ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

Springer Book Series

Deadline: August 31, 2025

We are pleased to announce a Call for Chapters for two upcoming edited volumes in Springer’s book series, The International Library of Ethics, Law and Technology. Both volumes are under contract with Springer and will be co-edited by Ljubisa Bojic, Zoran Eric, and Ana Lipij.

The book titles are:

1. Ethics of AI Alignment: Rethinking Society Beyond Human

2. Ethics of AI Alignment: The Challenge of International Alignment

We have already confirmed a number of contributors, but we are seeking up to 10 additional chapter authors. We welcome both theoretical and empirical contributions from diverse disciplinary backgrounds and perspectives.

Possible overarching topics (indicative, not limited to):

- Part I: Theoretical Foundations of AI Ethics

- Part II: Societal, Environmental, and Existential Implications

- Part III: Global Challenges and Future Directions

- Part IV: AI in Creative and Applied Domains

Please send an abstract of up to 200 words (using this template) to Ljubisa Bojic at: ljubisa.bojic@ifdt.bg.ac.rs

Deadline: 31 August

We look forward to receiving your proposals and to exploring the important issues at the intersection of AI alignment, ethics, global challenges, and societal changes.

Best regards,

Ljubisa Bojic, Zoran Eric, and Ana Lipij

Editors

University of Rostock

The Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Rostock is filling the following position as of October 1, 2026, subject to budgetary regulations.

This tenure track professorship is funded by the Lola Zahn Professorinnen Program, which aims to increase the proportion of women among professors at the University of Rostock.

The successful candidate is expected to represent a wide spectrum of media and communication studies in research and teaching by the end of the Junior Professorship. The main focus will be on empirical (quantitative and/or qualitative) media research in the context of digitalization with a view to gender, diversity, and inequality. In addition, teaching methodological skills in the field of empirical media research is a central component of the teaching duties.

Participation in the dual bachelor's program in Communication and Media Studies and in the master's programs in Communication and Media Studies (dual master's) and Media Education and Media Culture (single master's) is expected.

The professional focus of the position holder should be compatible with the profile of the Institute for Media Research at the University of Rostock. The Institute for Media Research at the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Rostock sees itself at the interface between empirical social science communication studies and humanities oriented media studies. The social science oriented Junio Professorship for communication and media studies should be embedded in this tradition. Relevant experience in university teaching and a willingness to contribute to the interdisciplinary faculty of the University of Rostock are expected.

This call is aimed at scholars in the early stages of their careers who are expected to gain national and international visibility in the field of communication and media studies with a focus on gender, diversity, and inequality research.

A corresponding research concept must be submitted with the application. Special skills and achievements in teaching, scientific organization, and academic self-administration will be taken into account. To this end, applicants should outline their ideas for future teaching, including the didactic design of courses, and describe their experience in scientific management.

Requirements:

For further inquiries, please contact:

Prof. Dr. Nicola Hömke, Chair of the Search Committee

Fon: +49 381 498 2781

E-Mail: nicola.hömke@uni-rostock.de

****

Qualifications are as per § 62 (1) of the Higher Education Act of the State of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (LHG MV).

So far as there has been a period of employment as a member of scientific staff or as a scientific assistant in Germany, before or after completion of the doctorate, it is required that the doctorate period and the employment period combined have not exceeded nine years.

The professorship is to be filled according to § 62 (2) LHG M-V as a position with civil servant status of time or as a regular state employee. The employment relationship is extended for a further three years in the event of probation as part of an interim evaluation after the third year. Pursuant to § 62a LHG M-V, the appointment to the junior professorship is linked to the promise that a professorship in the civil service status for life or as a regular state employee will be accepted if the individual defined performance requirements are met during the junior professorship. Before the end of the second phase of the junior professorship, a tenure track evaluation is carried out in order to check the prerequisites for taking on the permanent W3 professorship.

A special focus is placed on academic achievement and teaching qualifications as well academic organization and administration. For this reason, candidates should describe previous teaching results, ideas regarding future teaching (including didactic lesson planning) and their prior experience in academic and scientific management. In addition, candidates are expected to have experience and interest in developing programs that can attract and maintain external funding.

The University of Rostock is committed to their university management guidelines.

Equal opportunities are part of our personnel policy. The announcement is therefore aimed at all persons regardless of their gender. Disabled applicants will be given preference if all other qualifications are essentially equal.

The University of Rostock is especially interested in promoting women within the context of § 7 (3) of the Gender Equality Act, and therefore specifically encourages applications from qualified women. Women will be given priority if their qualifications are essentially equivalent, unless reasons attributable to the person of the competitor predominate.

Applications with the usual documents (full CV, certificates, a complete list of academic and professional background, publications, teaching experience, any additional qualifications, a summary of grants and sponsored research activities and a description of future research plans) should be sent no later than 5th September 2025 to the Universität Rostock, Dekan der Philosophischen Fakultät, August-Bebel-Straße 28, 18055 Rostock or by e-mail to berufungen.phf@uni-rostock.de. We would like to point out that your e-mail will be sent to us unencrypted.

The protection of your personal information is very important to us. Therefore, the data collected during the application process will be collected, processed and used in accordance with the relevant data protection rules.

Application costs cannot be reimbursed by the State of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. We ask you to submit applications only in copy, as they will not be returned after the procedure has been completed.

January 15-16

Rome, 2026 IULM, University

Deadline: September 30, 2025

Keynote speakers

• Tiziana Terranova, University of Naples ‘L’Orientale’
• TBC

Description

The audience regards a “large number of unidentifiable people, usually united by their participation in media use” (Hartley 2002, p. 11), yet it is always already plural, diverse, fragmented, fluid and in many ways “ungraspable”, both everywhere and nowhere (Carpentier & Wimmer, 2023, p. 38). In the age of data capitalism, audiences become users and creators, seemingly blurring the division between the official and the vernacular, the elite and popular. Yet the vast majority of audiences remain in a subordinate position vis-à-vis the owners of the platform or elite audience members (e.g., influencers) insofar as platforms control their creativity, interaction, and usage. In this regard, although analytically helpful, terms such as “creators” and “users” may be romanticizing the division between the few and the many.

The discussion above echoes tensions between two critical yet seemingly opposing, if not contradictory, audience roles discussed in critical media studies. The political economy approach, argues that by exploiting audience time, attention, data and sociality, digital media treat audiences as commodities (Smythe, 1977), labourers (Terranova, 2001) and subjectify them in the lifeworld of surveillance and platform capitalism (Zuboff, 2019; Andrejevich, 2020; Srnicek, 2017; Fuchs, 2015). Developed in the 1970s by Dallas Smythe and later guided critical political economy approaches in media and communication (e.g., Mosco, 2009), the audience-commodity thesis became again relevant after 2010s with the blatant commodification of media and the rise of smartphones and digital platforms; it has been reflected in critical works, including that of Evgeny Morozov (2020), Mark Andrejevic (2013), Jodi Dean (2010), Christian Fuchs (2015; 2020) and has been popularized beyond academic with the theses of “surveillance capitalism” (Zuboff, 2017) and platform capitalism (Sadowski, 2020). On the other hand, there is the “active audience”, a figure clustered around cultural studies and ethnography, where audiences casually and routinely do things with social media, exercising their voice, agency and empowerment. The active audience prioritizes the uses of media over the structures determining usage (Ambercombie, 1998), partaking of the enthusiasm that characterized the early days of internet research in media and communication studies, including the idea of a new and booming participatory culture (Jenkins, 2006). There have been attempts to bridge these approaches, such as in Nick Couldry’s concept of the “media manifold” (2016), Ytre-Arne’s and Das’ unpacking of “communicative agency” in datafication (2021) or the “duality of media” by James G. Webster (2011). The spread of deepfakes complicates this media landscape, contributing to a wider movement of communicative polarization and geopolitical deglobalization (D’ Eramo, 2022).

The shift from singular to plural, from top-down to bottom-up processes as well as the high customization of contents is then not necessarily a “positive” or emancipating aspect. As a consequence of the postfordist organization, it represents a problematic transformation of power through a democratizing narrative.

The concept of the “audience” is then useful for critical scholarship insofar as it intertwines concerns around participation and engagement with commodification and exploitation — yet to what extent are we also “beyond” it? How can we think of concepts like participation and power in the context of data capitalism through and beyond the figure of the audience? How can in turn figures like users, participants and communities be thought within the critical tradition of both political economy and cultural studies in a landscape dominated by algorithmic data extraction?

This conference invites contributions studying audiences through the lens of critical media research. The latter questions positivistic paradigms of social research, highlighting issues from commodification and exploitation to resistance and alternative forms of world- building. We look for abstracts thinking through agency, everyday contexts and socializations together with political economy, commodification and value creation.

We welcome both theoretical and case studies driven papers and seek contributions in the following indicative topics:

• The audience commodity and its contemporary applications
• The audience as worker in the digital age
• Questioning the term ‘audience’
• Content creators, bloggers and influencers
• Algorithmic audiences
• Datafied audiences
• Generative AI and audience replacement
• Clickification of news and information
• The effectiveness of media literacy in the context of data societies
• Activism, hashtags and platforms
• Audience exploitation
• Mobile audiences
• Media lifeworlds and everydayness
• Film and music audiences
• Data journalism and news audiences
• Social listening and feedback
• Cybernetic audiences
• Audience polarization
• Fans in data-driven contexts
• Streaming audiences
• Audiences in Video on Demand (VOD), Streaming Video on Demand (SVOD) and Over the Top (OTT) Platforms
• Audiences and piracy
• Audiences as publics and communities
• Deepfakes and Gen-Z

Please send an abstract of max 500 words and a short bio at the following address: conference@medemap.eu

Deadline: September 30, 2025

Organizing board

Giulia Ferri, Andrea Miconi, and Elisabetta Risi (IULM University)

Scientific board

Nello Barile (IULM University), Nico Carpentier (Charles University in

Prague), Panos Kompatsiaris (HSE), Andrea Miconi (IULM University),

Elisabetta Risi (IULM University), Josef Seethaler (Austrian Academy of

Sciences), Tiziana Terranova (Orientale University, Naples).

This conference is organized in the framework of MEDEMAP, a Horizon

Europe research project (www.medemap.eu).

References

Abercrombie, N., & Longhurst, B. (1998). Audiences: A Sociological Theory of Performance and Imagination. Sage Publications.

Andrevich, M. (2013). The Digital Infoglut: How Too Much Information Is Changing the Way We Think and Know. Routledge.

Carpentier, Nico and Wimmer, Jeffrey (2023) Democracy and Media: A Discursive-Material Approach. MEDEMAP, Deliverable 2.1.

Castells, M. (1999). The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture, Volume 1: The Rise of the Network Society. Blackwell Publishing.

Castells, M. (2009). Communication Power. Oxford University Press.

Couldry, N., 2016. Life with the media manifold: Between freedom and subjection. In Kramp, Leif, Nico Carpentier, Andreas Hepp, Richard

Kilborn, Risto Kunelius, Hannu Nieminen, Tobias Olsson, Pille Pruulmann-Vengerfeldt, Ilija Tomanic Trivundža, and Simone Tosoni, R. Kilborn, (eds.) Politics, Civil Society and Participation: Media and Communications in a Transforming Environment. Bremen: Edition Lumière, 25-39.

D’Eramo M. (2022), Deglobalization, Newleftreview, 3/29.

Jenkins, H. (2006). Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. New York: NYU Press.

Livingstone, S. (2005). Audiences and Publics: When Cultural Engagement Matters for the Public Sphere. Intellect Books.

Livingstone, S. (2019). Audiences in an age of datafication: Critical questions for media research. Television & New Media, 20(2), 170-183.

Livingstone, S., & Das, R. (2013). The end of audiences? Theoretical echoes of reception amid the uncertainties of use. A companion to new media dynamics, 104-121.

McGuigan, L. (2023). Selling the American people: Advertising, optimization, and the origins of adtech. MIT Press.

Smythe, D. W. (1977). Communications: Blindspot of Western Marxism. Canadian Journal of Political and Social Theory, 1(3), 1-27.

Terranova, T. (2000). Free Labor: Producing Culture for the Digital Economy. Social Text, 63(18), 33-58.

Webster, J. G. (2011). Duality of Media: A Structurational Theory of Public Attention. Communication Theory, 21(1), 44–474.

Ytre-Arne, B. and Das, R., 2021. Audiences’ communicative agency in a datafied age: Interpretative, relational and increasingly prospective. Communication Theory, 31(4), pp. 779-797.

Zuboff, S. (2019). The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power. Public Affairs.

Minos-Athanasios Karyotakis

In Populism, Territories, Name Disputes, and Hyperreality: Greek Nationalism and the Macedonian Case, Minos-Athanasios Karyotakis examines how and why societal actors may use different names to refer to the same territory. Karyotakis demonstrates the enormous symbolic power that the names of places can hold through a study of the Macedonian name dispute (MND), arguing that territorial names can be symbolic and crucial for constructing nation-states through imbued influential meanings affecting citizens' hearts and minds. These symbolic name disputes (SNDs), he posits, offer societal elites the opportunity to further their own personal ambitions, which can include winning electoral power and spreading hatred against non-supporters. Karyotakis then delineates how some disputes have maintained a seemingly improved version of reality that strongly attaches the conflict to a dogmatized dominant narrative which exploits the nationalistic ideas of the nation-state and blurs territorial borders (hyperreal symbolic name disputes), while other disputes are firmly attached to actual territorial claims that arise from a disagreement over control of a well-defined physical territory (referential symbolic name disputes). Pointing to several persistent territorial name disputes - such as the Arabian/Persian Gulf, Kurdistan, the Kuril Islands/Northern Territories, Macedonia, Navasa Island/La Navase, and Western Sahara, among others - this book provides a model for a novel categorization that broadens our understanding of these conflicts.

Reviews of the Book

Minos-Athanasios Karyotakis investigates a heated international dispute, not over land or resources, but over the symbolic power of a country’s name. His richly detailed and theoretically groundbreaking study has global, cross-disciplinary relevance in an age of identity wars, when populists inflate enmities for political gain.

Cherian George, author of Fighting Polarisation (Polity, 2025)

Theoretically innovative and empirically rich, this book ably analyses a hitherto neglected field: media narratives surrounding the politics of naming, supported by a compelling case study.

Daya Thussu, Professor of International Communication, Hong Kong Baptist University

Dive into a compelling exploration of territorial name disputes through the lens of the Macedonian Name Dispute (MND) in this insightful book by Dr. Minos-Athanasios Karyotakis. Combining rigorous historical analysis with contemporary political discourse, Karyotakis conducts a novel categorisation of territorial name disputes and reveals how names and identities shape national narratives and political power dynamics. With a keen focus on the interplay between populism and identity politics, this work examines the MND’s impact on Greek political actors, the media’s role in shaping public perception, and the existential threats perceived by citizens. Readers will gain a nuanced understanding of how hyperreality influences societal divisions and the implications for democracy.

Dionysios Stivas, Professor of International Studies, Xi’an Jiaotong Liverpool University

Publisher’s page: https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/populism-territories-name-disputes-and-hyperreality-9781666950069/

Deadline: July 31, 2025

mediastudies.press, the scholar-led and nonprofit OA publisher, is happy to announce that our annual proposal window, which opened on 1 June, closes on 31 July, 2025. Authors are encouraged to submit a proposal for review.

mediastudies.press welcomes submissions from scholars across media, communication, and film studies. We currently publish in four series:

• Media Manifold series — monographs and other book-length works of contemporary media scholarship
  
• Public Domain series — reprints of neglected classics, in new critical editions anchored by framing introductions
  
• Open Reader series — themed collections of openly licensed, public domain, and linked materials curated and introduced by leading experts
  
• History of Media Studies series — monographs and other original scholarly works centered on history of media, communication, and film studies
  
• Goffman in the Open series — public domain texts, monographs, translations, and other original scholarly works centered on the Canadian-American sociologist Erving Goffman
  

We are small and artisanal by mission, and aim to publish just five books a year. Given the volume of proposals that we receive—and with our production schedule in mind—we maintain an annual proposal window (1 June to 31 July), for the review of manuscripts slated for publication in the following calendar year. You are welcome to send informal queries outside these dates, but our general practice is to only consider proposals within the annual window. Each year, we review proposals with an initial reply by August 30, with the aim to conduct peer review of proposals of expressed interest by the end of September. 

mediastudies.press is an open-access publisher for the media and communication studies fields. The press is nonprofit and scholar-led. We publish living works, with iterative updates stitched into our process. And we encourage multi-modal submissions that reflect the mediated environments our authors study. 

Publishing with mediastudies.press is free on principle. Our aim is to demonstrate, on a small scale, an open-access publishing model supported by libraries rather than author fees, via the Open Book Collective. Open access for readers, we believe, should not be traded for new barriers to authorship. 

All our published works are rigorously peer-reviewed, and receive unusual editorial attention. We prioritize discoverability through careful metadata, library records, and directory listings. As a scholar-run operation, our publicity outreach is uncommonly informed by the fields’ intellectual contours. 

We kindly ask that proposals be submitted as a single PDF. Proposals should include the following elements, in addition to at least one draft chapter:

1. Proposed title and subtitle
   
2. A 500- to 1000-word narrative description of the book
   
3. Short bios of author(s) and/or editor(s)
   
4. Proposed series (see above)
   
5. Tentative table of contents, preferably annotated
   
6. Estimated word-length
   
7. Multi-modal components, if any
   
8. Status of the book (i.e., expectation of completion date, the portion now complete)
   
9. At least one draft chapter
   

To submit your work to mediastudies.press please follow our submission link. 

If you have any questions at all about the proposal process for books, please contact us at press@mediastudies.press

Jeff Pooley, co-director of mediastudies.press

Dave Park, co-director of mediastudies.press

Södertörn University

Apply here

Reference number AP-2025/293

Södertörn University is a higher education institution in Stockholm that conducts education, research, and collaboration for sustainable societal development. We have around 14 000 students, 80 programmes and 300 courses, and we conduct education and research in the humanities, social sciences, technology and natural sciences. The university also offers police education and teacher education with an intercultural profile. A great deal of our research relates to the Baltic Sea region and Eastern Europe. We combine subjects, perspectives, people and experiences, and are worldminded, curious and questioning, searching for surprising syntheses, challenges and development.

Södertörn University welcomes doctoral proposals in Media and Communication Studies, to be conducted within the Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems and Software Program – Humanity and Society (WASP-HS). The successful applicant will write their thesis as part of the AI Welfare State cluster, which is an interdisciplinary collaboration between several universities and is led by researchers at Södertörn University, Lunds University and Karlstad University.

The Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems and Software Program – Humanity and Society (WASP-HS) is a national research program in Sweden. The vision of WASP-HS is to foster novel interdisciplinary knowledge in the humanities and social sciences about AI and autonomous systems and their impact on human and social development. WASP-HS enables cutting edge research, expertise, and competence building in the humanities and social sciences. The WASP-HS graduate school trains promising young researchers to understand the challenges and implications of autonomous systems and AI in society. A complement to students’ doctoral studies, the graduate school offers courses, a summer school, a winter conference, a semester abroad, and study visits both within Sweden and internationally. Students work collaboratively to solve real-world problems and are equipped with the theories, methods, and background critical for investigating questions on the consequences of AI and autonomous systems for humanity and society. 

Media and Communication Studies at Södertörn University is one of Sweden’s leading environments for media research and education. Research and education are focused on the contemporary digitised media landscape and founded on a historically informed understanding of new communication technologies and their contexts. The research environment currently comprises around 30 researchers/teachers including full professors, associate professors, assistant professors and nine doctoral students. All our doctoral students have an international profile, and the working language of the doctoral programme is English. For more information, please click here (English version) or see www.sh.se/mkv (Swedish version).

Doctoral education at the Department of Media and Communication Studies is part of the research area of Critical Cultural Theory. This is an interdisciplinary research environment which consists of seven subjects in the humanities. Research focuses on critically motivated studies of cultural artifacts and human practices. For more information, please click here. For a Swedish version click here.

Description of the doctoral position

The AI Welfare State cluster addresses the vulnerabilities that arise with the introduction of artificial intelligence into our welfare systems for better service and control. As AI technologies become increasingly embedded in public services, new potential harms are materialising; these imperil both the technical infrastructure and the individuals affected by the systems. The cluster is developing an understanding of emerging AI vulnerabilities, which include the generation of false information, dependence on Big Tech, misuse by malicious actors, disclosure of sensitive data, and bias in automated decision-making. By examining AI vulnerabilities in three research streams, which focus on imaginaries, governance and practices, the cluster will provide a comprehensive analysis of how AI impacts society. It combines infrastructural analysis with an analysis of how citizens relate to AI in welfare in terms of meaning-making, feelings and perceptions. This multidisciplinary effort aims to develop a new theory of the AI welfare state to ensure that AI technologies support, rather than undermine, public values such as justice, transparency, and social cohesion. Through its ambitious empirical and theoretical research as well as a well-integrated outreach programme, the cluster aspires to highlight AI vulnerabilities for policymakers and the public, facilitating a well informed and sustainable AI welfare state.

For more information about the graduate school and the doctoral position, please contact the cluster leader, Anne Kaun (see below).

Entry requirements

All credits are ECTS credits.

The general entry requirements are:

1. a second-cycle qualification, or

2. fulfilled requirements for courses comprising at least 240 credits, of which at least 60 credits were awarded in the second-cycle, or 

3. substantially equivalent knowledge acquired in some other way in Sweden or abroad.

The Faculty Board may permit an exemption from the general entry requirements for an individual applicant, if there are special grounds. (Ordinance 2010:1064)

Specific entry requirements

The specific entry requirements are met by someone who has at least 90 credits in Media and Communication Studies, including an independent work of at least 15 credits. The ability to assimilate academic material in English and a command of the language necessary for work on the thesis are prerequisites for admission to the degree programme.

Admission and employment

This position includes admission to third-cycle education, i.e. research level, and employment on a doctoral studentship at the School of Culture and Education at Södertörn University. The intended outcome for admitted students is a PhD. The programme covers 240 credits, which is the equivalent of four years of full-time study. The position may be extended by a maximum of one year due to the inclusion of departmental duties, i.e. education, research and/or administration (equivalent to no more than 20% of full-time). Other grounds for extension could be leave of absence because of illness or for service in the defence forces, an elected position in a trade union/student organisation, or parental leave.  Provisions relating to employment on a doctoral studentship are in the Higher Education Ordinance, Chapter 5, Sections 1-7.

Date of employment: 19 January 2026

General Syllabus for third-cycle programmes in Media and Communication Studies:  English version or Swedish version

Information about admission regulations including selection criteria, and third-cycle education at Södertörn University: English version or Swedish version

Application procedure

For more details, see this website under FAQ. Please use Södertörn University’s web-based recruitment system “ReachMee”. Click on the link "ansök" (apply) at the bottom of the announcement.

Your application should be written in English and must include:

- an application letter

- curriculum vitae

- degree certificate and certificates that demonstrate eligibility to apply for the position (if not written in English or Swedish/Norwegian/Danish, you must enclose a version that has been professionally translated)

- Bachelor’s essay and Master’s dissertation in the field in accordance with the entry requirements (if not written in Swedish, Norwegian, Danish or English, you must enclose summaries of approximately 2500 words each, in addition to copies of the essay and the dissertation in the original language)

- a research plan (project plan) of between 1000 and 1500 words. The project’s relevance to Media and Communication Studies, Critical and Cultural Theory and the Graduate School must be clear.

- name and contact details for two reference persons, and a short note on their relationship to the applicant (for example supervisor).

If available, a maximum of three publications may also be attached.

Incomplete applications will not be processed.

Application deadline: 18 August 2025 at 23:59

Further information

Anne Kaun, Cluster Leader, Professor, Media and Communication Studies, anne.kaun@sh.se

Göran Bolin, Director of Studies (third cycle), Professor, Media and Communication Studies, goran.bolin@sh.se

Martina Sundström, Human Resources Officer, School of Culture and Education, martina.sundstrom@sh.se (questions about employment as a doctoral student)

Welcome with your application! 

Publications referred to must be attached to the application.

An application that is not complete or arrives at Södertörn University after the closing date may be rejected.

The current employment is valid on condition that the employment decision becomes valid.

Union representatives:

SACO: info.saco@sh.se

ST: st@sh.se

SEKO: Henry Wölling tel: +46 8 524 840 80, henry.wolling@ki.se 

Södertörn University has made strategic advertisement choices for this recruitment. Therefore, we decline all contact with advertisers and other salespersons of advertisement.

URL to this page

https://www.sh.se/english/sodertorn-university/meet-sodertorn-university/this-is-sodertorn-university/vacant-positions?rmpage=job&rmjob=8996&rmlang=UK

October 15-17, 2025

Madrid and Salamanca (Spain)

Deadline (EXTENDED): August 20, 2025

ECREA CYM Mid-Term Conference

Children’s play is undergoing a profound transformation in a world increasingly shaped by algorithmic infrastructures. No longer confined to physical spaces or open-ended exploration, today’s play journeys are routed through opaque recommendation systems that curate stories, games, and peers according to commercial logic. What once fostered imagination and serendipity is now entangled in platforms that gamify interactions, influence tastes, and weave childhood experience into data-driven ecosystems.

At the heart of this transformation lies the architecture of algorithmic infrastructures. Research with young users shows how platforms like TikTok or YouTube Kids not only mediate choices but actively shape habits, preferences, and social bonds. Feeds become curated playgrounds where children’s agency is subtly engineered—reflecting not neutrality, but corporate interests.

Compounding this, we confront the datafication of childhood. Connected toys, wearables, and apps turn children into both data subjects and profitable data sources. Echoing Shoshana Zuboff’s concept of surveillance capitalism, children’s playful interactions now feed predictive analytics systems that anticipate and monetize their desires, reinforcing asymmetries of power and diminishing spaces for genuine, autonomous play.

Meanwhile, gamification strategies—such as points, badges, and infinite scroll designs—blur the lines between play, work, and consumption. Although they boost engagement, they also risk creating compulsive loops and fostering exploitative forms of participation, raising urgent ethical concerns around persuasive and addictive technologies.

In parallel, algorithmic personalization fosters polarization rather than just entertainment. Personalized feeds often create “echo chambers” that isolate children in homogeneous bubbles of opinion and taste. Surveys across Europe and North America show increasing parental concern about how these dynamics challenge civic dialogue, empathy, and coexistence, leading regulatory bodies like Ofcom to recommend interventions to mitigate divisive content exposure.

This algorithmic environment also heightens risks of exposure to hate, misogyny, and bias. Empirical studies reveal how quickly recommendation systems can escalate from benign content to extreme narratives, amplifying harmful discourses among adolescents. Simultaneously, the automated systems designed to moderate hate speech often replicate biases of race and gender, creating a double bind where marginalized voices are silenced even as harms proliferate.

The impact on mental health and privacy is equally profound. Teenagers themselves report links between heavy social-media use and challenges such as sleep disruption, anxiety, and declining self-esteem. Efforts by schools and parents to monitor and mitigate these risks—often through AI surveillance tools—introduce further tensions, raising fresh questions about trust, autonomy, and digital rights in educational and domestic spaces.

In response to these complex challenges, scholars call for a shift towards critical algorithmic literacy and reparative digital design. Instead of merely protecting young users through surveillance or restrictions, participatory approaches aim to empower them to interrogate and reshape the very infrastructures that mediate their digital lives. Such frameworks advocate for inclusive, plural, and rights-respecting online spaces that children and youth can co-create alongside educators, caregivers, designers, and policymakers.

This mid-term conference invites contributions that engage with these intertwined issues—algorithmic infrastructures, datafication, gamification, polarization, hate, mental health, critical literacy, and participatory design. We seek to foster a rich, interdisciplinary dialogue that advances our understanding of how play, pleasure, and participation are being fundamentally reconfigured under algorithmic conditions. We welcome submissions from scholars, educators, activists, designers, and practitioners working across media studies, childhood and youth studies, education, digital culture, AI, and ethics.

Key Topics (include but are not limited to):

• Algorithmic influence on play, imagination, and autonomy
• Media and information literacy in algorithmic environments: challenges and pedagogies
• Artificial intelligence and data: ethical tensions, transparency and children’s rights
• Platform design and children’s play behavior
• Branded content in youth media cultures: commercial influence and participatory formats
• Gamification and its educational/ethical implications
• Surveillance and datafication of children’s leisure
• Creative resistance: how children subvert algorithmic norms
• Play, inclusion and marginalization in digital spaces
• Digital well-being and psychological implications of algorithm-driven play
• Educational tools to foster critical play and media literacy
• Regulation, parental mediation and institutional responses

Format and Participation 

This CYM Mid-Term Conference 2025 will take place over three consecutive days, each with a distinct thematic and structural focus.

On 15 October, the event will open at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid with a day centered on youth participation and industry-academia dialogue. This first day aims to foreground the voices of children and to explore the intersections between research, media practice and policy through collaborative sessions and a special roundtable.

On 16 October, hosted at Universidad Villanueva (Madrid), the conference will feature the core parallel paper sessions, alongside two keynote lectures and an expert roundtable discussion on artificial intelligence and children’s media use. This central academic day will highlight critical perspectives on digital infrastructures, algorithmic mediation and well-being.

Finally, on 17 October, a Doctoral Colloquium will be held at Universidad de Salamanca, exclusively dedicated to PhD students working on topics related to children, youth and media in digital environments. This session offers a supportive space for doctoral researchers to present their research projects, conceptual frameworks, and methodological approaches, whether they are in early or advanced stages of development. Each participant will receive constructive feedback from senior scholars in the field, as well as input from peers, with the aim of strengthening their academic work and expanding their research networks. The colloquium is designed to foster dialogue, mentoring and scholarly exchange, and to provide visibility for emerging voices within the CYM and ECREA communities.

This conference prioritizes in-person participation. All accepted presentations will be delivered onsite, fostering direct interaction, collaboration and networking. However, the Doctoral Colloquium on 17 October will exceptionally offer a hybrid participation option for PhD students, allowing for remote presentations in justified cases.

Submission Guidelines

Please submit an abstract of 300–400 words, clearly stating:

• Research question and relevance to the theme
• Theoretical framework and/or methodology
• Key findings or expected insights

For the Doctoral Colloquium taking place on October 17, participants are invited to submit 300-400 words text clearly stating:

• Title of the research project
• Research context and relevance (why is this topic important?)
• Main research questions or objectives
• Theoretical and/or methodological approach
• Current stage of the research
• One or two specific aspects you would like to receive feedback on

Submissions must be in English. Authors can only submit 2 proposals as first author.

Abstracts must be submitted exclusively via the following form:

https://forms.gle/kCMiFVbZ3eyAyvqAA

Submissions sent by email will not be considered.

Deadline (EXTENDED): August 20, 2025

Notification of acceptance: July 29^th, 2025/ September 10th, 2025

For any questions related to this call or the submission process, please write to us at: ecrea.cym.2025.madsal@gmail.com

Organizers

This conference is a Mid-Term Conference of the Children, Youth and Media (CYM) Section of ECREA, supported by Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Universidad Villanueva and CÁTEDRA RTVE USAL (Universidad de Salamanca).

Chairs:

• Patricia Núñez Gómez, Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain)
• Beatriz Feijoo, Universidad Villanueva (Spain)
• Teresa Martín García, Universidad de Salamanca (Spain) / Cátedra RTVE-USAL (Spain)

Organizing Team:

• Patricia Lafuente Pérez, Universidad Villanueva (Spain)
• Jose Alberto Irarrázaval, Universidad de Navarra (Spain)
• Isabel Rodrigo, Universidad de Valladolid (Spain)
• Luis Rodrigo, Universidad de Valladolid (Spain)
• Maciej Wysokinski, Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain)
• William González Baquero, Universidad Salamanca (Spain)
• Álvaro Núñez, Universidad Salamanca (Spain)

Scientific Committee

This CYM Mid-Term Conference 2025 is supported by a diverse and interdisciplinary Scientific Committee, composed of international scholars and experts in the fields of media, communication, childhood and youth studies and digital culture.

• Félix Ortega, Universidad de Salamanca (Spain)
• Ana Filipa Oliveira, Lusófona University (Portugal)
• Patricia Núñez Gómez, Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain)
• Beatriz Feijoo, Universidad Villanueva (Spain)
• Teresa Martín García, Universidad de Salamanca (Spain)
• Carlos Arcila Calderón, Universidad de Salamanca (Spain)
• Tomás Atarama Rojas, Universidad de Piura (Perú)
• Erika Fernández Gómez, Universidad Internacional de la Rioja (Spain)
• Jonathan Hardy, University of the Arts London (United Kingdom)
• Viera Kacinová, Univerzita sv. Cyrila a Metoda v Trnave (Slovakia)
• Herminder Kaur, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (United Kingdom)
• Patricia Lafuente Pérez, Universidad Villanueva (Spain)
• Kepa Larrañaga, Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain)
• Iain MacRury, University of Stirling (United Kingdom)
• Mónica Mongui, Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain)
• Pedro Moura, University of Minho (Portugal)
• Sara Pereira, University of Minho (Portugal)
• Clarisse Pessôa Universidade Europeia (Portugal)
• Isabel Rodrigo, Universidad de Valladolid (Spain)
• Luis Rodrigo, Universidad de Valladolid (Spain)
• Sandrina Teixeira, Instituto Politécnico de Oporto (Portugal)
• Arantxa Vizcaíno Verdú, Universidad Internacional de la Rioja (Spain)
• Maciej Wysokinski, Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain)

Fees (registration September 30^th)

15, 16, 17 of October 2025

• ECREA Members (regular): €100
• ECREA Members (Junior scholars*): €50
• Non-ECREA Members (regular): €150
• Non-ECREA Members (Junior scholars*): €70

*Junior Scholars (PhDs, early career up to a year after finishing their PhD)

October 17-19, 2025

Cairo, Egypt

Deadline: July 20, 2025

In today’s high velocity digital media markets and accelerating AI revolution, competence in management and leadership are critical success factors. It is especially important to develop mastery in leveraging creativity as a strategic resource for strengthening competitive advantages in company processes, products, market relationships, and business models. The complexity of digital disruption makes innovation and creativity a necessity for long-term sustainability. Company success requires competencies in emerging digital technologies and fostering organizational cultures that encourage experimentation, agility and respect for ethical responsibilities. Strategic managers are challenged with demands to rethink orientations, practices, and structures, to redesign business models, and to boost productivity by improving efficiencies that can be gained by harnessing AI technologies. Doing so raises ethical and legal issues pertaining to intellectual property rights and managing human creativity.

The International Media Management Academic Association (IMMAA) invites submissions for its 19th Annual Conference, hosted by The American University in Cairo (AUC), October 17–19, 2025. Join global scholars and industry leaders to explore “Managing Innovation and Creativity for Sustainability in Media Companies” in the dynamic setting of Cairo, Egypt. Read full call for papers here (www.immaaegypt.com) 

KEY THEMES

Topics include (but are not limited to):

• Innovation in media management theory/practice
  
• AI-driven business analytics & ethical frameworks
  
• Leadership for creativity and organizational agility
  
• Evolving media business models & market strategies
  
• Cross-cultural management challenges
  
• Media policy, regulation, and sustainability
  
• Advances in advertising, marketing, and digital tech

IMPORTANT DATES

• June 20, 2025: Abstract/panel proposal deadline
  
• July 7- August 7, 2025: Acceptance notifications
  
• July 7 – Sept 15: Early registration
  
• Oct 17–19: Conference dates

Keynote Speakers:

Charlie Becket: Director of Polis and the Polis/LSE JournalismAI project, London School of Economics; 

Edson Tandoc: Associate Chair, Research and Strategy; Professor, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

Noha Mellor: Media Professor at the University of Sharjah, UAE.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Papers: Extended abstracts (750–1,000 words) outlining focus, methods, and relevance to media management.

Panels: 300-word proposal + 300-word abstracts per presentation + panelist bios.

Submit via email to: immaaegypt2025@aucegypt.edu (Double-blind peer-reviewed).

REGISTRATION FEES

Early registration:

• Faculty/Researcher: €70–270
  
• Grad Student: €50–150
  

Late registration:

• Faculty/Researcher: €120–320
  
• Grad Student: €100–200
  

Discounted rates for global participation. Full details on conference website.

WHY ATTEND?

• Engage with cutting-edge research and industry insights.
  
• Network in Cairo—home to the Pyramids, Nile cruises, and a vibrant cultural scene.
  
• Hosted by AUC, a leading MENA institution with world-class facilities.
  

LINKS & CONTACT

• Conference website: https://immaaegypt.com
  
• IMMAA website: www.immaa.org
  
• Questions? Email: immaaegypt2025@aucegypt.edu
  

Join us to advance media management scholarship amid Cairo’s historic wonders!

Journal of Media Business Studies (Special Issue)

Submission Deadline: October 24, 2025

Guest Editor: Eylem Yanardagoglu, Macromedia University

Inspired by the European Media Management Association’s (EMMA)  “emmahub workshop” held in Berlin (November 13-15, 2024), this special issue in the Journal of Media Business Studies addresses the intersection of media management and migration.

Diasporic communities, defined as groups of individuals who maintain cultural, social, or emotional ties to their country of origin while living abroad, present unique opportunities and challenges for the media industry. Despite their growing presence in Europe’s diversifying societies, the media needs of these communities are often inadequately addressed: they typically remain underrepresented or misrepresented in mainstream media coverage, and their specific interests are often not catered to. However, diasporic audiences also contribute significantly to media innovation through their entrepreneurial efforts to develop media offerings targeting their needs and fostering integration into their host societies. They also contribute to diverse consumption patterns.

This special issue aims to improve academic understanding and inform industry practice by focusing on the economic conditions and managerial as well as business consequences of effectively serving and representing diasporic communities. It will explore the creative and economic potential tapped by new media entrepreneurs, content creators, and established media companies from both the countries of origin and the host countries.

Scope and Possible Topics:

This special issue invites submissions that examine topics such as:

• Diasporic Audiences and Consumption Patterns:
  
• • How do diasporic communities/audiences engage with mainstream and alternative media?
  • What are the emerging trends in content preferences and distribution platforms among diasporic audiences?
  • How and why do diasporic media consumption patterns differ from those of the general population in the host country?
• Media Entrepreneurship and Innovation by and/or for Diasporic Communities, explaining:
  
• • Case studies of successful media startups founded and led by members of the diaspora.
  • Business models that effectively cater to the unique needs and preferences of diasporic audiences.
  • The role of technology and digital platforms in facilitating media entrepreneurship within diasporic communities.
• Representation and Inclusivity in Legacy Media:
  
• • Analysis of the barriers to equitable representation of diasporic voices and perspectives in traditional media institutions (e.g., news outlets, television networks).
  • Strategies for fostering inclusivity through diverse hiring practices, content development, and partnerships with diasporic communities.

Submission Guidelines:

• Submission deadline: 24 October 2025. Submissions will be handled on a rolling basis.
  
• Authors of selected submitted papers will be invited to a paper development workshop hosted at the Media, Management and Transformation Centre, Jönköping International Business School, Sweden, 20-21 November 2025.
  
• Submissions follow the author guidelines for the Journal of Media Business Studies (Submit to Journal of Media Business Studies).
  
• Submission Process: Submit manuscripts electronically through the journal's online submission system. The system can be accessed from the journal’s webpage (Journal of Media Business Studies | Taylor & Francis Online).
  
• Peer Review: All submissions will undergo an initial check by the editor-in-chief and the special issue editor. Submissions of high quality and a good fit with the special issue topic will undergo a double-blind peer-review process.
  

Expected Contributions:

This special issue aims to:

• Advance scholarly understanding of the economic and cultural contributions of diasporic communities to the media industry.
  
• Provide actionable insights for media managers, policymakers, and industry professionals to foster inclusivity and innovation.
  
• Highlight best practices for balancing commercial and ethical imperatives in media production and management within the context of diasporic communities.
  

Contact:

For any inquiries regarding the special issue, please contact the special issue editor Eylem Yanardagoglu (e.yanardagoglu@macromedia.de) or the editor-in-chief Leona Achtenhagen (acle@ju.se).

NB: No payment from the authors will be required.

Polis (Special Issue)

Deadline: September 1, 2025

In recent years, the international landscape has been shaken by profound and rapid transformations: the war in Ukraine, the erosion of the US-led global order, increasing tensions within in transatlantic relations, and the proliferation of systemic challenges — Including climate change, energy crises, migration, digital disruptions — are reshaping the foundations of global governance. In this evolving scenario, the European Union (EU) is facing a critical political and institutional juncture, one that may mark a turning point in its historical evolution. These dynamics are testing the EU’s capacity to adapt, respond, and redefine its role on the global stage, while also prompting introspection about its internal cohesion, democratic legitimacy, and long-term strategic direction.

Beyond these institutional and international developments, social transformations, public opinion and media representations are also playing an increasingly central role. European citizens are responding in complex and sometimes contradictory ways: while many call for greater EU sovereignty and protection, others express growing mistrust towards supranational institutions and elites, oftentimes supporting Eurosceptic political parties. At the same time, profound social transformations are shaping the ways in which European societies perceive and engage with the idea of the EU. Changing social identities, shifting values, and new forms of collective action are central to understanding how legitimacy, belonging, and solidarity are constructed and contested. From everyday practices to broader public discourses, individuals and groups negotiate their relationship to European institutions through experiences marked by inequality, cultural tension, and symbolic recognition. These dynamics, which reflect deeper social structures and power relations, contribute to the polarization of attitudes but also open spaces for the emergence of new imaginaries of unity, resilience, and common purpose.

This ‘new political moment’ calls for a collective and multidisciplinary reflection on the EU’s capacity for reinvention, both internally and in its external projection. We thus invite empirical contributions that explore these developments and their implications for the EU.

The special issue aims to bring together emerging and innovative research that reflects on the EU’s capacity to reinvention in the face of shifting geopolitical dynamics and complex internal challenges. We encourage contributions that adopt interdisciplinary approaches, drawing from sociology, political science, international relations, economics, and other related disciplines.

We welcome empirical articles that critically examine the implications of recent global and regional transformations for the EU. Contributions may focus on, but are not limited to, the following themes:

• A new institutional architecture for the future EU
  

Assessment of ongoing and proposed institutional reforms (e.g., ending unanimity, strengthening the European parliament, expanding shared competences, etc.) and the tensions between supranational integration and national sovereignty. What modes of governance can best meet the demand for democratic legitimacy and policy effectiveness? How are different member states positioning themselves in the debate on EU reform? What role do crises and external pressures play in accelerating or hindering institutional change?

• The EU’s role in the emerging international (dis)order
  

Exploration of EU strategies in a multipolar world: strategic autonomy, common defense, relations with the US, China, Russia, and the Global South. What future lies ahead for the EU as a geopolitical actor amid conflicts, regionalization or deglobalization, and global competition? How do internal divisions and external pressures shape its ability to act coherently on the global stage? How is the EU navigating its pursuit of strategic autonomy, the development of common defense capabilities, and its evolving relationships with key global actors — including the United States, China, Russia, and the countries of the Global South?

• Public policies and multilevel governance in response to new challenges
  

Evaluation of major EU policies (e.g., NextGenerationEU, Green Deal and energy strategies) and their effects on territorial cohesion and multi-level coordination between EU institutions, member states, and regional authorities. How is European governance evolving to cope with complex and interrelated crises? What tensions or innovations are emerging in the interplay between national prerogatives and supranational priorities?

• Towards inclusive digital transformation in EU
  

The digital revolution — encompassing the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) and the broader digital transformation of societies and economies — represents a critical and complex dimension change. The role of the EU in shaping digital governance, including regulatory frameworks for data, platforms, AI, and emerging technologies. However, this transformation also risks deepening digital inequalities — between regions, generations, and social groups — if not guided by inclusive and human-centric policies. How does digitalization affect European sovereignty, competitiveness, and democracy?

• Institutional communication and EU narratives
  

Analysis of how EU institutions communicate and legitimize their policies and actions, both within the Union and on the global stage. What narratives are being promoted in response to global challenges? How is the EU’s role conveyed to citizens and international partners? To what extent are institutional communication strategies effective in fostering public engagement, countering disinformation, and strengthening the EU’s international visibility and credibility?

• Citizens’ attitudes and perceptions toward the EU
  

Investigation of changes in European public opinion: trust in institutions, European identity, support for integration, attitudes toward sovereignty, security and solidarity. How have recent crises shaped citizens’ connection to the European project? What divides and convergences emerge across member states, generations, or political orientations? What implications does this have for democratic legitimacy and participation?

• Media representations and the EU in collective imaginaries
  

Research on how the EU is portrayed in legacy and digital media, political discourse, and popular culture is particularly welcome. What images of Europe circulate in the public sphere, and how do they influence perceptions of the EU and its legitimacy? What role do social media platforms, algorithms, and influencers play in shaping attitudes toward the EU? Special attention may also be given to the imaginaries produced through entertainment media—such as television series, films, and online content—which increasingly contribute to the construction of narratives around European identity, solidarity, and geopolitical power. How do these media narratives reflect, reinforce, or contest dominant visions of Europe and its role in the world?

Submission guidelines/instructions Abstract submission instruction

Authors are encouraged to submit the title and an abstract of their planned article by September 1, 2025. The abstract (which can be written in English or Italian) should be 600 words (references excluded) and should include: aims/research questions, methodology, findings, main contribution, and a short statement of how the submission is related to this call for papers.

Please submit the title and long abstract by email to the guest editors (Marco Valbruzzi marco.valbruzzi@unina.it; Cecilia Manzo cecilia.manzo@unicatt.it; polis@cattaneo.org) with the subject line: “Special Issue Polis abstract”. 

Submission instruction

The editors, with editorial board, will review the submission and invite the selected authors to submit a final manuscript. Final manuscripts will undergo the usual double-blind peer-review process.

Please refer to the Author Guidelines of Polis to prepare your manuscript: https://www.rivisteweb.it/issn/1120-9488/informazioni#come-si-sottopone 

Timeline

Deadline to submit long abstracts: September 1, 2025 Abstract acceptance notification: September 22, 2025

Submission deadline of final manuscripts: February 28, 2026 Expected publication date: July 2026 (Polis 2/2026)

Guest Editors

Marco Valbruzzi, University of Naples Federico II, marco.valbruzzi@unina.it Cecilia Manzo, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, cecilia.manzo@unicatt.it

Polis: https://www.cattaneo.org/pubblicazioni/polis/

Cfp: https://www.mulino.it/riviste/a/issn/1120-9488/newsitem/442