ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

March 31-April 1, 2026

Online

Deadline: March 29, 2026

Registration: To register, please send a short email to warsensing@europa-uni.de by 29 March, expressing your interest to join the public programme.

Event description:

As part of an ongoing collaboration between the “War Sensing” project (European University Viadrina/CRC “Media of Cooperation”) , the Telegram Archive of the War (Center for Urban History, Lviv) and the School of Communications/Conflict Institute (Dublin City University), we are organising a 1,5 day conference and online data sprint “Witnessing and Justice in Data-Based Research”, which is scheduled for 31 March-1 April.

The conference and data sprint will reflect upon the practices and limits of war-related research based on digital, archived and other types of data. The urgent question here is how to address the ongoing tension between such data-based research of war and the injustices that persist. Despite the large volume of data and the variety of ways in which Russia’s war in Ukraine has been documented, represented and analysed in order to expose its unjust nature and practices, the destruction and attacks against Ukraine persist. Data-based investigations using “data for the good” (cf. Williams, 2022; Kazansky et al., 2019) form a small part of achieving transitional justice and maintain hope and demand accountability by using digitally derived evidence of war injustices and crimes. (How) do digital data archives and data-based investigations continue to counter war-related injustices, and what approaches have proved as successful? What are the various limitations of digital data-based witnessing of war in terms of experiential, juridical, political and other nature? How can the tension between the investigations and ongoing injustices tell us about the role and impact of contemporary war witnessing?  

The event consists of two sessions that are open for the general public. The first open session takes place on the morning of 31 March and features a keynote talk by Oksana Avramenko "Granting Access to War: Ethics and Accountability in the TG Archive", followed by a roundtable discussion "Limits of War Witnessing" with Jelnar Ahmad, Karina Buhaichenko, Yevheniia Drozdova, Oleksiy Radynski and Bohdan Shumylovych. 

The second session, which is also open to the public, will take place in the evening on 1 April and will consist of a roundtable discussion on "Digital Justice and Accountability" with Jenna Dolecek, Kaja Kowalczewska and Maryna Slobodyanuk. This will be followed by a screening of the film “A Home for Rita”, after which there will be a Q&A session with the director, Yulia Appen, and Sashko Protyah from the Freefilmers collective.

The event will also consist of a half-day closed data sprint on 31 March, during which participants from the previous data sprint will discuss their ongoing hands-on work with the Telegram Archive’s data. Due to the sensitive and ongoing nature of the research, this part will only be open to previous data sprint participants. 

The detailed event programme can be found on the event page here. The final programme, including the Zoom links, will be sent to registered participants. 

To register, please send a short email to warsensing@europa-uni.de by 29 March, expressing your interest to join the public programme.

On behalf of the CRC Media of Cooperation and the project teams “War Sensing” (European University Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder) with Prof. Dr. Miglė Bareikytė, Johanna Hiebl and Gregor Wörl, the Telegram Archive of the War (Center for Urban History, Lviv) with Oksana Avramenko and Maryana Mazurak and School of Communication (Dublin City University) with Prof. Dr. Tanya Lokot 

October 2-3, 2026

University of Oviedo (Historic Building), Spain

Deadline: May 15, 2026

The University of Oviedo, through the Department of Art History and Musicology, in collaboration with the R&D Project Music and Audiovisual Media: Intermedial Transits, Heritage and Cultural Dialogues (MUSIMA) (PID2023-147271NB-I00), announces the call for papers for the International Conference on Identities, Ideologies and Aesthetics in Subcultures, Music Scenes and Urban Tribes, to be held on 2–3 October 2026 at the Historic Building of the University of Oviedo.

The conference provides an interdisciplinary forum for the study of subcultures, music scenes, urban tribes, and related sociocultural formations within popular culture. It welcomes contributions from a wide range of disciplines, including Sociology, Cultural Studies, Musicology, Communication, Anthropology, Cultural Geography, and the Arts and Humanities.  

Full call for papers and further details: https://congreso-subculturas-2026.webnode.es/

Thematic areas include:

• Concepts, categories, and theorization
  
• Digital cultures, video games, media ecologies, and platforms
  
• Creativity, emerging technologies, and artificial intelligence
  
• Spaces, territories, and urban and rural studies
  
• Situated, mixed, collaborative, and visual methodologies
  
• Memory, musical heritage, nostalgia, and revival
  
• Political economy, cultural labor, and alternative media
  
• Bodies, gender, queerness, and political action
  
• Photography, fashion, and other artistic media
  
• Popular music
  
• Audiovisual media
  
• Film, photography, and music festivals and live events
  

Submission guidelines:

Proposals should be sent to: congresosubculturas@gmail.com

Subject line: “PROPUESTA DE COMUNICACIÓN UNIOVI 2026”

Submissions must include a single PDF file containing:

• An abstract (max. 250 words)
  
• A short biographical note (max. 150 words)
  
• Indication of up to three thematic areas

Proposals may be submitted in English, Spanish, Portuguese, or any of the co-official languages of Spain. Only in-person presentations will be accepted.  

Deadline for submission: 15 May 2026

Contact:

congresosubculturas@gmail.com

March 30, 2026

Online

The ECREA Ukraine Task Force, in cooperation with the Ukrainian Institute of Media and Communication, invites media and communication researchers, as well as scholars from related fields, to a webinar on publishing in top-tier academic journals, with a specific focus on the United States.

Approaches and expectations in U.S. academic journals often differ significantly from publication practices in other regions. This webinar will explore key aspects of American academic culture and provide practical guidance on manuscript preparation, helping participants better understand the requirements that increase the chances of successful publication.

Speaker:

Jasper Fessmann, PhD, University of Memphis. Since 2023, he has served as a faculty member in the Department of Journalism and Strategic Media. Previously, he worked at West Virginia University’s Reed College of Media. Before entering academia, he gained over 15 years of experience in international PR agencies. His research focuses on public interest communications, international PR, disinformation, and crisis communication. He is also a member of the editorial boards of two US-based academic journals.

Date and time:

March 30, 2026, 17:00 (EET)

Webinar format includes two parts:

• A short presentation with practical advice on publishing in U.S. academic journals
  
• A discussion involving Roman Horbyk and other members of the ECREA Ukraine Task Force on the challenges faced by Ukrainian scholars in the publication process and possible ways to address them.
  

Duration: 45 minutes

Language: English

Participation is free and available through registration. Registered participants will receive the Zoom link and other details in advance. 

August 17-19, 2026

Vilnius, Lithuania

Deadline: April 20, 2026

The Nordic Network of Intercultural Communication (NIC) Conference 2026 will take place in Vilnius, Lithuania, from 17 to 19 August 2026. 

The NIC Conference is an annual interdisciplinary event, held for the 32nd time in 2026. It brings together researchers, teachers, students, and practitioners from the Nordic and Baltic regions and beyond to discuss topics related to intercultural communication. 

The theme of this year’s conference is „Intercultural communication for change“. With this theme, we invite contributions that explore intercultural communication as a process of (ex)change of meanings, understandings, values, and knowledge, and examine its role in contexts of transformation and uncertainty. We particularly welcome work addressing intercultural communication as a response to change, a driver of change, or a means of anticipating, managing, and potentially preventing disruptive forms of change, including crises. We also encourage critical reflection on the relationship between intercultural communication research, practice, and policy, including possible mismatches between them and the ways research can (or should) contribute to changes in individual behaviours, professional practices, education, and public policy.

In addition to contributions addressing the conference theme, we also welcome proposals concerning other aspects of intercultural communication.

We invite submissions from researchers at all career stages, as well as practitioners, across the social sciences and humanities.

The deadline for abstract submissions is 20 April 2026.

For further details, including the full Call for Abstracts, important dates and submission guidelines, please visit the NIC Vilnius 2026 conference site: https://www.nicvilnius2026.kf.vu.lt/

Deadline: April 30, 2026

EBU & JOMEC RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP GRANT

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) is partnering with the School of Journalism, Media & Culture at Cardiff University (JOMEC) to offer grants that support research in the EBU Ukraine Archive which opened in November 2025.

Launched by the EBU, the Ukraine Archive is a comprehensive, searchable database on the Russia-Ukraine War since February 2022. It brings together thousands of video and audio reports from EBU-member news teams, as well as verified social media clips. The Archive is a resource for journalists, documentary makers, and researchers. It currently comprises nearly 30,000 items and continues to grow as the war goes on. The EBU Ukraine Archive offers an enhanced and focused content search and, in addition, every item is tagged according to editorial and legal categories designed to document human rights abuses in armed conflict. 

JOMEC will offer three research fellowships of €500 each to current PhD candidates and postdoctoral researchers (within three years of a successful PhD viva) working in a relevant field whose research would benefit from access to this vital resource. 

The EBU’s primary objective in supporting this opportunity is to encourage the use of the Archive in research on the Russia-Ukraine war. 

Terms of the fellowship: 

Successful applicants will consult the EBU Ukraine Archive as part of their research related to the Russia-Ukraine war, attribute the EBU if content from the Ukraine Archive is cited, and submit brief feedback to the EBU about the experience of using the archive.

The EBU Ukraine Archive will be accessed remotely. Half of the fellowship award will be paid at the start of the fellowship, the rest at the end. The fellowship program must be completed within two years of receiving the fellowship. 

Selected fellows will enter into a fellowship agreement with the EBU and must adhere to the terms and conditions governing access to and use of the EBU Ukraine Archive.  

Application:

This opportunity is open to current PhD candidates and postdoctoral researchers (within three years of a successful PhD viva) working in a relevant field.

To apply, please submit a letter of motivation (500 words), a project outline (500 words) and a short CV (2 sides of A4) by email to EBU-fellowships@cardiff.ac.uk before Thursday 30 April 2026. 

Decisions will be announced in June 2026. 

If you have any questions concerning this fellowship opportunity, please contact EBU-fellowships@cardiff.ac.uk.

Digital Journalism (special issue)

Deadline: April 17, 2026

Special Issue Editors: 

• Jonathan Hendrickx, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
  
• Jorge Vázquez Herrero, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Spain
  
• Cruz Negreira, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Spain
  
• Sherwin Chua, PhD, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong
  

This special issue aims to bring together cutting-edge research that contributes to a better understanding of the audiovisual turn in digital journalism. Said turn builds on earlier forms of multimedia journalism and digital longform storytelling, and ties in within the previously acknowledged audience, emotional and labour turns in journalism.

We invite scholars to submit empirical and theoretical contributions that critically engage with the notion of the audiovisual turn, including how it has been effectuated and can evolve over time. In addition to diverse quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-methods study designs, we particularly encourage submissions from the Global South, as well as cross-national comparisons that reflect platform-specific and regional differences. Focus areas may include, but are not limited to:

•  The de-institutionalisation of audiovisual journalism and news production by considering non-journalistic interloper actors, including influencers and content creators.
  
• The infrastructural platform dependency, algorithmic ambiguity and/or the ownership of audiovisual journalism in the platformisation era.
  
• A historical evolution of audiovisual journalism from the formats of traditional media to current platforms, considering both common and differentiating elements in journalistic practice.
  
• The production, contents and reception of audiovisual-centric digital journalism, e.g. shortform, vertical videos and/or audio across news outlets’ proprietary as well as social media platforms.
  
• The epistemology and/or ontology of audiovisual journalism.
  
• The news experience and audience interaction through shortform videos and other audiovisual formats.
  
• The production and publication of AI-generated audiovisual news or news-like content and its disinformation effects in a context of algorithmic curation and consumption.
  

Submission instructions:

Extended abstracts of 500-750 words, not including references, as well as a full list of authors, affiliations, and abbreviated bios for each author. 

Please submit your proposal to this Google Form as one file (PDF) with your names clearly stated on the first page: https://lnkd.in/gNxUZJj7

Full manuscripts, if invited, should be between 7,000-9,000 words.

Timeline:

• Extended abstracts submission deadline: 18:00 CET on April 17, 2026
  
• Notification on submitted abstracts: May 8, 2026
  
•  Article submission deadline: October 30, 2026
  

March 27, 2026, 2 PM (WET)

Online (MS Teams)

Stefan Schweigler (Vienna University)

The webinar will explore the cultural-theoretical, philosophical, aesthetic, historical and political dimensions of intergenerationality—a timely topic at the intersection of media studies, ageing, and communication research.

Stefan Schweigler's interdisciplinary work spans media studies, affect theory, ageing care, gender, queer, disability, and postcolonial studies, offering perspectives from across the arts and humanities on how different generations relate, communicate, and are represented in contemporary media and culture.

In this talk, Stefan Schweigler discusses the 2016 short documentary Papa Weifeng and its relational integration into Chinese media activism.

Organized by the STORYline project (Universidade Lusófona), the webinar is supported, among others, by the  ECREA's Children, Youth and Media section and Temporary Working Group on Aging & Communication.

Registration (free but compulsory): https://forms.cloud.microsoft/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=BsyME2tRgU6IEwb9JTG93OSldc9WtDlBv3vbnf3mM25UMU00MjVSRjQyR1lPTjcxMFRCOUcyQVAyNy4u

More information: https://cicant.ulusofona.pt/agenda-news/news-events/4279-storyline-webinar-stefan-schweigler

Anna Bisogno

Purchase here: https://www.carocci.it/prodotto/tv-espansa

Television has not disappeared; it has simply moved and now lives elsewhere: in feeds and in the connections of an audience that scrolls through smartphones and tablets and inhabits digital platforms, where algorithms decide what to watch and storytelling blends with consumption. In this new ecosystem, television hybridizes with the language of social media, fragments into clips, recomposes itself into memes, and expands into digital formats.

As the book highlights, this is an expanded television that interacts with artificial intelligence, builds endless archives, and personalizes tastes and viewing experiences. It forms an archipelago of practices, languages, and devices in which data participate in the creative process, shaping narratives, rhythms, and formats, and redefining the role of authors and the very meaning of writing.

In the Italian context, linear television enters into osmosis with platforms and social media, giving rise to a heterogeneous model in which forms of audience participation are reconfigured and viewing becomes a continuous and shared experience.

Anna Bisogno is an Associate Professor at Universitas Mercatorum, where she teaches Cinema, Radio and Television. Her research interests focus on Television Studies, the history of Italian television, and the narrative intersections between TV, digital platforms and social networks. She is also the author for RaiPlay of the program 30×70. Se dico donna….

Edited by: Ana Jorge and Sofia P. Caldeira

From parenting and pilgrimage to activism and mourning, this book explores how digital connection - and disconnection - shapes the emotional texture of our lives.

Using the concept of ‘affective atmospheres’, the authors examine the feelings that emerge in the interactions between people, platforms and places. Drawing on rich, real-world examples, it explores how digital media infuse our homes, beliefs, rituals and politics with emotion, tension and meaning.

Pre-order here: https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/atmospheres-and-digital-media

Or download Open access here: https://www.jstor.org/content/oa_book_edited/jj.32726851

TOC 

Introduction: Atmospheres and Digital Media Dis/connection - Ana Jorge, Sofia Caldeira

Chapter 1: Post-digital parenting: the relational-affective network of the family - Francisca Porfírio, Ana Jorge, Rita Grácio

Chapter 2: Platformised feminisms and social media ambiences - Sofia Caldeira, Ana Jorge, Ana Kubrusly

Chapter 3: Affective temporalities in pilgrimage: anticipation, presence and (pro)longing - Ana Jorge, Filipa Neto, Ana Kubrusly, Edna Santos

Chapter 4: Affective intensities of dis/connection in mourning - Ionara Silva, Ana Jorge, Filipa Neto

Afterword: Reflections on affective atmospheres and felt experience in the mediation of everyday social practices - Peter Lunt

October 7-10, 2026

Toronto, Canada

Deadline: April 30, 2026

Call for abstracts for an open panel at 4S 2026 (7-10 October in Toronto, Canada): Techno-Magical Futures & Histories (Panel #245). 

The panel explores: the historical, material, and socio-cultural dimensions of the relationship between magic and technology; efforts by Silicon Valley to position AI technologies as omniscient, god-like entities with supernatural capabilities; intersections between magic and computation; magic and technoscience; and discussions including techno-magical discourses, sociotechnical imaginaries, material practices, hegemonic order, policy and regulation.

Scholars across various fields and disciplines including communication and media studies are welcome to submit a 250-word abstract. The deadline is 30 April.