, University of Silesia in Katowice Department of Communication, Palacký University Olomouc, Czech Republic

Veronika Müllerová, Department of Communication, Palacký University Olomouc, Czech Republic

Institute of Communication Science, Friedrich Schiller University Jena

We invite applications for two academic positions in the DFG-funded project “Strategic Narratives in the Age of Transnational Influence Campaigns,” which examines how foreign actors adapt strategic narratives across different information environments, how these narratives are amplified by domestic actors, and how audiences ultimately respond to them.

We are hiring:

1. PhD Researcher with a focus on narrative formation and dissemination (75%, 3 years, TVL E-13)

Link to Job Posting: Doctoral Candidate / Scientific Researcher | Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena | 2143

2. PhD Researcher with a focus on narrative reception and interpretation (75%, 3 years, TVL E-13)

Link to Job Posting: Doctoral Candidate / Scientific Researcher | Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena | 2140

Both positions commence on 1 April 2027.

We offer:

• Opportunity to work in an appreciative and internationally connected project team
  
• Involvement in impactful research
  
• Individual support and diverse opportunities for further training, including through the Graduate Academy for doctoral candidates at Friedrich Schiller University Jena
  
• Flexible working hours (flexitime and, if applicable, teleworking)
  

Ideal candidates have experience in the methods specified in the respective job listings, knowledge of statistical and programming language R, and an interest in comparative political communication research, particularly in the topic of malign information influence.

The applications are accepted by 31 October 2026.

November 13, 2026

Centre for Digital Methods and Media (CDMM) at Aarhus University maintains a growing range of digital methods tools and resources for researchers and students.

In celebration of our 5th anniversary, the centre will host an online workshop on the theme: Democratising Digital Methods

The workshop will take place on 13 November 2026, 9-12 (CET) on Zoom.

We invite ideas for contributions by 15 October 2026 (AOE).

Please see our full call for further information: https://cc.au.dk/en/cdmm/cdmm-workshop-13-november-2026#c852064

Saarland University

Dear everyone,

We are filling a professorship at Saarland University and would like to ask you to share the call within your networks, or to apply yourself if the profile fits your own plans. 

The W3 professorship in Computational Social Science (W2906) is for researchers with an established programme in the field, whether that programme rests on network analysis, automated text analysis, large-scale digital behavioural data, AI-based modelling, or a combination of these. The process also weighs experience in leading coordinated research, for instance as principal or co-investigator in collaborative research centres or joint projects. A formal affiliation with the Department of Computer Science is possible.

SOUNDS is a project at Saarland University, funded with €29 million until 2032, that studies societal change through novel digital data sources. Computational Social Science sits at its core, and the bridge between social science and computational science is what we are building here. Both professorships will shape that work from the start. You can find out more at https://www.uni-saarland.de/sounds.

Please find the full job description and the online application form here: https://www.uni-saarland.de/verwaltung/berufungen/online-berufungsportal/w2905-w2-professorship-w3-tenure-track-position-in-political-social-or-communication-science.html

Best regards,

Martin Ulrich

June 9-12, 2027

Chicago, USA

Deadline: December 11, 2026

Dear colleagues,

The 35th International Conference on User Modeling, Adaptation, and Personalization (ACM UMAP 2027) will take place in Chicago, USA, from June 9 to 12, 2027. ACM UMAP 2027 will be a fully in-person, on-site conference.

UMAP 2027 continues to be the leading international conference bringing together research in AI and HCI to support effective human-AI collaboration via interactive systems that can model, adapt, and personalize to their users.

We invite proposals for workshops to be held in conjunction with UMAP 2027. Traditionally, workshops provide additional forums for participants to engage in focused discussions and explore key emerging areas of the conference topics; they provide a setting for researchers and practitioners from industry and academia to share ideas and seed new research trajectories.

For UMAP 2027, our goal is to curate a diverse and balanced workshop program that reflects the breadth and depth of the UMAP community, accommodating newly emerging, currently evolving, and historically understudied research topics. We welcome both full and half-day workshops of different formats: from traditional, mini-conference-style events with their own submission and peer-review process, to more interactive and hands-on formats. These may include moderated discussions, collaborative writing sessions, hackathon-style resource development, or design-thinking workshops that encourage active participation.

**Important dates (11:59 PM AoE: Anywhere on Earth)**

• Submission deadline: December 11, 2026
  
• Notification: January 15, 2027
  
• Workshop website URL submission: February 5, 2027
  
• Workshop Days: June 9, 2027

More information, including submission instructions and template requirements, is available at: https://um.org/umap2027/call-for-workshop-proposals/

Please feel free to share this Call for Workshop Proposals with colleagues and researchers who may be interested.

Best regards,

The ACM UMAP 2027 Organizing Committee

June 9-12, 2027

Chicago, USA

Deadline: February 6, 2027

Dear colleagues,

The ACM UMAP 2027 Doctoral Consortium invites submissions from PhD students conducting research in user modeling, personalization, and related areas. As part of the conference, it welcomes doctoral students who have not previously attended a UMAP Doctoral Consortium to refine their research with guidance from renowned scholars and industry professionals. Participants will present their work, receive constructive feedback, and engage in meaningful discussions to advance their research.

The DC forum provides doctoral students with opportunities to:

• Present and discuss their research ideas with experienced scholars in a supportive, formative, and critical environment.
  
• Explore and develop their research interests with guidance from distinguished researchers who will provide constructive feedback and advice.
  
• Explore career pathways available after completing their doctoral degree.
  
• Network and build collaborations with other members of the community.
  

Important dates (11:59 PM AoE, Anywhere on Earth )

• Submission deadline: February 6, 2027
  
• Notification: February 20, 2027
  
• Doctoral Consortium: June 9, 2027
  

The conference will take place in Chicago, USA, and the Doctoral Consortium will be held as part of ACM UMAP 2027.

More information, including submission instructions and template requirements, is available at: https://um.org/umap2027/call-for-doctoral-consortium-submissions/

Please feel free to share this Call for Doctoral Consortium Submissions with PhD students and colleagues who may be interested.

Best regards,

The ACM UMAP 2027 Organizing Committee

June 9-12 2027

Chicago, USA

Deadline: December 11, 2026

Dear colleagues,

The 35th ACM International Conference on User Modeling, Adaptation, and Personalization (ACM UMAP 2027) will take place in Chicago, USA, from June 9 to 12, 2027. ACM UMAP 2027 will be a fully in-person, on-site conference.

UMAP 2027 continues to bring together research in AI and HCI to support effective human–AI collaboration through interactive systems that can model, adapt, and personalize to their users.

We warmly invite proposals for 90-minute tutorials to be held in conjunction with ACM UMAP 2027. Tutorials are an opportunity to take the community on a deeper dive into a topic, guided by experts in the field. They may be introductory or advanced, research-focused or practice-oriented, and can cover both established and emerging topics related to interactive systems that can model, adapt, and personalize to their users. The most successful tutorials actively engage participants by incorporating hands-on and/or interactive elements. We welcome proposals from both academia and industry.

Example Topics of Interest

Topics may include, but are not limited to:

• Generative AI and Personalization
  
• Generative AI and Adaptation
  
• Domain-Specific Challenges of User Modeling
  
• Evaluation of Personalized/Adaptive Technologies
  
• Knowledge Representation and Reasoning
  
• Practical Tools and Frameworks
  
• Conversational Agents and Interactive Personalization
  
• Responsible Personalization in Practice
  
• User Control and Agency
  
• Cross-Domain and Multi-Stakeholder Personalization
  
• Human-AI Collaboration
  

Important dates (11:59 PM AoE: Anywhere on Earth)

• Submission deadline: December 11, 2026
  
• Notification: January 15, 2027
  
• Tutorial Day: June 9, 2027
  

More information, including submission instructions and template requirements, is available at: https://um.org/umap2027/call-for-tutorial-proposals/

Please feel free to share this Call for Tutorial Proposals with colleagues and researchers who may be interested.

Best regards,

The ACM UMAP 2027 Organizing Committee

International Journal of Games and Social Impact

Deadline: November 20, 2026

Guest Editors: Ana Filipa Oliveira (Universidade Lusófona, CICANT, Portugal); Marisa Mourão (Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, CICANT, Portugal); João Léste (Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, LINC-Design, Brazil); Bieke Zaman (KU Leuven, Belgium)

We currently live in a deeply polarised media ecosystem, in which the speed and volume of information pose new challenges to citizens' critical capacities (Tucker et al., 2018). In a world dominated by algorithms, marked by polarisation and various forms of information disorder (Wardle & Derakhshan, 2017), narratives and values are being shaped in unprecedented ways, making the promotion of media literacy skills one of the foremost priorities in education and training (Mihailidis & Viotty, 2017). In this context, games and gamified practices emerge as an alternative pedagogical approach (Dicheva et al., 2015) that offers ample opportunities to develop media literacy in an engaging and meaningful way (Sousa et al., 2024), including for people with disabilities (Léste et al., 2025) and other marginalised and underrepresented groups (Prazak et al., 2026). Yet, evidence remains fragmented. Game elements can support critical engagement in some contexts while undermining it in others, and the psychological, situational, and design factors behind this ambivalence are poorly understood (van Roy & Zaman, 2018, 2019). 

This special issue of The International Journal of Games and Social Impact seeks to explore the role of games, gamification, and playable media in fostering media literacy, critical citizenship, and social transformation across formal, non-formal, and informal contexts. It invites theoretical, empirical, and design-oriented contributions examining how, why, and for whom such interventions succeed or fail in cultivating an informed and responsible citizenry — including work on inclusive design for diverse learners.

Submissions may address (but are not limited to) the following questions:

• How can games, gamification, and playable media contribute to the development of media and news literacy?
  
• How can pedagogical innovation in media literacy be promoted through game-based and gamified approaches?
  
• How can strategies for promoting media literacy be effectively implemented using games, gamification, and playable media? 
  
• In what ways can game-based learning, gamified, and playable media approaches foster critical thinking, civic engagement, and the development of tools to counter disinformation and polarisation?
  
• How can game-based, gamified, and playable media approaches support digital literacy and the development of 21st-century skills?
  
• How do co-creation practices involving students, educators, and communities enhance the effectiveness of game-based approaches?
  
• How can game-based, gamified, and playable media approaches be integrated into teacher training for the promotion of media literacy?
  
• What are the synergies between gamified media literacy approaches and the promotion of accessibility and inclusion?
  
• How can gamified approaches relate to specific demographics that are particularly vulnerable to information disorders (e.g.: children, the elderly, people without formal education, people with cognitive disabilities, and other marginalised and underrepresented groups)?
  

Authors are encouraged to address one or more of the following topics (but are not limited to):

• Gamification,game-based learning, and playable media approaches in educational contexts 
  
• Media and news literacy for critical citizenship 
  
• Education to counter information disorders and polarisation 
  
• Digital literacy and 21st-century skills 
  
• Pedagogical innovation in formal and non-formal educational contexts 
  
• Inclusion and equity in access to digital education 
  
• Co-creation with students and educators 
  
• Teacher training in media literacy 
  
• Technology and infrastructure in peripheral contexts 
  
• Transnational comparisons of European educational practices 
  
• Impact assessment of gamified tools

Submission Guidelines

Submissions should adhere to the journal’s formatting and referencing guidelines. Both full research articles (6,000-8,000 words) and short papers (2,000 - 4,000 words) are welcome. All submissions will undergo a double anonymous peer review process to ensure scholarly rigour and originality.

Contact

For inquiries about the thematic scope of the special issue, please contact Ana Filipa Oliveira (ana.filipa.oliveira@ulusofona.pt). For logistic aspects of the submission, please contact ijgsi@ulusofona.pt. 

Timeline (subject to change)

• Abstract Submission Deadline: 20 November 2026
  
• Notification of Acceptance for Abstract Submissions: 21 December 2026
  
• Full Paper Submission Deadline: 28 February 2027
  
• Notification of Acceptance: 28 July 2027
  
• Publication Date: December 2027
  

*The first round of peer review is expected to be completed by then. Therefore, articles that are subject to only one round of peer review may be accepted until the end of May.

References

Dicheva, D., Dichev, C., Agre, G., & Angelova, G. (2015). Gamification in education: A systematic mapping study. Educational Technology & Society, 18(3), 75–88.

Léste, J. V., Sousa , C., & Farbiarz, J. L. (2025). Jogos analógicos fomentando experiências educacionais: Práticas e potenciais para pessoas com deficiência visual. Quaestio - Revista de Estudos em Educação, 27, Article e025045. https://doi.org/10.22483/2177-5796.2025v27id5739

Mihailidis, P., & Viotty, S. (2017). Spreadable spectacle in digital culture: Civic expression, fake news, and the role of media literacies in "post-fact" society. American Behavioral Scientist, 61(4), 441–454. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764217701217

Prazak, I., Padovani, L., Lim, Y., Hsu, J. (Hsin-P.), & Lee, M. (2026). Disability misinformation on Facebook: A comparison of LLM-based fact-checking tools. Information Research an International Electronic Journal, 31(iConf), 1042–1053. https://doi.org/10.47989/ir31iConf64259

Sousa, C., Oliveira, A. F., Casimiro, C., Léste, J., & Yaman, H. (2024). Explorando o impacto da aprendizagem baseada em jogos na literacia de notícias e na cidadania digital das pessoas jovens. Media & Jornalismo, 24(45), Article e4510. https://doi.org/10.14195/2183-5462_45_10

Tucker, J. A., Guess, A., Barberá, P., Vaccari, C., Siegel, A., Sanovich, S., Stukal, D., & Nyhan, B. (2018). Social media, political polarization, and political disinformation: A review of the scientific literature. Hewlett Foundation.

van Roy, R., & Zaman, B. (2018). Need-supporting gamification in education: An assessment of motivational effects over time. Computers & Education, 127, 283-297. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2018.08.018

van Roy, R., & Zaman, B. (2019). Unravelling the ambivalent motivational power of gamification: A basic psychological needs perspective. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 127(0), Article j.ijhcs.2018.04.009, 38-50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2018.04.009

Wardle, C., & Derakhshan, H. (2017). Information disorder: Toward an interdisciplinary framework for research and policy making. Council of Europe.

Aarhus University

The Graduate School at Arts, Faculty of Arts, Aarhus University, in collaboration with the European Research Council and the School of Communication and Culture, invites applications for a fully funded PhD fellowship in PAY4PLAY: Entrepreneurial Organizing in the Platform Society provided the necessary funding is available. This PhD fellowship is available as of 1 February 2027 for a period of up to three years (5+3).

It is expected that candidate awarded the PhD fellowship will be able to commence the PhD degree programme on 1 February 2027. 

The PhD fellowship is part of project “PAY4PLAY: Entrepreneurial Organizing in the Platform Society,” led by Associate Professor Blake Hallinan and funded by a Starting Grant from the European Research Council (ERC). 

Project description

PAY4PLAY is an interdisciplinary, large-scale investigation of organizing in the creator economy concerned with how creators and their communities come together and create value. The project is premised on the idea that organizing is essential to understand how creators - and people more broadly - both exploit and challenge the growing power of digital platforms. The project approaches creator organizing from three perspectives (culture, infrastructure, policy) and compares three industrial sectors (gamers, VTubers, adult content creators). In so doing, the project will map the industrial conditions of the creator economy, develop a new theory of organizing and platform power, and provide policy recommendations for platforms and regulators.

The PAY4PLAY team includes the principal investigator Blake Hallinan, postdoctoral researcher Emilija Jokubauskaitė, and three PhD fellows working on the sub-project “Cultures of Participation within and among Creator Communities.” This PhD fellowship focuses on VTubers, or virtual content creators. We are particularly interested in proposals that compare Japanese and English-language VTuber communities, but we are also open to proposals that focus on other significant VTuber communities (e.g., Chinese VTubers, LBGTQ VTubers). 

The project design is flexible but should investigate organizing within (i.e., how creators, co-producers, volunteers, and audience members relate to each other) and among creator communities (i.e., how creator communities form alliances to shape industrial conditions). The PhD fellow will also have the opportunity to collaborate with team members working in other sectors and in the projects focused on infrastructure and policy, as well as with an international network of advisors and collaborators. 

The PhD fellowship will be supervised by Blake Hallinan, Associate Professor in the Department of Media and Journalism Studies, and Anja Bechmann, Professor in the Department of Media and Journalism Studies. 

Tasks and responsibilities

The candidate will: 

• Design and conduct studies of organizing within and among VTuber communities across social media platforms (e.g., Twitch, YouTube, Discord, Patreon, TikTok)
  
• Conduct interviews with members of VTuber communities
  
• Observe creator community organizing at industry events (e.g., TwitchCon, OffKai Expo)
  
• Observe creator community organizing online using relevant methods (e.g., digital ethnography, digital methods analysis of social media data)
  
• Collaborate closely with supervisors, the postdoctoral researcher, and fellow PhD researchers on the PAY4PLAY project
  
• Present research at international conferences
  
• Publish PhD research in international publication venues
  

Requirements

• Master’s degree (120 ECTS) in a relevant field (e.g., media studies, communication, anthropology, sociology, cultural studies)
  
• Experience with studying digital platforms and/or online communities
  
• Ability to speak and write in English at an academic level
  

Desirable assets

• Ability to conduct research in Japanese (reading documents, interviewing participants)
  
• Domain expertise in the creator economy
  
• Theoretical sophistication, as reflected in the project description
  
• Experience with collaborative, interdisciplinary, and/or international research projects
  

Please see the project’s website (www.pay4play.eu) for further information.

Enrolment and place of work

The PhD student must complete the studies in accordance with the Ministerial Order on the PhD Programme at the Universities and Certain Higher Artistic Educational Institutions (PhD Order): http://phd.arts.au.dk/applicants/thephddegreeprogramme/

Description of the graduate school’s PhD degree programme: http://phd.arts.au.dk/applicants/phdstudystructure/

Rules and regulations for the PhD degree programme at the Graduate School at Arts: http://phd.arts.au.dk/applicants/thephddegreeprogramme/ 

The PhD fellow will be enrolled as a PhD student at the Graduate School at Arts, Faculty of Arts, Aarhus University, with the aim of completing a PhD degree at the School of Communication and Culture, Aarhus University. 

The PhD student will be affiliated with the PhD programme ICT, Media, Communication and Journalism.

The PhD student’s place of work will be the School of Communication and Culture, Aarhus University. In general, the student is expected to be present at the school on an everyday basis. 

The PhD degree programme is expected to include a lengthy research stay at a foreign institution, cf. Description of the graduate school’s PhD degree programme.

School of Communication and Culture’s research programme: http://cc.au.dk/en/research/research-programmes/ 

5+3 programme

When you apply for a 3-year PhD fellowship (5+3), you must have completed your Master’s degree no later than 31 January 2027. Your Master’s degree must be equivalent to a Danish Master’s degree.

The PhD fellow will be employed at the Faculty of Arts, Aarhus University.

The terms and conditions of employment and salary will be governed by the collective agreement for academics employed by the Danish state. The PhD fellow will be employed and remunerated in accordance with Appendix 5 of the collective agreement.

The Circular on the Collective Agreement for Academics Employed by the State between the Danish Ministry of Finance and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations (Akademikerne), as well as the Protocol on Salaried PhD Fellows (Appendix 5 of the collective agreement), can be found here: http://phd.arts.au.dk/applicants/thephddegreeprogramme/

The PhD fellow will be placed in salary group 4-8 of the academic pay scale, depending on relevant seniority-qualifying work experience acquired after completion of the Master's degree.

Salary: https://phd.arts.au.dk/4-4-part-b-and-5-3/salary-and-employment

How to apply 

The application must include: 

• Motivation/cover letter (statement of motivation and research interests, max one A4 page of 2,400 characters including spaces)
  
• CV (including a complete list of education, positions, publications and other qualifying activities)
  
• Project description outlining how the candidate envisages completing the work to be undertaken during the course of the term of appointment.
  
• The overall project description (excl. list of project literature/bibliography/reference list and timetable) must not exceed 12,000 characters including spaces, tables, diagrams, footnotes, endnotes and illustrations (5 A4 pages of 2,400 characters each)
  
• Project literature/reference list
  
• Timetable (mandatory form)
  
• Cover sheet (form stating your degrees)
  
• Copies of educational certificates (Bachelor and Master’s degrees). The diplomas or diploma supplement/transcript of records must state: name of university, education (Bachelor or Master), duration (number of years, full-time), courses, marks and (if given) ECTS credits.
  

Please see a detailed description of the requirements for the application in the guide for the application facility: http://phd.arts.au.dk/applicants/how-to-apply/ 

Application

If you require professional guidance regarding your application for the PhD fellowship please contact the PhD programme director at ICT, Media, Communication and Journalism: http://phd.arts.au.dk/about-us/contact/

For further information, please contact Associate Professor Blake Hallinan, School of Communication and Culture, bhallinan@cc.au.dk, Phone + 45 93997501.

The application must be submitted in English.

All applicants must provide documentation of excellent communication skills in English which are considered essential, and you must therefore be able to read, write, and speak academic English fluently. English language requirement is comparable to a minimum of TOEFL 83 or IELTS 6.5. Please see this page for further information: http://phd.arts.au.dk/applicants/english-test/

Child protection certificate

In accordance with Ministerial Order no. 554 of 23 May 2023, Aarhus University is obliged to obtain a statement of no previous convictions in respect of children in connection with the appointment and employment of staff whose work will involve direct contact with children under the age of 15. If you, in connection with your PhD project, will be in direct contact with children under the age of 15 who are not accompanied by a parent or guardian, childcare professional or teacher, you will be covered by the requirements of the ministerial order. 

• If you are covered by these requirements and read Danish, please complete the section “Samtykkeerklæring” (declaration of consent) in the police form and upload the file under “Other information to consider” in the application form. You can download the form here: https://phd.arts.au.dk/fileadmin/phd.arts.au.dk/ARTS/Rules_and_forms/Boerneattest.pdf  
  
• If you are covered by these requirements and do not read Danish, please upload a brief statement with the headline “Child protection certificate needed” under the field “Other information to consider” in the application form. 
  

Applications for the PhD fellowship and enrolment in the PhD degree programme can only be submitted via the application form in Aarhus University’s web-based facility.

Deadline for applications: 1 November 2026 at 23.59 Danish time (CET/CEST).

Reference number: 2026-11

During the assessments, Aarhus University can conduct interviews with selected applicants.