ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

A special issue of Journalism and Media (ISSN 2673-5172)

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 January 2024

Dear Colleagues,

The future of democracy depends significantly on the individual and collective power of young citizens to develop democratic self-awareness and the ability and interest to participate in the political process. Young citizens, as users, are at the forefront of the digital transformation, leveraging the power of social media and digital tools to access, share, and create information. Over the past few decades, ever-emerging variations of social media have opened a new frontier for information, public debate, and potential democratic participation. This development has provided a constantly interchanging realm of possibilities for media participation in democracy, giving young citizens access to various channels for information and encouragement to express their views and influence public policy.

However, these various opportunities come with substantial challenges in navigating a vast and complex media and information landscape. Young citizens are reliant on social media for news, information, and orientation in current societies. They struggle to stay aware of and manage the validity and consequences of multiple unqualified information sources, the potential for manipulation and misinformation, the noise of an ephemeral information stream, the way that commercial companies and others use their data, the monitoring of online activity, the potential negative repercussions of participating in online debate, and more. Furthermore, in the social media environment, qualifying information and exercising critical source evaluation are the responsibilities of the users instead of professional gatekeepers and editors.

This Special Issue seeks to explore the intersection of social media and youth political participation, emphasizing power, participation, and civic engagement regarding the opportunities and challenges of young citizens, their engagement with social media and democracy, and the implications of these trends for our current and future democratic systems. We define 'young people' as anyone between 15 and 24 years old, as per the United Nations' categorization of the group. Submissions that investigate older or younger groups are welcome if they include the dedicated target group or segments of this.

We invite submissions in the form of original research articles from various disciplinary backgrounds, including journalism, media studies, psychology, sociology, communication, political science, and education, and submissions with an interdisciplinary approach. Submissions should address the influence of digital media and technology on the political participation of youth in various contexts and societies.  

Possible topics may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• The role of social media in young citizens’ democratic engagement and participation;
  
• Young citizens, news, and social media;
  
• The impact of social media on the formation of political identities and beliefs;
  
• The potential of social media for youth civic education and engagement;
  
• The challenges and opportunities of social media for democratic deliberation;
  
• The role of social media in the emergence of new forms of activism and political movements;
  
• Social media and youth-led civic and political engagement;
  
• Social media and young citizens public opinion formation;
  
• Social media, young citizens, and transformations of democratic power dynamics;
  
• Young citizens’ struggle to be informed through social media in a fragmented public reality;
  
• Critical source evaluation of never-ending streams of information on, e.g., TikTok, Instagram, WhatsApp, YouTube;
  
• Social media and their role (or absence) in impacting young citizens’ interest in voting;
  
• Digital divides and participatory democracy.
  

We look forward to receiving your submissions.

References - examples

Amnå, E. & Ekman, J. 2014. Standby citizens: Diverse faces of political passivity. European Political Science Review, 6(2): 261–281. https://doi.org/10.1017/S175577391300009X.

Boulianne, S., and J. Ohme. 2021. “Pathways to Environmental Activism in Four Countries: Social media, Environmental Concern, and Political Efficacy.” Journal of Youth Studies, Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2021.2011845.

Cammaerts, B. et al. 2014. The myth of youth apathy: Young Europeans’ critical attitudes toward democratic life. American Behavioral Scientist 58(5), 645–664. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764213515992.

Couldry, N., Livingstone, S., & Markham, T. 2016. Media consumption and public engagement: Beyond the presumption of attention. Palgrave Macmillan.

Cotter, K., & Thorson, K. 2022. Judging Value in a Time of Information Cacophony: Young Adults, Social media, and the Messiness of do-it-Yourself Expertise. The International Journal of Press/Politics, 27(3), 629–647. https://doi.org/10.1177/19401612221082074.

Loader, B.D., Vromen, A. & Xenos, M. 2014. The networked young citizen: Social media, political participation and civic engagement. Information, Communication & Society 17(2), 143–150. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2013.871571.

Mascheroni, G. 2017. A Practice-Based Approach to Online Participation: Young People’s Participatory Habitus as a Source of Diverse Online Engagement. International Journal of Communication 11(2017), 4630–4651.

Ohme, J., Andersen, K., Albæk, E., & de Vreese, C. H. (2022). Anything Goes? Youth, News, and Democratic Engagement in the Roaring 2020s. The International Journal of Press/Politics, 27(3), 557–568. https://doi.org/10.1177/19401612221093008.

Dr. Gitte Bang Stald

Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journalism and Media is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

• young citizens, social media and news, information, and democratic participation
  
• digital divides and participatory democracy
  
• transformations of democratic power dynamics
  
• new forms of activism and political movements
  
• information in fragmented publics
  
• the democratic role of AI
  
• critical source evaluation
  

Published Papers

This special issue is now open for submission.

Chapter proposals

Deadline: October 15, 2023

Scholars from a variety of disciplines increasingly investigate how food and foodways, or what we eat, what it means, and why it matters, influence public understanding of culture and society. Communication scholars have much to add to this interdisciplinary conversation since their research attends to food’s communicative elements, including the role of persuasion, symbols, and strategies, in crafting meaning about how food is produced, promoted, and consumed (Cramer, Greene, and Walter, 2011; Frye and Bruner, 2012; Grey, 2014; Stokes and Atkins-Sayre, 2016). Although scholarship about food and communication is growing, there remains a need to understand how food engages (supra)national identity and nationalism in a variety of contexts to convey messages of belonging and pride, and through these, calls to action (see, most notably, e.g. Goodman 2013; Ichijo, Johannes and Ranta 2019; Porciani 2021, also Parasecoli 2022).

In this call, we are looking for abstracts for chapters that address the question of Scottish representation through and around food from devolution (1999) to contemporary and current visions of the future. As Scotland increasingly differentiates itself politically and economically, we ask what foods define Scotland as a UK sub-nation, and how this communicative work helps distinguish it from England, the rest of the UK, and Europe. In this volume, we specifically focus on the role of media, language, and communication broadly in shaping Scotland’s vision about itself and others, addressing a notable gap in discussions around Scotland’s relationship to food. Our discussion contributes to the growing understanding of the role food plays in Scotland’s past, present, and future. The book will offer a perspective that may help shape future discussions around the important connection between food and the question of “national” identity in health, political, economic, and other communication.

Specifically, the volume will ask questions including, but not limited to:

• What is considered “traditional” Scottish food and how has this presentation/definition/cuisine changed, if at all, from devolution to now?
  
• What role has food and drink played in establishing Scotland as a sub-nation post-devolution, as opposed to England and in the wider context of the UK?
  
• How has Scotland been represented through food in its relationship to Europe and the European Union?
  
• How do these national representations intersect with questions of gender, class, and place?
  
• Is Scottish food linked geographically to Scotland or can Scottish food also be a cultural reference? What does Scottish food mean for people outside of Scotland?
  
• Who and how should Scottish food be eaten/produced/sold – and how are these decisions justified?
  
• What other discourses do questions surrounding Scottish food revolve? (health, tradition, history, regionalism, nationalism, identity, tourism, etc.)
  
• How do food branding and promotion contribute to a sense of national identity (ies) and how can this representation change?
  
• Does Scottish national food emerge bottom-up, from eaters and producers, or top-down, from government, cultural, and media institutions? How does this happen? Who is the primary driver of change and how do the stakeholders intersect? 
  
• Is Scottish food local or global or both? What role do social media play in arguing for either?
  
• What role do global media play in representing Scottish food to the Scottish diaspora or its visitors?
  
• How is Scottish food seen and defined in policy?
  
• Is there a role for Scottish food in health advice? If yes, how is this communicated, and to who?
  

We are looking for chapter proposals that examine these and any other related questions in relation to a range of texts, from social media to advertising, policy, film, and more, with a view to establishing an image of what “Scottish food” may mean, from devolution, to now, and with a look toward its futures.

We are particularly interested in including papers from colleagues located in and outside Scotland and the UK and are circulating this call with a global perspective in mind. The papers will form part of an edited collection, for which we are currently in talks with a number of academic publishers who are principally interested in this topic.

If you are interested in this topic and can contribute, please send a 300-word abstract with your proposed paper focus and a short biography (100 words)

To: mishaq@qmu.ac.uk

Subject line: Communicating Scotland Through Food Abstract 

By Sunday, 15 October 2023 

The timeline for this project is as follows:

• Notification of abstract acceptance: 1 November 2023
  
• Book proposal to the publisher: 15 November 2023
  
• Papers due to book editors: April 2024
  
• Final version due to editors, with reviews addressed: June 2024
  
• Submission of the final version of the volume to the publisher: September 2024
  

A note about editors:

Ashli Q. Stokes is a Professor of Communication Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. A 20-21 Fulbright scholar, she co-authored Tangled Roots: How Food Communicates Resilience in Appalachia and Consuming Identity: The Role of Food in Redefining the South with Wendy Atkins-Sayre, also co-editing City Places, Country Spaces: Rhetorical Explorations of the Urban/Rural Divide (Peter Lang). Her research exploring intersections between identity, activism, and regions has also been published in journals including the Journal of Contemporary Rhetoric, Southern Communication Journal, Public Relations Inquiry, Journal of Public Interest Communications, and Journal of Public Relations Research.

Ana Tominc is an Associate Professor in Media and Communication at Queen Margaret University Edinburgh, UK. She teaches and has published in the area of food media and communication, and is the founder of the Conference on Food and Communication (foodcommunication.net). Her edited book, Food and Cooking on Early Television in Europe: Impact on Postwar Foodways, is currently shortlisted for the 2023 Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association (MeCCSA) Outstanding Achievements Award. She is also President of the Association for the Study of Food and Society (ASFS), 2023-25.

Maryam Ishaq is a Ph.D. student and a teaching assistant at Queen Margaret University Edinburgh, UK. She has a background in Nutrition and Food Science and MSc in Gastronomy. Alongside teaching media and digital communication, her research currently explores spatial food networks in Scotland and how discourses around local food are construed by social media influencers on Instagram.

October 16-17, 2023

Segovia Campus of the University of Valladolid, Spain/online (hybrid)

Deadline (EXTENDED): September 4, 2023

ECREA Science & Environmental Communication Section 

Organised by: 

Mette Marie Roslyng, Aalborg University, Denmark 

Miguel Vicente Mariño, University of Valladolid, Spain 

Mikkel Fugl Eskjær, Aalborg University, Denmark 

Biodiversity and climate change – communicating interlocking dimensions of the ecological crisis 

The current ecological crisis is a crisis of biodiversity and climate change. Both topics have surpassed the safe limits of our planetary boundaries. However, biodiversity and climate change are also inextricably connected. Climate change accelerates the loss of biodiversity and natural habitats while biodiversity and healthy ecosystems improve resilience to climate change. Despite the obvious links between biodiversity and climate change, biodiversity often seems to slip under the radar compared to global climate change. Some studies suggest that climate change gets up to eight times more media attention compared to the biodiversity crisis.

In recent years, there have been a few noteworthy exceptions to this general pattern.  The 2019 rapport by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) concluded that we are facing an alarming increase in the human caused extinction rate of species and natural habitats. The publication triggered considerable media attention and renewed public concern for biodiversity and habitat loss. The 2022 UN Biodiversity Conference in Montreal (COP15) which led to the 30-by-30 agreement (protection of 30% of Earth’s land and ocean by 2030) had a similar effect. Both events momentarily changed the discourse on the ecological crisis by turning the attention to the deterioration of ecosystems and its consequences for climate change. However, with the publication of IPCC’s 6th Assessment Report on climate change (2022-23) global media has once again turned their attention away from biodiversity and ecosystem services. This suggests that the risks of climate change may be easier to grasp and communicate than the decline in biodiversity. As a recent report concluded: “the scale of the threats to the biosphere and all its lifeforms—including humanity—is in fact so great that it is difficult to grasp for even well-informed experts”.  This raises questions about the dynamics behind media attention to climate change and biodiversity. What are the mechanisms governing the two agendas?  When and where do they differ? And why do media report less on biodiversity compared to climate change? It also raises wider communicative questions about global and national environmental policies from key actors that relate to biodiversity and climate change as well as possible scientific controversies underlining the issue.  

The ECREA Science and Environment Communication Section’s interim conference intends to investigate the full range of biodiversity communication. Both as a topic on its own, but also in relation to climate change and the wider ecological crisis. We wish to explore how we communicate on biodiversity in the press and digital media. How can communication on biodiversity help raise awareness and encourage public engagement? How do the media communicate the complexities of ecosystem services. And how are habitat loss and the need to rebuild ecosystems visualized. We invite papers that address issues relating broadly to biodiversity communication. We welcome contributions from Environmental and Science Communication, Political Communication, Strategic Communications, Environmental Humanities, or other related fields, as well as papers adopting diverse methodological approaches.  

Topics for submission include, but are not limited to:

·           Biodiversity as media agenda 

·           Biodiversity as risk in the Anthropocene 

·           Crises of biodiversity and climate change: connections and disconnections? 

·           The politicisation and de-politicisation of biodiversity on global, local, and national agendas 

·           Scientific conflicts and controversies pertaining to biodiversity  

·           Biodiversity and issues of inequality and environmental justice 

·           Biodiversity and more-than-human communication 

·           Educational communication and biodiversity

Abstracts, including title, name, affiliation, and email of presenter(s), should be no longer than 400 words (excl. references) outlining research questions, methodology and the expected contributions of the presentation.  Submission should be sent to Mette Marie Roslyng on the following email mmroslyng@ikp.aau.dk before September 4, 2023. 

Human-Machine Communication (Special Issue)

Deadline: November 1, 2023

Special Issue Editors:

• Caja Thimm, Ph.D (thimm@uni-bonn.de), Professor for Media Studies and Intermediality, University of Bonn
  
• Maximilian Mayer, Ph.D (maximilian.mayer@uni-bonn.de), Assistant Professor for International Relations and Global Politics of Technology, University of Bonn
  
• Frank Piller, Ph.D (piller@time.rwth-aachen.de), Professor of Technology & Innovation Management, RWTH Aachen University
  
• Gabriele Gramelsberger, Ph.D (gramelsberger@humtec.rwth-aachen.de), Chair for Theory of Science and Technology, RWTH Aachen University
  

Autonomy, originally a key concept of the Enlightenment epitomizing aspirations of modernity, has become one of the central and particularly high-profile concepts in debates on digital transformations. The associated debate comprises polarizing perspectives that oscillate between the restrictive or dangerously uncontrollable effect of digital technologies, such as facial recognition, surveillance or 'autonomous weapons' and the liberating, autonomy-enhancing function (in areas such as 'smart home', 'collaborative robotics', 'assisted living' and privacy protection). Application contexts include, e.g., administration, military and police, social and health-related services, medicine and education, and the digital economy with its diverse challenges regarding the future of work. Given the ongoing datafication, and an increasing influx of artificial intelligence into many sectors of society, the concept of autonomy needs re-definition and reflection under contemporary technological conditions.

The Special Issue wants to provide a platform for the interrogation of the concept of autonomy in the Age of artificial intelligence and the evolving human-machine-relations that result from it. A starting point to understand autonomy in the digital age could be conceptual sensitivity that asserts the possibility of autonomy for both personal subjective and collective social relations. On both levels, conditions for autonomy are subject to rapid change. Outlining the distinction between autonomous and automatic systems, different degrees of autonomy can be distinguished - from weak forms, in which it is a matter of gradual absence of external control, to strong forms, in which the respective 'autonomous' entity shapes social relations and might be able to set its own rules.

With the development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems and the increasing use of robots and smart machines in everyday life technological transformations have come along with social changes and new conflicts and contestations. Questions of privacy and data use, the future of work or the subsequent dawn of a 'post-capitalist' society, as well as the discussions about the consequences of autonomously acting combat robots and the ethical

 regulation of warfare are just a few examples of the present challenges and those still to come. Meanwhile, discourses of technological autonomy address an array of issues concerning the future of democracy. Global digital dependencies, the delegation of authoritative power and the rise of global platform companies challenge the political autonomy of democratic states and their technological sovereignty. On a cultural level, the integration of autonomous systems into society launches a discussion about a technologically induced crisis of humanist values and question the relevance of the enlightenment ideals for today’s socio-technical practices. Studies related to trans- or posthumanism construe technologies as an opportunity to improve or even overcome the human condition. Visions of human enhancement, virtuality, cyborg-societies mingling with autonomous machines and artificial superintelligence might sound utopian today, but perhaps not anymore tomorrow. Such reasoning that includes both optimistic assumptions and skeptical anticipations illustrates the urgency of re-defining not just our idea of personal autonomy within a digital and datafied society but also the need to theorize and analyze new forms of state and system autonomy to understand the scaffoldings of future societies. Interdisciplinary research on the concept of autonomy is needed in order to substantiate our normative, functional, and epistemic claims on the future developments of the relationship between humans and technology.

The Special Issue aims to include diverse and interdisciplinary perspectives. We intend to explore the significance of autonomous living in our digital societies, to question the humanist concept of autonomy itself in our technological reality, and to analyse the implications of our interaction with (semi)autonomous systems. Submissions from all social sciences, humanities and technology disciplines related to the following topics and questions are highly welcomed, but do not need to be limited to these:

Section 1: Theoretical approaches & interdisciplinary perspectives

What is the status of the idea of autonomy in a digital society in which mutually autonomous interactions between humans and technology have become a reality? How to define and conceptualize autonomy of machines? How will the growing influence of autonomous systems affect social structures, political systems, labor and governmental control measures?

Section 2: Contexts & applications

How are (emerging) modes of (technical) autonomy and agency reshaping societies and personal life-worlds? Which different puzzles of “automation” and “autonomy” emerge in practical contexts and fields from art, medicine and political institutions? How can cultural and systemic differences in technology policy be reflected and specified on the basis of the innovation of autonomous systems?

Section 3: Norms and ethics

Which (post-Eurocentric) epistemologies and vocabularies question/enrich the debates about “autonomy” and humanism in the new digital reality? Should autonomy be understood as an intrinsic quality or as an effect in a relationship characterized by power relations? What normative requirements must autonomous systems and infrastructures meet in communication in an ethically engaged digital society?

 Section 4: Collaboration

What degree of autonomy do we ascribe to robots in a collaboration situation? What synergies arise from the collaboration between humans and autonomous systems in different contexts? What role do autonomous robots play in hybrid decision-making- processes? Can autonomous robots be conceptualized as part of an automated process?

Keywords: Autonomy, Automation, Human-Machine Communication

Deadline: Submissions are due 1st November, 2023; the publication date will be spring 2024.

For more information or questions, please contact Caja Thimm (thimm@uni-bonn.de) or Gabriele Gramelsberger (gramelsberger@humtec.rwth-aachen.de).

All manuscripts should be submitted via the journal’s online submission

system (https://hmcjournal.com) with the remark, “Special Issue Autonomy ” in the cover letter. In the online submission system, there will be a drop-down menu under Document Type. Please choose “Special Issue Submission Autonomy .” For formatting and length specifications, please see the journal’s Instructions for Authors.

Landau in der Pfalz

The research group of Michaela Maier and the project SCOPE offer a position for a PhD student (75%, 4 years) and a postdoctoral researcher (100%, 3 years). The thematic focus is on (Computational) Political Communication. 

More information on the positions: https://rptu.de/s/phycrt

PhD position: https://psy.rptu.de/index.php?eID=dumpFile&t=f&f=4339&token=57274ec0c2aed5b52599b68abb8ac8d2de97dd96

Postdoctoral position: https://psy.rptu.de/index.php?eID=dumpFile&t=f&f=4338&token=7f732f721a2ae9abb24ce06f0e6e66e35d16c641

Please note that the application portal appears to be in German, however, you can change the language to English on the bottom right. 

University of Konstanz

The Zukunftskolleg, the Institute of Advanced Studies at the University of Konstanz, has recently opened its 18th call for applications for Postdoctoral Fellowships. 

The institute invites researchers in the early stages of their careers who plan to develop and implement an independent research project to apply for a 2-year Postdoctoral Fellowship. The fellowships are open to researchers from all fields represented at the University of Konstanz, including Communication and Media Studies. The institute offers five 2-year positions. 

You will find the call for applications as well as information about the eligibility criteria and the application process under: https://www.uni-konstanz.de/zukunftskolleg/fellowships/postdoctoral-fellowship/ 

Further questions can be directed to Mihaela Mihaylova via e-mail: zukunftskolleg-application@uni-konstanz.de. Applications should be submitted until 10 October 2023, 11:00am (Konstanz time). 

Peter Bro

“Constructive Journalism: Precedents, Principles, and Practices” by Peter Bro has just been published (Routledge, July 26, 2023), and it deals with one of the most pertinent and debated issues among journalistic practitioners and researchers.

This book offers a deep and comprehensive overview of constructive journalism (and associated concepts such as solutions journalism), setting out the guiding principles and practices for a journalism that aims to do more than simply inform about problems.

In this authoritative yet concise volume, Peter Bro asks what does constructive journalism mean, what are the underlying principles, how is it practiced, and in what ways does it differ from other types of journalism. 

Drawing on studies of the rapidly growing number of works by both journalism practitioners and researchers, the book reaches beyond these questions to show how the notion of being constructive has been a part of journalism from the very beginning of the profession.

This introduction to what constructive journalism is and was and what it can accomplish will guide new journalists; journalism, media, and mass communication students; and scholars working on journalistic theory and practice. 

Table of contents:

• Introduction to constructive journalism 
  
• Principles of constructive journalism 
  
• Precedents of constructive journalism 
  
• Practices of constructive journalism 
  
• Conclusion
  

About the author:

Peter Bro is Professor, PhD, and Director of the Centre for Journalism at the University of Southern Denmark. 

More about the book:

https://www.routledge.com/Constructive-Journalism-Precedents-Principles-and-Practices/Bro/p/book/9781003403098

Universidade Católica Portuguesa, in Lisboa

The Research Center for Communication and Culture announces one vacancy for a junior doctoral researcher in the scientific field of Science Management and Communication. The research activities will be carried out at the Research Centre for Communication and Culture (CECC), integrated at the Faculty of Human Sciences of Universidade Católica Portuguesa, in Lisboa. The deadline for application is July 31st | 5pm (Lisbon time).

The researcher to be hired shall contribute to the development, implementation, and management of projects in the area of ​​Science Management and Communication. The researcher will have the following duties: to develop and monitor scientific and training projects, to promote and foster interdisciplinary research networks as well as all related objectives and activities, to submit projects to national and international applications; to organize workshops, conferences and seminars during the contract period.

Gross monthly pay is €2.228,11 , plus meal allowance, to which will be added annual leave and Christmas allowances. 

ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS 

Any national, foreign, or stateless candidates who hold a doctoral degree in Culture Studies, Communication Sciences, Cultural Management or related scientific fields, and who furthermore hold a scientific and professional curriculum vitae whose profile is suited to the activities to be performed, can submit their application. If the Doctoral Degree has been awarded by a non-Portuguese higher education institution, said degree must comply with the provisions of the Portuguese legislation on the recognition of foreign degrees, as set out in Decree-Law no. 66/2018 of August 16th. Entering into a contract with the selected candidate is conditional on the submission of the formal document.

For additional information on this matter candidates are advised to check the website of the Directorate-General for Higher Education (DGES): https://www.dges.gov.pt/en/pagina/degree-and-diploma-recognition.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE

Applications are formalized by sending the required documentation to concursos.cecc.fch@ucp.pt. 

Applications must be submitted in English.

Applications shall include the following documents:

a) Curriculum vitae, highlighting the scientific, cultural, and curricular course (of the past five years) considered most relevant by the candidate;

b) Doctoral Certificate with date of admission to the degree;

c)  Project plan in the field of Science Management and Communication.

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

The assessment criteria are the following: scientific output and its relevance, participation in scientific projects and conferences, experience in project management – particularly in international projects –, knowledge and practical experience regarding the functioning of the science management system at national and European levels, scientific dissemination activities, knowledge transfer, and other relevant activities and experience. The assessment process additionally includes an interview with the candidates ranked in the top three positions.

APPLICATION DEADLINE

Candidates may submit their application, pursuant to the terms mentioned in the previous point, from July 17, 2023 until July 31, 2023 (until 5pm, Continental Portugal time).

MORE INFORMATION

For more information please consult the public notice available here.

October 12-13, 2023

Flensburg (Germany)

Deadline: July 30, 2023

 The ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war is characterized not only by material battles reminiscent of WWII but also by the use of state-of-the-art media technologies. The rise of Web 2.0 has fundamentally transformed our understanding of war which evolves as a battle of technologies or “digital war” (Merrin, 2018). Along with the state structures of power that engage in digital wars on various levels of national security policies, individuals are empowered to ‘participate’ in war online – when anyone in any part of the world is able to comment, share images or video content based on their private perception of the armed conflict. Moreover, military actors tend to digitalize their war experiences, so war becomes even more open for eyewitnessing with head camera footage, videos or images shared by soldiers from battlefields, hospitals, muddy trenches, or destroyed towns.

In times of deep mediatization, data processing is fundamental for the construction of our social reality when human and non-human actors interact to construct meaning, create new senses and interpret the world. In addition to broader social and cultural transformations, digital technologies change how individuals experience and perceive their own ‘self’ regarding community, society and the globe. By reshaping various domains of social life, digital media technologies remain still unpredictable and challenging when we approach them as actors in armed conflicts.

Although Russia’s aggression in Ukraine has been widely discussed from different research perspectives, the digital background of Russia’s war in Ukraine needs more academic attention as an example of a new digitalized war in a deeply mediatized world. Information leaks, artificial intelligence, hacking, satellites, drones, propaganda and fakes become a part of this war reality, which prompts us to focus more attention on the virtual fronts of this war performed by digital media and technologies. Thus, this workshop aims to discover how digital media and technologies function during the Russo-Ukraine war, addressing specific questions: What new expectations and challenges for digital media emerged during the war? What is the role of digital media and technologies in documenting war crimes? Does digital eyewitnessing of the war contribute to the processes of decision-making on international levels? Does technological advancement define victory on the battlefield?

We invite researchers to submit abstracts focusing on digital media and technologies in time of war in the following contexts:

- digitalization of modern wars, technologies as a weapon and means of power (e.g., usage of satellites, drones, surveillance systems)

- ethical challenges for media actors in times of war (e.g., the line between sensitive content and truth, blurring of private and public spheres)

- framing of the Russo-Ukrainian war in the media of different political and cultural contexts (e.g., in China, India)

- propaganda, myths and fakes in times of war (e.g., Russia’s TV channels in Europe)

- in/dependent social media and personalities in power during the war (e.g., state-backed Telegram channels in Russia)

- religious actors in times of war (e.g., peace / war rhetoric in the media of religious institutions)

- digital media as tools of resilience and cohesion of Ukrainian society (e.g., humour in times of war, collective practices in social media)

- historical parallels: the role of technologies during wars/conflicts in the past (e.g., Cold War, conflicts in the East, etc)

This workshop aims to produce a collective volume on Digital media and technologies during the war in Ukraine, so participation presupposes two stages. In the first stage, we will organize a workshop at the Interdisciplinary Center for European Studies in Flensburg, Germany (12-13 October 2023). In the second stage, we plan to publish an edited volume. Complete papers of about 6,000 – 8,000 words should be submitted by December 15th, 2023. Publication of the volume is scheduled for 2024.

We invite researchers to send an abstract (250–300 words) and a short bio-note (max. 100 words) by July 30th, 2023 to: Nadia Zasanska nadia.zasanska@uni-flensburg.de and Kseniia Cherniak kseniia.cherniak@uni-flensburg.de. We have a partial funding for a limited number of researchers; if you would like to be considered for financial support, please indicate this in your application.

Workshop convenors:

Interdisciplinary Centre for European Studies (ICES) at the Europa-Universität Flensburg (EUF), Germany (Tabea Sophie Boeing, Kseniia Cherniak, Prof. Dr Hedwig Wagner); Center for War Studies at the Syddansk Universitet Denmark (SDU) and ICES at EUF, Germany (Assoc. Prof. Dr Tobias Nanz); Alexander-von-Humboldt-Foundation, Philipp-Schwartz-Initiative (Dr Nadia Zasanska) at ICES at the EUF, Germany

Freie Universität Berlin

Fachbereich Politik- und Sozialwissenschaften - Institut für Publizistik- und Kommunikationswissenschaft Project “WealthTalks: The (Re-)Production of Wealth Inequality in Everyday Conversations”

Research assistant (m/f/d) full-time job limited to 4 years Entgeltgruppe 13 TV-L FU reference code: WealthTalks_01

Bewerbungsende: 24.07.2023

Why does the public oppose wealth inequality but not support measures to change the distribution of wealth? Funded by VW Foundation, WealthTalks offers a novel perspective on the production and reproduction of wealth by examining how ordinary citizens discuss wealth and inequality in everyday conversations. WealthTalks will describe the form, conditions, and effects of everyday conversations on wealth and inequality in Botswana, Brazil, South Africa, Germany, and the US. We will produce a large corpus of transcripts of everyday conversations by collecting data from debates in social media, organizing a series of deliberative focus groups, and running moderated dialogues in public places. Subsequently, we will run iterative rounds of online experiments in which we test the effects of frames and argument sequences on people’s beliefs and attitudes about wealth inequality and redistribution. We will not only take a dynamic approach that dissects sequences of frames and arguments but will also pay particular attention to the role of various social identities. 

The postdoctoral research fellow will work in an international lab that consists of two other postdocs, student assistants, and a group leader, as well as a team of principal investigators and project partners spanning across the globe: Chana Teeger (London School of Economics), David Schieferdecker (Freie Universitat Berlin), Flavio Alex de Oliveira Carvalhaes (Federal Universidad de Rio de Janeiro), Jeremy Seekings (University of Cape Town), Jonathan Mijs (Boston University), Graziella Moraes Silva (Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies), Franziska Mager (Tax Justice Network), and John Makgala (University of Botswana).

What we offer: 

- Remuneration according to the tariff (TV-L E13) and a monthly ticket for public transport at reduced rates

- Office space in lively Berlin 

- Close collaboration with a large network of up-and-coming as well as senior international researchers in an interdisciplinary research team

- Flexible working hours, and ability to work remotely

- No teaching obligation 

- Fully paid conference travel and research stay at a university of our lab members

- Individual budget for methodological training and career development

- Fair authorship and the opportunity for first-authored publication

Your application (in English and preferably in one pdf-file) shall contain: 

- a motivation letter that describes (a) your interest in the topic or methods of the project; (b) prior experience relevant to the study; and (c) how working in our lab fits your career trajectory.

- a CV that includes a list of your relevant career stages, publications and presentations

- up to two examples of your writing

Job description:

In close collaboration with the other members of the lab, you will collect and analyze data and help disseminate project findings. Specific tasks include: 

- Literature review and development of the research design

- Collection of quantitative and qualitative data 

- Text analysis (mostly quantitative)

- Drafting journal articles for publication and presenting research findings at international conferences

- Planning and organization of team workshops

- Writing reports for the funder (Volkswagen Foundation)

- Mentoring student assistants

Requirements: 

- Degree: An academic degree in communication studies, political science, sociology, social psychology, economics, data science, or a related field

Desirable:

- Language: Proficiency in verbal and written academic English 

- Expertise: Experience conducting empirical social science research

- Data collection skills: Experience with collecting original data for text analysis and/or scraping social media data; experience in data collection in difficult contexts and-or the project countries is a plus.

- Analytical skills: Experience with conducting quantitative text analysis; experience in computational and/or qualitative text analysis is a plus.

- Publications: Publications (or submissions) in international journals and presentations at international conferences; publications related to the project focus (economic and social inequalities, conversational dynamics) are a plus.

- Language: Fluency in English; knowledge of Portuguese, German, or one of the other languages spoken in the project countries is a plus.

- Availability: Able to start work between October and December 2023

- Interpersonal skills: High motivation to work in a team that will primarily collaborate virtually; experience in working in transnational and transcultural settings.

- Travel: Willingness to travel to international workshops

For further information, please contact Dr. David Schieferdecker (d.schieferdecker@fu-berlin.de ).

Weitere Informationen

Applications should be sent by e-mail, together with significant documents, indicating the reference code, in PDF format (preferably as one document) to Herrn Dr. David Schieferdecker: d.schieferdecker@fu-berlin.de or postal to

Freie Universität Berlin

Fachbereich Politik- und Sozialwissenschaften

Institut für Publizistik- und Kommunikationswissenschaft

Project “WealthTalks: The (Re-)Production of Wealth Inequality in Everyday Conversations”

Herrn Dr. David Schieferdecker

Garystr. 55

14195 Berlin (Dahlem)

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