ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

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/

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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

July 6-7, 2026

Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Spain

Deadline: March 13, 2026

Full information: https://incom.uab.cat/congreso26/en/

Given the key role that digital platforms currently play in the media and cultural consumption of young people, the influence of artificial intelligence systems for organizing and generating content is a phenomenon of great academic relevance. Through personalized recommendations and systems that provide plausible answers to queries formulated in natural language, algorithmic mediations not only determine the information and entertainment content that young people consume, but also shape public opinion and levels of engagement with political and social issues.

With the I International Conference on Digital Audiences: Youth, Algorithmic Mediations and Political Socialization, organized by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), the aim is to create a meeting space for researchers interested in analysing how digitalization and algorithmic mediations shape reception processes and the very configuration of audiences.

In this first edition, there is a particular interest in proposals that adopt an intersectional perspective on digital audiences, that take into account diversity and social inequalities, but there is also a desire to devote significant attention to the “informational experience”. More broadly, the objective is to discuss how the progressive displacement of human agency is affecting social engagement and citizen participation in the digital public sphere.

We expect contributions that delve into one of the following thematic lines:

1. New informational habits of youth audiences: This line seeks to explore how young people consume, share, and produce informational content on digital platforms. The goal is to address all types of digital environments, whether linked to traditional media or independent of them.

2. Algorithmic perceptions and imaginaries: This theme focuses on the role of personalization algorithms in content mediation and, more specifically, on how they are perceived by youth audiences. Particular interest lies in assessing the sense of control over algorithmic mediations, as well as the ability to identify and respond to biases and disinformation. Proposals may address studies on algorithmic literacy.

3. Political socialization: This section examines dynamics of political socialization in digital environments, considering aspects such as ideology formation, levels of social/collective engagement, or political participation. A wide range of topics is welcome, from the potential of digital activism to fears of cancellation among the most vulnerable groups. Although most available studies have been conducted during election campaigns, we aim to include all types of empirical work in this conference.

4. Gender and social representation: Through this thematic line, we intend to explore how gender identity and sexual orientation shape algorithmically mediated consumption. Proposals are invited on algorithmic biases, from analyses documenting the presence of prejudices and negative stereotypes toward minority social groups or "invisible" topics, to works offering solutions or strategies to address these issues.

Abstract: 300 -500 words (submitted via Form available at the site)

Proposal submission deadline: March 13, 2026

Proposals can be individual or collective (up to four authors).

Participation will be in-person (with at least one of the authors present).

Proposals may be submitted in Spanish, Catalan, or English.

All proposals will undergo a double-blind peer review process.

Registration is free for participants

Organized by: 

ALCOM - Perception and Knowledge generation on personalization algorithms in digital communication platforms ( PIs – Fernanda Pires and Celina Navarro - UAB). PID2023-1-48682OA-I00, financed by MICIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/, FEDER/UE. https://webs.uab.cat/alcom/

POINTAP - Social Polarization and Interculturality: Monitoring Political News by Migrant and Native Youth from an Intersectional Perspective (PI – Amparo Huertas Bailén – UAB). https://incom.uab.cat/pointap/?lang=es

Partner organizations:

ICPS - The Political and Social Science Institute of Barcelona 

INCOM-UAB - Institute for Communication/ UNESCO Chair for Communication UAB

Department of Audiovisual Communication and Advertising UAB

AE-IC - Asociación Española de Investigación de la Comunicación 

International Journal of Film and Media Arts (special issue)

Deadline (full papers): April 15, 2026

This special issue seeks to foreground renewed and insurgent feminist approaches within film and audiovisual scholarship and practice. We invite contributions that interrogate dominant historiographies, reclaim marginalised genealogies, and propose innovative methodologies capable of reshaping the epistemological frameworks of cinema and media studies. We particularly welcome work that bridges theory and practice, fosters transnational dialogues, and advances intersectional, decolonial, and speculative perspectives.

CFP: https://revistas.ulusofona.pt/index.php/ijfma/announcement/view/255