ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

June 5-6, 2025

Lisbon, Portugal

Deadline: February 28, 2025

2025 ECREA Workshop of the Temporary Working Group Affect, Emotion & Media

From climate change awareness to political engagement, media have always played an essential role in giving people the tools to make informed decisions to potentially enhance their quality of life and that of their communities. However, in an era where multiple layers of content and information from different sources and players coexist, it can be challenging to develop shared visions for improved quality of life and change oneself, communities, cities, the environment, and governments for the better. Emotion and affect are powerful tools to bridge this gap, capturing attention and inspiring engagement with critical quality-of-life issues.

This workshop explores the intersection of affect, emotion, and media in addressing contemporary societal challenges with impacts on well-being and the good life, focusing on quality-of-life topics such as healthy media use, climate action, equity, democracy, mobility, and responsible cities, among others. We welcome interdisciplinary approaches that combine media and communication studies with psychology, sociology, political science, and other relevant fields. Presentations may address, but are not limited to:

• Theoretical frameworks and empirical approaches for understanding affect in media communication;
  
• Empirical studies on the impact of affect and emotion in news dissemination and reception;
  
• Case studies of successful or failed affective strategies in, e.g., journalism, PR, advertisement, political campaigns, or influencer relationships;
  
• Ethical considerations in leveraging emotion for media engagement;
  
• Expressions of affect and emotion in visual communication
  
• Affect, emotions, and the role of algorithms and AI;
  
• Innovative methodologies for measuring and analyzing emotional responses to media content.
  
• Historical analyses of affect and emotion in media and their impact on society
  

Location & Date: NOVA University of Lisbon (NOVA FCSH), Av. de Berna Campus | 5 and 6 June 2025

Submission deadline: 28 February 2025

Submit an abstract (only in English) of no more than 300 words (excl. bibliography) by 28 February 2025 to dorasantossilva@fcsh.unl.pt

One file should contain no identifying information on the authors (only abstract proposal and respective title), as each abstract will be subjected to peer review. In addition, we request authors to submit – in a separate file – the title of the abstract, the authors and affiliations (plus a short bio). Notification of acceptance/rejection will be given by 10 March. 

Members and non-members of ECREA are equally welcome to submit an abstract. Proposals from PhD students and early career researchers are especially encouraged. A registration fee of €90 for researchers and €25 for PhDs students will, as of now, be required. This value includes two days of lunches and coffee breaks.

Dora Santos-Silva

Gabriela Ferreira 

Manuel Menke

Dominique Wirz

May 28-30, 2025

Universidade Nova de Lisboa, ICNOVA-FCSH-UNL, Lisbon

Deadline: January 24, 2025

This conference is hosted by the Communication Institute of Universidade Nova, FCSH.

It will have a double-blind peer review and publication of selected papers for RCL [Revista de Comunicação e Linguagens].

The arts and artistic practices create specific modes and mediations that involve variations in attention. They perform a “tuning [of] the attention” if we are to use Lisa Nelson’s formulation in Tuning Scores (2003), which generates cadences, movements and intensities between different types of focus of fluctuating, and varyingly disinterested or distracted attention. Attention is always in movement, and according to Paul Ricoeur, it is always more or less at the service of a desire, an intention, a task, a need or a volition.

The study of variations in attention in the arts, notably performance and cinema, is also linked to how we see the world and choose what we want to show. Sensitivity is refined to give visibility to something confused with the landscape, highlighting it or co-composing with it.  When we choose a cutout, a framework for what we are going to share, we create a surplus—everything we choose not to show—and a margin—which is within the cutout of what is shown but is not reinforced as “the most relevant.” 

These choices also reveal some common ground between art and politics—the choice between what is considered relevant to be seen and made visible and what is left out of the attention with resulting implications. What we do not see (or hear, or smell) of the figure/background, such as context and focus, movement, drag, or blur, is very broad and requires a great deal of “attention training” to play, describe, and live in the arts, sciences, and ordinary everyday life.

On the other hand, the word “cadence” has a procedural and dynamic dimension that relates not only to modulations and rhythms but also to falls. “Cadere,” the word behind “cadence,” contains the idea of falling.  Falling in or out of a specific type of attention, a curiosity, a passion, or floating in attention through falls, as happens in surfing or Contact Improvisation, perfectly describes the way we live in constant “improvisation.”

For the conference Cadences: Attentional Moves in the Arts and Everyday Life, we invite talks with and about modes and “echologies” of attention—thinking of the “echo” of sound resonance—and the ecology of relationships as an intricate web of inter-affections. We invite reflections on framings, postures, positions and positionalities. We invite reflections on affection and care, craftsmanship and hospitality. 

What words, tools, movements, and cadences do we use to practice attention?

What subjectivities and communities are generated from certain practices of attention? What is left out of focus?

When we say “focus,” do we put ourselves in the place of a lens that focuses, as in the case of photography and cinema?

We accept proposals on attentional moves linked to the arts and everyday life. We invite scholars, researchers, artists, and curators to submit proposals for a 20-minute in-person presentation in English, or Portuguese.

Suggested topics (may include but are not limited to)

-Technogenetic attention.

-Tuning of attention.

-Movements of attention.

-Attention mediation.

-Attention capture and attention deficit.

-Arts. 

– Crafts, handicrafts and workshops.

– Performance studies. 

– Performance and cognition.

– Dramaturgies of attention.

– Attention, affection and care.

– Transindividual attention and community.

– Performativity of attention.

– Queer studies.

– Gender and Feminist studies.

– Black studies and Race studies.

– Disability studies.

Keynote speakers:

Yves Citton (Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint Denis), 

Bojana Cvejic (Oslo National Academy of Arts),

Jonathan Burrows (Centre for Dance Research Coventry University), 

Carla Fernandes (ICNOVA, Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas, Universidade Nova de Lisboa).

Fees:

Researchers / Speakers: €120

Students: € 60

Submission guidelines

The proposals should include:

Title of the proposal; Author’s identification (name, institutional affiliation, country and e-mail); Conference topics and 3 to 5 keywords. Extended abstract (300 – 500 words), 1 or 2 images (optional), References (3 to 5), Short bio (150 words max).

Proposals must be sent in PDF format by e-mail to:  cadencesattentionalmoves@gmail.com

Conference website: http://cadencesattentionalmoves.fcsh.unl.pt

Texts and presentations must be delivered in English or Portuguese.

Selection process

Proposals can be submitted until 24 January 2025.

Proposals are assessed by double-blind peer review.

The note of acceptance will be sent by 24 February 2025.

Deadline for registration: 24 March.

A selection of conference papers will be included in RCL [Revista de Comunicação e Linguagens], to be published in 2026 by the Institute of Communication of Nova, School of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa.

Further instructions for publication of the complete papers will be sent directly to the selected authors.

September 18-19, 2025

Nova University of Lisbon (Portugal)

Deadline: January 31, 2025

https://womcomrights25.fcsh.unl.pt

In 2025, we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA), an international policy framework adopted at the Fourth UN World Conference on Women in 1995, which established global objectives for advancing gender equality. Section J deals with gender equality in the media and calls for the participation of women in media roles and a balanced, non-stereotypical portrayal of women. It took decades of feminist activism to include Section J in the Platform. These initiatives led to the launch of the Global Media Monitoring Project, a comprehensive analysis of the portrayal of women in the news in different countries.

Despite this foundation, gender and intersectional inequalities still exist. The media landscape of the last 30 years has seen a concentration of ownership, a decline in budgets for journalism, the rise of large tech companies and a challenging regulatory environment — all of which emphasise the need for initiatives on gender and intersectionality in the media. Although Section J advocates for women’s participation, stereotypical representations are still prevalent and women are often excluded from media decision-making processes. Gender-based violence online has increased as digital platforms have failed to effectively combat misogyny and protect women’s digital rights. This has added new forms of abuse, especially for those belonging to different minority groups and facing other forms of discrimination such as ableism, racism, lgtbqphobia, aporophobia, classism or ageism.

At a time when rights are under threat, it is necessary to continue to develop strategies for action and exchange ideas on methods to support demands for a fairer media environment. This conference aims to foster a dialogue on changes, challenges and future directions in realising gender and intersectional equality in the media. 

Format

We invite scholars, policymakers, journalists, media professionals and activists to submit a contribution on topics such as feminist media policy, digital harassment, intersectional discrimination, media representation and the role of feminist movements in shaping media policy or other topics mentioned below. Contributions dealing with intersectional and comparative approaches to media and gender issues are particularly welcome. Presentations can be inspired by research, creative, media, activist, and interdisciplinary practices and will be arranged in thematic sessions by the organising team.

Potential topics could include (but are not limited to): 

· The role of feminist movements in media and gender policy-making

· Gender and media regulation

· Online gendered harassment and abuse

· Gender and intersectional issues in media production

· Manifestations of misogyny in digital and popular media

· Gendered implications of AI / automated technologies and algorithmic communications

· Intersections of sexism, ableism, racism, lgtbqphobia, ageism, classism and other forms of oppression

· Shortcomings and possibilities of the Beijing Platform for Action 

· Pervasiveness of (neo)colonial framings in the global representation of women

· The role of affect, emotion, and authenticity within gender and communication

· Disinformation, misinformation, malinformation and threats to gender and intersectional equality

· Far-right communication, social media and women’s rights

· Alternative feminist media practices 

· Possibilities for building solidarity in and through the media, especially within the Global South and the Global North

· Specific policy issues such as privacy, surveillance, issues of data justice and others

· Feminist utopias in media production and representation.

Submission 

https://easychair.org/cfp/WomComRights25

Please submit your proposal by 31st January 2025, 23:59 (CET) and highlight how your work relates to the conference topic, methods used, and perspectives you would like to bring to the discussion. Abstracts should be no longer than 300 words. 

Registration

The cost of (in-person) attendance is 100 euros for salaried academics and other professionals, and 50 euros for students and unwaged participants. Requests for fee exemption will be handled case-by-case by the organizing committee. 

This covers conference registration and coffee breaks. Booking for the conference dinner will be available once registration is opened.

Organisation

This conference is co-organised by ICNOVA (Lisbon) and ECREA’s Gender, Sexuality and Communication Section with the support of the Digital Culture and Communication Section. The conference is partially supported by National Funds through FCT - Foundation for Science and Technology under Project refª: UIDB/05021/2020.

Hosted and sponsored by ICNOVA (Universidade NOVA de Lisboa).

For questions, please email us at WomComRights25@fcsh.unl.pt

URL: https://womcomrights25.fcsh.unl.pt

Edited by: Giuliana Sorce and Tanja Thomas (University of Tübingen)

https://www.routledge.com/New-Digital-Feminist-Interventions-Speaking-Up-Talking-Back/Sorce-Thomas/p/book/9781032795010?srsltid=AfmBOoql-fYOYTY_Ol1rdJ6TecQfDABDjMRUIEaE6glZk0fdUE_wmkjm

Drawing on the influential work of bell hooks, this edited collection highlights social justice interventions by feminist/queer/decolonial actors, groups, and collectives who recover the digital as a space for activist organizing and campaigning. In presenting a variety of sociocultural issues, such as gender violence, queer discrimination, or migrant hostility, the book centers empowerment practices in their digital forms, showcasing interventions in Asia, Europe, and the Americas—thereby critically examining the conditions for marginalized voices to speak up, talk back, and be heard in digital publics. 

The chapters in this book are organized into four sections: The first section on Activist Practices zooms in on what activists do with digital media to speak up and talk back. The second section centers various Activist Formats, engaging with different types of digital media as spaces for intervention and resistance. The third section, Activist Experience, covers the costs of doing digital feminist work. The fourth section, Activist Scholarship, speaks to the politics of researching and publishing queer and feminist digital activism in our field. 

June 11, 2025

University of Denver, Colorado, USA

Deadline: February 1, 2025

Two weeks left to submit an abstract to the ICA 2025 Pre-conference – Frames of Transition: Visual Communication in Times of Social Change

Date: Wednesday 11 June 2025, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm. 

Location: University of Denver, Colorado, USA

Abstracts due: February 1, 2025: https://bit.ly/4fdwT68

Notifications: March 11, 2025

In a world marked by rapid technological advances and sociopolitical upheavals, visual communication plays a vital role in documenting and influencing these changes. By emphasizing the theme of transition and change, this pre-conference organized by ICA Visual Communication Studies Division seeks to contribute to academic scholarship and practical applications, demonstrating how visual communication can help navigate and make sense of change. It also aims to provide a platform for cross-divisional and interdisciplinary networking between emerging and senior scholars dealing with visual communication research, inviting extended abstracts with a focus on three perspectives:

Phenomena-oriented perspective: From this perspective, we seek contributions examining events, movements, and trends represented visually, offering insights into the ways visual communication shapes and is shaped by transitional moments. We also aim to explore the impact of emerging visual production or editing technologies, such as generative AI, that contribute to new issues (e.g., AI-generated visual disinformation, deepfakes, creative expression, etc.).

Actor/agent (action)-oriented perspective: This perspective invites visual communication research with a focus on individuals, groups, and organizations involved in creating, editing, disseminating, and engaging with visual content during transitional periods. We also aim to explore how visual communication is used as a tool to address existing issues (e.g., through visual storytelling, photojournalism, novel forms of visual expression, etc.).

Method-oriented perspective: Submissions from this perspective will delve into the methodologies and techniques used to study visual representation and meaning-making during periods of change. We also aim to provide a forum for collaborative learning about innovative approaches and tools for analyzing visual communication.

How to Participate:

Send us an extended abstract for one of the following formats by 1 February 2025:

• Traditional research (1,000 words): These abstracts should be anonymized for a review committee made up of senior Division members.
  
• Research escalator (500 words): The session applications will be reviewed by potential mentors, and where matches are possible, mentees will be paired with a mentor.

Full CfP: https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.icahdq.org/resource/resmgr/conference/2025/pc-cfp-frames-transition.pdf

Registration: we are planning with a fee of $50 (includes lunch and refreshments on the day). No fees to submit an abstract.

For any queries, please contact 

Dr. Nataliia Laba - n.laba@rug.nl 

Dr. Kareem el Damanhoury - kareem.eldamanhoury@du.edu

The Journal of Radio and Audio Media (JRAM)

Deadline: April 5, 2025

Dr. Arthur D. Soto-Vásquez, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Prof. Kim Fox, American University in Cairo

Dr. Aram Sinnreich, American University

The Journal of Radio and Audio Media (JRAM), the world’s premier radio research journal, is published semi-annually by the Broadcast Education Association. JRAM is dedicated to radio research and the new technology redefining radio’s traditional use.

As of December 2024, U.S. President Donald Trump’s appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience had over 50 million views on YouTube. His appearance on the most popular podcast in the world capped off a campaign that was part of the “podcast election” where both candidates reached voters through podcasts (Edison Research, 2024). With this amount of reach, it’s clear that some high-profile podcasts have reached the status of a mass medium (Bonini, 2015; Loviglio, 2024). Other political figures across the world have embraced podcasts, aural media, and YouTube. For example, former Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and his successor Claudia Sheinbaum regularly use mañaneras, where they speak for over two hours in a hybrid press conference and morning show that would often veer into personal musings and confrontations with journalists (Higuera, 2024). Broadcast on television, they are also simulcast on radio and YouTube.

As political leaders embrace podcasts and other aural media several issues may emerge.

By circumventing traditional media, politicians may appear on friendly podcasts to avoid the adversarial nature of journalistic interviews and real-time fact-checks. The informal style of podcast discussions is often discussed as a benefit of the medium for both politicians and audiences (McClung & Johnson, 2010; Schlütz & Hedder, 2022). Yet, this informality may further blur the lines between celebrity and public figure, policy and personality. These issues point to podcasts’ incomplete promise as a public sphere (Sienkiewicz & Jaramillo, 2019).

To fully consider this turn, we invite papers engaging with this issue in the topics of, but not limited to:

• Historicizing the Turn to Podcasts in Campaigning
  
• The 2024 U.S. Election on Podcasts
  
• The Role of Podcasts in Shaping Public Opinion and Electoral Outcomes
  
• The Impact and Influence of the Manosphere on Politics and Culture
  
• Humor and Parasociality
  
• Ethics and Journalistic Norms
  
• Cases in the Global South
  
• Populism and Podcasting
  
• Democracy and Podcasting
  
• Podcasting as a Counterpublic
  
• Narrative Podcasts as Platforms for Social Commentary and Critique
  
• Religious Podcasts as a Site for Spiritual and Ideological Discourse
  
• Investigative Journalism Podcasts and Their Influence on Public Opinion
  

Submission Instructions

Contributions should be no longer than 7,000 words, inclusive of tables and references. Only original manuscripts will be accepted, and all submissions will undergo a blind peer review, per the journal’s policies. Invitations to submit full papers will be issued shortly after the deadline for extended abstracts, and all final papers will undergo a peer-reviewed process for final publication. For specific information about the journal’s requirements and the submission process, please see the “Instructions for Authors” page on the JRAM site.

Manuscripts should be submitted through the Manuscript Central link on https://www.beaweb.org/wp/?page_id=571 or https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/hjrs

Documents prepared in Microsoft Word are preferred and should use APA 7th for style and citation. Manuscripts should not exceed 7000 words and should include an abstract of no more than 150 words. In addition to the manuscript with no reference to the author(s), the author(s) should include a separate attachment with contact information. Please fill in the manuscript information as directed on the site.

Submission Deadlines

Scholars interested in submitting an article for the special issue should send an extended abstract of 1500 words to Dr. Arthur D. Soto-Vásquez at arthur.sotovasquez@unlv.edu for a review by April 5, 2025, 11:59 PM PT. Feedback and an invitation to submit will be provided by May 1, 2025. All final papers will undergo a peer-reviewed process for final publication and must be submitted to JRAM by August 1, 2025, 11:59 PM PT.

Extended abstracts due: April 5, 2025, 11:59 PM PT Final paper due: August 1, 2025, 11:59 PM PT The special issue is scheduled for publication in Spring 2026

Contact If you have any questions about the CFP, please send an email to Dr. Arthur D. Soto-Vásquez at arthur.sotovasquez@unlv.edu Subject line: JRAM Podcast Elections

References

Bonini, T. (2015). The ‘second age’ of podcasting: Reframing podcasting as a new digital mass medium. Quaderns del CAC, 41, 23-33.

Edison Research. (2024, November 14). In the “Podcast Election,” Trump talked to vastly more people. Edison Research. https://www.edisonresearch.com/in-the-podcast-election-trump-talked-to-vastly-more-people/

Higuera, S. (2024, March 20). Las mañaneras de López Obrador en México, una forma única de comunicación señalada por ataques a la prensa. LatAm Journalism Review. https://latamjournalismreview.org/es/articles/las-mananeras-de-lopez-obrador-en-mexico-una-forma-unica-de-comunicacion-marcada-por-ataques-a-la-prensa/

Loviglio, J. (2024). From Radio to Podcasting: Intimacy and Massification. The Velvet Light Trap, 93(1), 52-54. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/921538

McClung, S., & Johnson, K. (2010). Examining the motives of podcast users. Journal of radio & audio media, 17(1), 82-95. https://doi.org/10.1080/19376521003719391

Sienkiewicz, M., & Jaramillo, D. L. (2019). Podcasting, the intimate self, and the public sphere. Popular Communication, 17(4), 268-272. https://doi.org/10.1080/15405702.2019.1667997

Schlütz, D., & Hedder, I. (2022). Aural parasocial relations: Host–listener relationships in podcasts. Journal of Radio & Audio Media, 29(2), 457-474. https://doi.org/10.1080/19376529.2020.1870467

Contact Information: Dr. Arthur D. Soto-Vásquez 

Contact Email: arthur.sotovasquez@unlv.edu

 September 8th-9th, 2025 

Università di Bologna, Dipartimento delle Arti – DAMSLab

Deadline: March 31, 2025

ECREA Film Studies and Television Studies Sections 2025 Conference

Organised by Luca Barra, Marco Cucco (Università di Bologna, Italy), Cathrin Bengesser (Aarhus University, Denmark), Deborah Castro (University of Groningen, Netherlands), Miguel Fernández Labayen (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain), Jono Van Belle (Örebro University, Sweden).

The development and rapid diffusion of audiovisual streaming platforms has undoubtedly been one of the most important events that happened in the film and television landscape over the last thirty years. Specialized companies such as Netflix have emerged, becoming leaders in the market and establishing practices and models soon adopted by other players. Digital retailers like Amazon started producing and distributing film and television products as part of their multifaceted activity. Production companies, film distributors and broadcasters that have long operated in the sector have been forced to rethink both their long-term strategies and their daily operations. Viewers have grown accustomed to different modes of domestic consumption, including lower access prices, the easy availability of a supposedly large choice of content, the accessibility to films and shows anytime and anywhere, and the possibility of binge-viewing to overcome the limits of television schedules and theatrical distribution. All these changes, often presented as revolutionary, have received great attention from film and television scholars around the world, including Europe, stimulating rich and diversified research in many areas: attention has been given to national and global markets, to business models, to changes in production practices and in distribution patterns, to varied audience habits and engagement, to regulatory policies, and so on. As a result, the evolutions in digital screen media have been widely studied at their local, transnational and international levels.

While the evolving markets, industries, technologies and audiences have been at the center of the analysis on audiovisual platforms, the cultural and textual dimensions have sometimes been overlooked. Therefore, this year two ECREA Sections, Film Studies and Television Studies, exceptionally join forces to organize this conference. It aims to stimulate research contributions on the lesser explored impact that digital audiovisual platforms have had, and still have, on films, on television series, on television shows, and on other screen content (e.g., documentaries, or video-based digital media) through their on-demand logic, catalogues and interfaces. Key questions we ask are: How are new forms of distribution and viewing practices impacting the ways film and television content is created, written, developed, and produced? In which ways are the industrial, regulatory and technological developments changing the aesthetics and textuality of film and television? 

We encourage submissions covering diverse topics, approaches and methodologies, including:

-       the impact of streaming platforms on the format of film and/or television texts;

-       recurrent aesthetic traits tied to, or even fostered by, digital distribution;

-       changes in narrative structures, characters and storylines;

-       the redefinition of genres, and the establishment of new, specific sub-genres;

-       the consequences of changing viewing practices on film and television development;

-       the different value of film, television series and television shows in digital libraries;

-       emerging labels, or the redefinition of previous ones (i.e. quality and prestige content, straight-to-video and made-for-TV movies, serial documentaries and reality television, …);

-       changing production models and changing distribution practices;

-       how the redefinition of policies for the digital market influences film and television texts;

-       the historical development of streaming texts, and possible antecedents in film and TV history;

-       the negotiations between global trends and local specificities;

-       transnational and trans-European case histories in film and television;

-       theoretical frameworks and methodological tools to study change at both textual and contextual level.

Abstracts should be up to 300 words, plus key references. Proposals should add a short biographical note of the author (max. 150 words). Evaluation will focus on relevance to the conference topic, selection of research objects and clarity in the use of methodology. Only one abstract per author can be submitted. 

The conference will be in person, with no option for remote presentation. Submission should be made to both email addresses: filmstudiesecrea@gmail.com and ecreaTVstudies@gmail.com, by March 31st, 2025. Notification of acceptance will be sent by April 28th, 2025.

Moreover, the conference lobby will host a posters exhibition devoted to international research projects funded by national and/or international institutions and other funding bodies. Projects need to involve at least two universities from different countries. Poster proposals should include: project title, name of the funding body, list of partners, project summary (up to 300 words), short bio of the PI/project leader and/or the researchers attending the conference (max 150 words).

ECREA membership is not required to participate in the conference. A registration fee will be requested upon acceptance (approximately €100) and will include coffee breaks and two lunches. 

The call for papers is available on the ECREA website: https://ecrea.eu/event-6025195.

Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University in Prague

The Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the Charles University in Prague calls for candidates for the following PhD projects (each supported by a scholarship), for its English-language PhD programme in Media and Communication Studies: 

1. Post-structuralist Communication Studies 

Post-structuralism has slowly entered the field of Communication and Media Studies, offering a series of relevant theoretical frameworks for the theoretical and empirical study of communication. This PhD position is for PhD students who focus on one of the many post-structuralist frameworks, e.g., Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory or Foucauldian discourse theory, to support the research into a particular communication assemblage or into particular representational practices. 

While in this PhD position the theoretical framework needs to be post-structuralism, the object of study can be freely chosen. 

Proposed supervisor: Nico Carpentier, nico.carpentier@fsv.cuni.cz 

2. Analyzing the Impact of Strategic Communication on Public Health in the Czech Republic: A Mixed-Methods Approach 

This PhD position aims to investigate the effectiveness of strategic communication in influencing public health behavior in the Czech Republic. Utilizing both quantitative and qualitative methods, the research will examine contemporary communication strategies used in public health campaigns. The project will include a comprehensive survey to quantify public awareness and behavioral changes in response to these campaigns. In-depth interviews and focus groups will qualitatively explore individual perceptions and attitudes towards these communications. Special attention will be given to the role of digital media in disseminating health information. This project, requiring prior consultation with the proposed PhD supervisor, seeks to provide valuable insights into how strategic communication can be optimized for public health promotion in the Czech context. Proficient knowledge of both Czech and English language is a condition for this research project due to the study of local language materials. 

Proposed supervisor: Denisa Hejlová, denisa.hejlova@fsv.cuni.cz 

3. Marketing communication and tobacco control 

The Department of Marketing Communication and Public Relations welcomes Czech or international scholars focusing on primary research in tobacco control from the standpoint of marketing and strategic communication (e.g. research of new strategies and tactics employed by tobacco companies, targeting customers, online and social media marketing, stealth marketing, lobbying, public affairs, influencer marketing, etc.). Our goal is to analyze and present marketing and communication strategies and tactics by the tobacco industry which prevent consumers from tobacco or nicotine cessation and undermine public health. We especially focus on campaigns or tools aimed at adolescents and youth, incl. new forms of tobacco or nicotine products (HTP, pouches, vapes, etc.). Close cooperation with the Addictology Dept. of 1st Medical Faculty, Charles University, is needed. 

Proposed supervisor: Denisa Hejlová, denisa.hejlova@fsv.cuni.cz 

4. The Para-Social Relationships and Experiences of Youth with the Online Engagement in these: Post-Humanist Perspective 

Traditional human relationships in the experiences of children and young people experienced during their childhoods, such as youth-adult relationships, have been also complemented by the 'Para-Social Relationships with the media figures. Traditionally, public figures from the media environment (TV, Film, Newspapers) or imaginary figures from books, cartoons and films provided developmental functions for children and young people, such as role-modelling. Recently, the rise of new technologies (ChatGPT) and social media that allow active participation of media users, created a space for a new form of relationships - digital relationships in the online environment, mediated e.g. via the 'digital empathy' (Unay-Gerhard et al., 2022). Participation in the digital interactions, dynamics and functions of digital relationships and types of these being formed with humans as well as with machines (e.g. chatbots = ChatGPT, social robots) with a focus on current young people (11-18 years) will be the subject of exploration of the PhD. the study, contributing to the emergent line of the research in media the post-humanist perspective. 

Proposed supervisor: Tereza Javornícky Brumovská, 93330901@fsv.cuni.cz 

5. Constructing history on social media 

The aim of this PhD position is to explore how history is constructed by communication on social media. Examples could be narratives about historical facts or events (also anniversaries of historical events), how they are constructed by different social groups and for which purpose different imaginaries of history are constructed. The research should focus on critical inquiry of online communication from an interdisciplinary perspective. Connected topics, such as how historical places that might have turned to museums or places of remembrance use social media to promote their messages, will also be considered. 

Proposed supervisor: Christine Trültzsch-Wijnen, christine.trultzsch-wijnen@fsv.cuni.cz 

6. Domestication of artificial intelligence (AI) 

The aim of this PhD position is to explore how people integrate artificial intelligence services in their daily lives. The focus of the research can be on social entities as for example families or on specific age groups like children, adolescents, young adults, elderly people etc. Besides the question of how artificial intelligence is domesticated, this project should also look into whether and how artificial intelligence services are recognised as such and how people understand and address them (e.g. algorithms, issues of privacy etc.). Research should be interdisciplinary in nature and might be grounded in domestication theory, theories of (media) socialization, cultural studies, and beyond. 

Proposed supervisor: Christine Trültzsch-Wijnen, christine.trultzsch-wijnen@fsv.cuni.cz 

7. Media genres in the late modern media environment 

The evolution of the different genres of actualities in electronic media, since the first radio news broadcast to a contemporary online documentary on a streaming platform, reflects the dynamic adaptation to the continuously changing media environment. In the analogue context, genres were interpreted and categorized “within the boundaries of a single medium” (McQuail, 2014, 374) but because of the recent changes in the media environment, the boundaries of genres are merging and genres may be recognized as multi-platform genres, transcending the boundaries of a single medium. This topic is focused on changes of genres in the converged media environment and its impact on genres in online video journalism and the field of documentary media. We invite applications from candidates interested in researching the evaluation of collective identity of genres in the late modern media environment, examining the boundaries between genres of actualities at film, television and online platforms. The study will deploy methodologies of media content analysis. 

Proposed supervisor: Györgyi Rétfalvi, gyorgyi.retfalvi@fsv.cuni.cz 

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Interested candidates should submit their applications, using the online application system, which will be open from 1st January to 30th April 2025. Interest in a particular PhD project should be mentioned in the motivation letter, together with a more developed proposal on the PhD project. 

All relevant information, including the link to the online application system, can be found at here:https://fsv.cuni.cz/en/admissions/phd-programmes/media-and-communication-studies 

Please download the form for filling your dissertation project proposal:  https://iksz.fsv.cuni.cz/en/admissions/phd-programme-media-and-communication-studies/how-apply 

For general questions, please contact the Centre of PhD Studies, at cds.iksz@fsv.cuni.cz. 

For questions about particular projects, please contact the proposed supervisors. 

The Open Doors Day for PhD Study in Media and Communication Studies Studies will take place on 26 February 2025 at 12:30 PM CET. It will be organised online. If you wish to participate, please email the Centre of PhD Studies, at cds.iksz@fsv.cuni.cz, asap. 

September 18-19, 2025

Brussels, Belgium

Deadline: March 15, 2025

The “Communication Law and Policy” Section of the European Communications Research and Education Association (ECREA) invites abstracts for theoretical and empirical papers to be presented at its next workshop Media Freedom and Pluralism in the Age of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Platforms: A New Era for Media Policy/Regulation? This two-day workshop will be a unique opportunity to bring together those researchers investigating the processes of regulating media sectors under the influence of online platforms in Europe and beyond. The workshop will take place in Brussels, Belgium, on 18-19 September 2025. It is hosted by the imec-SMIT research centre and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB).

The workshop invites contributions dealing with media and communication law and policy, and its implementation. This includes submissions from political economy, policy and govern-ance studies, media and communication law, among others. We welcome theoretical, methodological and empirical submissions, case studies and comparative work. Innovative use of methods, and in particular interdisciplinary approaches, are encouraged. See the full call for papers here: https://smit.research.vub.be/en/ecrea-communication-law-and-policy-conference-at-vub-brussels-on-18-19-september-2025

Abstracts of no more than 300 words should be submitted for blind peer review in DOCX or ODT directly to the organizers of the conference by March 15th, 2025 at the following e-mail address CLPBrussels2025@vub.be.

May 2-3, 2025

Grand Hotel & Gamla Rådhuset, Jönköping

Deadline: January 27, 2025

Organisers: Annette Hill (MKV, Jönköping University) and Hario Priambodho (MKV, Lund University)

Media atmospheres are under pressure. There are scientific and metaphorical meanings of atmospheres as related to both climate and infrastructures and emotions and experiences. From the political economic forces applied to media industries, the representation of different climates in film and media, to the feeling of atmospheres surrounding political and cultural engagement, it is timely to question the generation of atmospheres by media technologies and institutions, texts and artefacts, and citizens and audiences.

How can we forge links between established and new theories and methods for media and the environment? We use the concept of ‘media atmospheres’ to promote engagement on this crucial set of topics. For example, media devices, infrastructures and systems impact on atmospheres, including the forces applied to the financing, regulation, production and distribution of media in society and the detrimental impact of media on the climate and environment. How various media create atmospheres is also of significance, from the mood of certain genres in film, TV, podcasts and streaming media, to the political and emotional climate of social media, campaigns and activism.

This multidisciplinary symposium addresses the role of media in generating various atmospheres, both positive and negative, material and symbolic. We invite international researchers to critically examine the theme of media atmospheres through empirical and theoretical research across media and communications, critical infrastructures and technologies, climate and the environment, culture and society.

Core questions for this symposium include 1) What different kinds of atmospheres are generated in media and communications, culture and society? 2) How do media atmospheres generate power and social (in)equalities? 3) Which methodologies and methods can be applied to critically analyse media atmospheres?

The symposium addresses a range of areas, including:

• Phenomenology of atmospheres and media, communication and cultural studies;
  
• Atmospheres and critical infrastructures studies, critical data studies and science and technology studies;
  
• Atmospheres in audience studies, fan studies, and film and reception studies;
  
• Atmospheres and eco media studies, environmental communication and sustainable society;
  
• Creating atmospheres in arts, film, radio, television, social media and web series;
  
• Atmospheres and organisations, work, and labour relations;
  
• Political atmospheres in news, documentary, information, disinformation and
  
• polarization, and campaigns;
  
•  
  
• Atmospheres in live events, social media, drama, film, radio, podcasting and television studies;
  
• Atmospheres in mobility, transnational communication and transportation of goods and services, humans and non humans.
  

The programme for the symposium across two days includes three keynote panels with invited speakers and open parallel panels. There will be a dedicated website, video and podcasts of keynote panels, and selected papers from the symposium will be edited in an international academic publication. The senior editors at Intellect Press and Routledge will be present, chairing an interactive roundtable on academic publishing for scientific books and journals.

International invited speakers include Julia Brockley (Intellect Press), Simon Dawes (Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France), Natalie Foster (Routledge), Christine Geraghty (Glasgow University, UK), Joke Hermes (InHolland University, Netherlands), Annette Hill (Jönköping University, Sweden), Peter Lunt (Leicester University, UK), and Dylan Mulvin (LSE, UK), Hario Priambodho (Lund University, Sweden). 

Please submit an abstract of 300 words in English by extended deadline January 27, 2025 to Hario Priambodho (hario.priambodho@kom.lu.se). For further information please consult our website https://ju.se/Media%20Atmospheres%20international%20symposium

There is a registration fee of 2800 SEK. The fee covers lunches, beverages and snacks over two days, and a grand three course meal at the end of symposium at Grand Hotel.