ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

September 30, 2022

Online conference (Zoom)

Deadline: July 1, 2022

Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) Faculty of Law and Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU)

Faculty of Law are pleased to announce a conference entitled "Audiovisual Media Regulation during the COVID-19 in Central and Eastern Europe", for which we invite applications for speakers.

Date: 30 September 2022 (Friday)

Application deadline: 1 July 2022 (Friday)

Approval deadline: 2 September 2022 (Friday)

Venue: Zoom

The international pandemic situation, which has been going on for two years now, impacts our daily lives. However, this natural phenomenon does not leave the world of media world untouched either. Moreover, in Central and Eastern Europe, these processes are often covert: as if governments are using the viral situation to achieve their unstated goals.

Freedom of expression as a fundamental human right can very quickly face severe restrictions in such cases, raising the problem of conflicting fundamental rights. In addition, legislation, the functioning of the media system and other media rights issues have been on the agenda in many Central and Eastern European countries. The exercise of exceptional powers has reached the region: extraordinary seems to become the norm.

The conference thus aims to bring together the historical and contemporary challenges of the press, the media and our mediatised world, i.e. to explore the issue from the perspectives of (legal) history and existing law, as well as social and political science, identifying the intersections where past experience can help to address the social and regulatory challenges of the present.

The main objective of the conference is to make the links visible to the broader audience between the pandemic situation and media legislation (negative and positive), its history, its social impact, its effects on the exercise of fundamental rights, and the experience, research findings and academic positions in Central and Eastern Europe on past and current regulatory issues. Therefore, the organisers of the conference will welcome contributions from the fields of law, political science, journalism, history and social science. The deadline for the application for the conference is 1 July 2022. Please, send a title with a short abstract (maximum 400 words) in English on the topic of the presentation to gosztonyi@ajk.elte.hu.

The conference will be held online via Zoom platform due to the current epidemiological situation. If there are enough applicants, a separate Master and PhD session will be organised. In adddition, the organizers will provide publication opportunities for manuscripts based on the best presentations. If there are enough applicants interested,

Russian-English translation will be provided.

Organizers:

• Dr Gergely Gosztonyi PhD, Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), gosztonyi@ajk.elte.hu
• Dr Evgenia Kryukova PhD, Lomonosov Moscow State University, media.law.msu@mail.ru

October 14, 2022

PhD workshop (online)

Deadline: April 1, 2022

We invite PhD students to send us a proposal on the theme of Rethinking positionality in media and migration research, to be considered for an online workshop we are organising ahead of the ECREA 2022 9th European Communication Conference.

The workshop aims to provide support to doctoral students by connecting them with junior and senior researchers with experience in the field of media and migration research. Attendees will have the opportunity to discuss their works and receive detailed feedback as well as guidance.

We welcome theoretical and empirical proposals from PhD candidates at the beginning or in the middle of their research projects, focusing specifically on the following themes:

- Ethical challenges in media and migration research;

- The contribution of intersectional approaches, post-colonial and de-colonial perspectives, and the challenges they pose;

- Moving beyond Euro-centrism in media and migration studies;

- Alternative approaches to the study of diasporic communities and imaginaries;

- Re-addressing and re-thinking positionality and relationality in migration research.

Interested applicants should submit an abstract of 800 words outlining the topic of their PhD project, its objectives, theoretical and methodological approaches. They should also specify at what stage of their doctoral study they are, and what are the specific challenges they are encountering whilst doing their research. This is to allow for a more structured support during the workshop.

Please send your abstract via this link https://forms.gle/XFKU6iDVWJT4JAk38

The deadline for the online submission of abstracts is April 1st, 2022. The online workshop will take place on the 14th of October 2022 (all day). Speakers tbc.

For further questions please email ecreadmm@gmail.com

28-29 April 2022

Middlesex University London

Abstract submission deadline: 1 March 2022

Abstracts are invited for a research symposium which is part of the project ‘Journalists’ emotional labour in the era of social media’, funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Emotional labour can be conceptualised as an effort to manage emotions which professional practitioners perceive as an integral part of their working life experience. In journalism it has primarily been investigated with reference to conflict and trauma reporting. More recently academic researchers have begun investigating the importance of emotions in journalism generally, but emotional labour more specifically. Current evidence suggests that journalism is an occupation characterised with high levels of emotional labour. Journalists use and manage emotions to motivate themselves for work. Emotions evoked at work can be intertwined with those from personal life. Indeed, work-related emotions can also be evoked outside of the story production process, for example in dealing with audiences and harassment, as well as being induced by working conditions (e.g., precarious pay, working hours, job insecurity), work relationships (e.g., within newsroom, with editors), the competitive nature of work, and so on. Importantly, there is evidence to suggest that if work-related emotions are not effectively managed, they can have negative consequences on journalists’ mental and physical health, job satisfaction, and the quality of the journalism being produced.

While papers investigating any aspect of journalists’ emotional labour are welcome, this symposium will provide an opportunity to widen the discussion of emotional labour beyond the scope of ‘Journalists’ emotional labour in the era of social media’ project, by broadening the discussion to consider this area of research more generally in the context of media work. There is some evidence that other types of media work might also be high emotional labour occupations, such as work with media photography, management of media outlets’ social media, stringer work etc.

Both theoretical and empirically informed papers are invited, focusing on topics such as (but not limited to):

• the causes and consequences of emotional labour in journalism and other media work
• the relationship between journalists’ freedom and safety and emotional labour
• emotional labour in the context of precarious employment in media
• the impact of covid-19 pandemic on media workers’ emotional labour
• the impact of social media on media workers’ emotional labour
• the impact of digital transformations on media workers’ emotional labour
• the relationship between media workers’ emotional labour and digital technologies
• emotional labour in areas such as photojournalism, camera work, directing, editing/post-production, stringer work, social media journalism, public relations etc.
• strategies for managing emotional labour in media work
• institutional/industry perspectives on media workers’ emotional labour
• support systems for media workers’ emotional labour

Abstracts of around 300 words should be sent to m.simunjak@mdx.ac.uk by 1 March 2022. Abstract notifications will be sent out by 10 March 2022.

Attendance is free. The panels for the research symposium will be held online on 28 April and a public roundtable on 29 April will be organised in a hybrid format, allowing for on-site and online participation. Tickets (free) for the roundtable 'Dealing with online abuse in journalism' can be booked here - https://bit.ly/3I9y2M4

Opportunities for publishing selected papers in a journal special issue will be explored after the symposium.

Sophia C. Volk

Comparative research has gained enormous popularity in communication and media studies in the last two decades and is increasingly conducted in international research teams. Collaboration with scholars from different countries brings many advantages, but it is also prone to conflict. This book presents the first systematic reflection on the conceptual, methodological, and social challenges of international collaborative and comparative studies in communication science. A systematic review of 335 comparative studies published in 27 communication journals and expert interviews with 15 communication scholars shed light on how challenges manifest themselves empirically and what solutions have proven to be appropriate. The book proposes a phase model of collaborative and comparative research that can serve as a guide for scholars on what conditions should be created for productive collaboration in temporary research projects.

Free access here: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-658-36228-7

May 26, 2022

Paris, France

Deadline (EXTENDED): March 1, 2022

ICA 2022’s location in Paris is a significant one for critical race scholars. Paris was a key site for the Négritude movement, and became a city of exile for influential Black scholars and artists including James Baldwin, Josephine Baker, Sidney Bechet and Richard Wright. Building on the 2019 #CommunicationSoWhite ICA preconference, the theme of this event centers on exile and scholarship on the edges. It considers what it means to experience exile in our own fields and disciplines, to be pushed out, excluded, living outside the boundaries. It also addresses ways to tackle the pain of exile, or to understand exile as replenishing and restorative.

This preconference has two purposes:

– It follows up critical conversations around #CommunicationSoWhite, in terms of both Chakravartty et al.’s (2018) Journal of Communication article and the 2019 ICA pre-conference (organized by Eve Ng, Khadijah Costley White, Alfred Martin Jr., and Anamik Saha). Since then, there has been a greater recognition amongst our departments, associations, and institutions about the historical marginalization of racialized folk in university culture, followed by some increased investment in equality, diversity and inclusion initiatives. As such, the first aim of the preconference is to reflect upon the new forms of equality, diversity and inclusion that have been implemented in media and communication since the #CommunicationSoWhite moment.

– The second aim is to extend the discussion beyond academia, and consider the recent broader political attacks on critical race scholarship. The past year has seen the disturbing trend of populist right-wing political forces across Europe and the US painting critical race theory (whatever they understand it to be) as a threat to liberal democracy. This has also been a pronounced trend in France, which finds political leaders attacking such critical scholarship as fundamentally at odds with French liberal ideals. As such, the preconference will provide a space for delegates to reflect upon these troubling new political currents and conceptualize our responses to it as academics and activists. We will explore these complex conditions of intellectual and political contestation through the theme of ‘exile’; in terms of what it means to be forced into exile, in our disciplines, in our institutions, in national life, but also in terms of choosing to go into exile, as a form of refusal of and resistance to conditions in former birthplace or intellectual homes.

Overall, this preconference will explore the marginalization and alienation of critical race scholarship in media and communication and political discourse more generally, and responses thereof (both in regards to interventions and survival). We aim to build conversations between academics and scholars from different national contexts, since the challenges and attacks experienced are not unique to one particular region.

Submissions

We anticipate many submissions will center on the U.S. and other Western contexts; we also hope the pre-conference will provide a discussion that spans both global North and South, and we encourage participation by submitters from outside North America and the U.K.

Please submit either:

(1) An abstract of 500-1,000 words, including notes and references. We encourage different types of submissions including position papers, case studies, and more conventional research papers that tackle any issue relating to the preconference themes. Please include your name, affiliation, and contact information (submission does not need to be anonymous).

(2) A panel proposal. Panels should include a minimum of four participants. We will accept panels following a traditional format where presenters each speak for 10-15 minutes before a Q-and-A period. We also encourage alternative panel format, such as high-density panels (six or more participants who each speak for 6 minutes or less), or panels where panelists circulate their papers to each other ahead of time to generate a more engaged discussion. Provide a 400-word rationale describing the panel overall, a 200-word abstract for each participant’s contribution, and a list of participants’ names, affiliations, and contact information.

Exclusions: Submissions should not consist primarily of previously published or in-press scholarship.

Deadline:

Please submit by Tuesday, March 1, 2022, 16:00 UTC, by emailing BOTH Anamik Saha at a.saha@gold.ac.uk and Khadijah Costley White at klw147@comminfo.rutgers.edu.

Travel grants

Depending on funding availability, we may have the ability to offer one or two modest travel grants (maximum $400). If you are a graduate student and/or a scholar resident in a non-Tier A country (see https://www.icahdq.org/page/tiers for a list), please note this status in your submission and indicate that you would like to be considered for a travel grant.

Date and Location

The pre-conference is currently being planned as an in-person event for Thursday, May 26, 2022, in Paris, France (specific location to be announced – will be either at the conference hotel or a short distance away). Should Covid-19 conditions mean that in-person events are unadvisable or impossible, the event will be held virtually.

Registration

Early registration fee, by March 31: $US40

Regular registration fee: US$60

Lunch will be included for all registered participants.

Note that if the conference becomes virtual, registration fees will be adjusted down.

Organizers

• Anamik Saha

Department of Media, Communication and Cultural Studies

Goldsmiths, University of London, UK

a.saha@gold.ac.uk

• Khadijah Costley White

School of Communication and Information

Rutgers University, USA

klw147@comminfo.rutgers.edu

• Eve Ng

School of Media Arts and Studies, WGSS Program

Ohio University, USA

evecng@hotmail.com

• Simon Dawes

l’Institut d’études culturelles et internationales (IECI)

Université de Versailles, Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France

simondawes0@gmail.com

Co-Sponsors

ICA IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access) Committee

ICA Ethnicity and Race in Communication division

Metz, France

Body in which the person concerned is destined to be appointed: University Professor

Publication profile (title of the contract and the position concerned): Digital communication, games, public health

Location: Metz, France

Job profile and EURAXESS (maximum two-line summary of the profile in English):

At the intersection of social sciences and humanities, engineering and medicine, the researcher will explore in an interdisciplinary way the applications and relationships between game and health. Euraxess research fields (see coding table in the annexed documents): Communication sciences

Job profile:

Nature and purpose of the research project:

Searching for innovative solutions in the domain of health is one of the six major challenges of Université de Lorraine. The mission related to the Junior Professorship Chair will be carried out in the field of game studies, in which the Centre for Research on Mediations (CREM - UR 3476) is a pioneer and driving force in France. At the intersection of social sciences and humanities, engineering and medicine, the researcher will explore, in an interdisciplinary way, the applications and relationships between game and health: gamification, mediation of health problems, relationship between e-sport and health, acquisition of knowledge on certain subjects from game experiences (human relationships, psychological disorders, resilience), etc.

CREM has developed expertise in “expressive games”. The latter refer to games that allow players to put themselves in the shoes of others to explore psycho-social and cultural problems. The “Expressive Gamelab” (created by CREM), offers an appropriate environment and the necessary equipment for the analysis of digital games and their applications, and the development of new scientific perspectives in the field of game studies. Eight doctoral projects are currently being conducted within the lab. The latter also aims to strengthen relations with the general public and the local institutions. CREM’s next five-year program focuses on the theme of “living together”, and takes a special interest on making life better for the most vulnerable, those suffering from health problems. Research is already being carried out on mediation in the health sector.

The position is located in Metz, an attractive city with cultural venues (e.g. Pompidou Centre) and prestigious schools (Georgia Tech) and located 1 hour and 20 minutes away from Paris by high-speed train (TGV). It offers a favorable environment for international collaborations, being located near Germany, Luxembourg and Belgium.

The colleague will be recruited in the frame of a newly-opened Junior Professorship Chair in Digital Communication, Gamification and Public Health.

The Junior Professor contract is for a period of 5 years, after which it can be transformed into a full professor tenure position.

The junior professor’s missions will be primarily oriented towards research (only 64 hours of teaching per year).

In order to encourage the development of this research area, the recruitment will be carried out with the support of a doctoral student whose work will develop game design and gamification methods applied to the health sector. Financial support will also be provided for the acquisition of equipment for the implementation of research & development experiments.

The missions will be in line with these different axes:

Scientific production:

• Organization of an international conference on the theme of the Chair.
• Publication of articles in peer-reviewed academic journals:
• • in the field of game studies (e.g. Game & culture, Gamestudies.org, Game Science);
  • (e.g. European Journal of Health Communication, Health Communication, Social science and medicine);
  • Information and communication sciences (e.g. Communication Research, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, New Media & Society).

NB: CREM runs the internationally renowned journal Questions de communication (on OpenEdition Journals) and the Publictionnaire. Encyclopaedic and critical dictionary of publics (hosted by TGIR Huma-Num) which welcome contributions on the theme.

• Participation in the professional and academic network Games for health Europe.
• International papers at the annual conferences of the European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA), the International Communication Association (ICA) or the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR).
• Within the 5th year of the opening of the position, the colleague will have to defend a

Habilitation to direct research (which is a French degree required to be a PHD supervisor).

Science and society:

• Seminars for the general public will be organized every six months to report on the progress of the Chair's work. These seminars will be an opportunity to invite private and public actors on a national and international level in connection with gamification of activities in the domain of health.
• Organization of a conference on games and health for a variety of actors from the professional and institutional world in the domain of health.
• Implementation of a monthly streaming channel (Twitch) on the Chair's themes and subsequent broadcasting in the form of podcasts with the creation of a dedicated broadcasting channel (YouTube or other).

Dissemination of research:

• Development of an operational digital game at the end of the mission, in partnership with academic and institutional actors and health professionals.
• Application to the European Research Council (ERC) for an individual Starting Grant.
• Submission of an international research program such as Interreg (European interregional program) or ANR “Collaborative research project – international” (PRCI), in order to develop international partnerships on the Chair's themes.
• Participation in the EU Framework Program for Research and Innovation “Europe Horizon”, in particular the axis Games and culture shaping our society within the theme Innovative Research on the European Cultural Heritage and the Cultural and Creative Industries.
• Corpus of videos and articles, linked to the activities of the streaming channel dedicated to the Chair.

Nature and purpose of the proposed teaching project:

The colleague will address the issue of the relationship between gamification, games, digital devices and health. He/she will follow students’ professional projects, contributing to the development of regional, national and international partnerships with the socio-economic sector, and to the attractiveness of the department’s diplomas (BA, MA). He/she will be involved in the tutoring of theses on the Chair's themes. In addition, he/she will contribute to curricula such as the University Diploma (DU) in telemedicine, health training (the faculties of medicine and pharmacy have confirmed their interest), computer science or psychology. He/she will also strengthen the researcheducation relation by offering a “gamification of health and research” course to students in the domain of health, in order to encourage doctoral projects in this field.

Anticipated contract duration: 5 years

Minimum monthly salary: €3 443.50 (gross)

Teaching profile:

The researcher will primarily teach game design courses within the Master’s “Audiovisual and Digital Interactive Media” program in Metz. This MA’s objective is to provide students with skills in the field of games and their applications. Courses will also be taught in the “Information-communication” Bachelor’s curriculum. They will focus on theoretical and applied learning related to game design, video games, gamification, interactive narration, etc., applying them to the health sector. An investment in the tutoring of master's theses and tutored projects is also expected.

Keywords: information and communication sciences / game studies / health

Department/University: UFR SHS - Metz

Teaching department: Information - Communication Department

Place(s) of work: Metz

Teaching team:

Name of Department Director: Sébastien Genvo

Tel. Department Director: +33 6 89 68 07 34

Email Department Director: sebastien.genvo@univ-lorraine.fr

URL dept:

Research profile:

The person recruited will have research experience on the relationship between games and health. He/she will join CREM’s Pixel team “Digital devices and uses, game studies, traces and data”. He/she will participate in R&D and action-research projects, e.g. with Mercy Hospital-CHR Metz-Thionville; CHRU-Nancy, with the Pierre Janet Centre for innovative post-trauma treatments, or the research centre APEMAC, specializing in public health. He/she will collaborate with other CREM teams, e.g. Praxis specializing in “Institutional communication, health/environment, sciences in society”. In addition, he/she will develop collaborations with researchers from French and foreign research units (including within the program “Science and Society”, coordinated by Université de Lorraine).

In order to encourage recruitment, the position will be open to non-French speakers. They will have to commit to acquiring a level of French C1 within 5 years.

Keywords: Mediation / game design / health, environment, science and society / action-research / research - creation / gamification

Laboratory name: Centre for Research on Mediations (CREM)

Laboratory unit number: UR 3476

Place(s) of work: Metz

Name Lab Director: Angeliki Monnier

Tel Lab Director:

Email Lab Director: angeliki.monnier@univ-lorraine.fr

Lab URL: http://crem.univ-lorraine.fr/

Laboratory description: A research unit of Université de Lorraine, CREM has more than 200 members: approximately 80 full professors and associate professors, more than 90 doctoral students, more than 20 associate researchers, and 7 administrative officers. CREM is a member of the scientific pole “Knowledge, Language, Communication, Society” (CLCS) of Université de Lorraine, and a member of the “Humanités Nouvelles-Fernand Braudel” doctoral school, as well as a partner of the “Maison des sciences de l'homme Lorraine”. Its researchers belong to 11 disciplines: nearly 90% to information and communication sciences, language sciences, French language and literature studies and art sciences; approximately 10% to English and Anglo-Saxon, Arabic, Germanic and Romance languages and literature studies, anthropology, psychology and sociology.

Unit’s project description:

CREM researchers study the processes and forms of mediation that interpret and give meaning to social, cultural, artistic and technological mutations. CREM is structured into six teams with specific scientific orientations and themes:

• “Passages” (culture, heritage, memory)
• “Pixel” (digital devices and uses, game studies, traces and data)
• “Praximedia” (journalism, public space, representations)
• “Praxis” (institutional communication, health, science/society)
• “Praxitele” (aesthetics, plastic arts, cinema and audiovisual)
• “Praxitext” (language, text and discourse)

Additional information:

Requirements for applicants:

- Hold a doctorate or an equivalent degree (upon recognition by UL Scientific Committee).

In addition, it is recommended:

- To have completed at least 3 years of scientific activity after the PhD thesis.

- For holders of a doctorate in France, to have a significant experience of mobility abroad (at least two years).

The list of supporting documents to be attached to the application file will be sent shortly by the Ministry. You can find it on the University of Lorraine website.

Applications must be submitted on the Galaxie platform (FIDIS module) according to the calendar available on the Université de Lorraine website.

Only those candidates who have been selected by the recruitment committee on the basis of their applications will be invited to the audition.

*When searching for positions, Junior Professorships will be distinguished from others by the recruitment article (JPC).

How auditions are organized:

Professional situation:

yes X no

“The audition may include [...] one or more on-site or remote works, in particular in the form of one or more lessons on a free or imposed theme, a seminar for the presentation of research work or a meeting with students or teachers-researchers, researchers or similar staff of the research or teaching unit in which the position is open.

This work may be public under the conditions laid down in the recruitment notice.

During these simulation phases, the selection committee acts as an observer and only intervenes to ensure that the simulation runs smoothly.” art.10 of decree n° 2021-1710 of 17 December 2021

If yes:

public non-public

In the form of:

of lesson(s)

research presentation seminar

meetings (with students or teachers/researchers/researchers of the research or teaching unit in which the post is open)

Other information:

The position for which you are applying is likely to be located in a “restricted area” within the meaning of article R 413-5-1 of the penal code. If this is the case, your appointment and/or assignment can only take place after authorization of access issued by the head of the establishment, in accordance with the provisions of article 20-4 of decree n°84-431 of 6 June 1984.

Dublin City University

Deadline: March 31, 2022

The School of Communications at Dublin City University is now inviting applications from qualified candidates for up to four PhD Scholarships.

The School of Communications at DCU is home to almost 1,000 students at undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD levels. With a tradition stretching back more than 40 years, the School is defined by excellence in both teaching and research in communication, journalism and multimedia studies. In the QS global subject rankings in 2021 DCU was in the top 150 (of almost 1,500) universities worldwide in the area of communications. DCU is ranked number 1 nationally in Communications & Media Studies.

The School’s academics undertake research that contributes to national and international debates and public policy formation. They also lead research projects supported by national and international funders. This cutting-edge research is across a range of (inter)disciplinary fields including (new) media studies, media history, journalism studies, science communication, political communication, social media studies, film and television studies, music industry studies, advertising, and cultural studies. In the past six years, the School has supported approximately 40 doctoral students to achieve PhD awards through this scheme.

The School now has an opening for up to four funded PhD scholarships (across a four-year duration). As well as an annual tax-free stipend of €16,500 plus fees, we also support our students with funding for conference travel and offer PhD candidates opportunities to gain teaching experience.

In this call, we invite applications in the following areas / themes:

Digital Challenges for Journalism and Politics: Fellowship(s) in this area will ideally focus on the social, political, economic, and democratic impact of recent changes in the media environment. Particularly relevant are (cross-country) comparative studies on the relationship between social media platforms and news organisations, algorithmic power, political polarization, changing media systems, media coverage of corruption, and investigative journalism. (For further information contact Dr. Alessio Cornia – alessio.cornia@dcu.ie)

Science, Technology and Environmental Journalism: Fellowship(s) in this area will ideally focus on the broad area of science, technology, and environmental journalism. We especially welcome proposals to research journalism about energy and climate change, including journalism related to the transition to low-carbon societies. We also welcome proposals to research the political economy of science, technology, and environmental journalism, and journalism about the financial dimensions of sustainability, as well proposals to research journalistic portrayals of the technological dimensions of the energy transition. (For further information contact Dr. Declan Fahy – declan.fahy@dcu.ie)

Journalism & Objectivity: Fellowship(s) in this area will ideally focus on the challenges to objectivity and impartiality that are inherent in contemporary journalism. Particularly relevant are proposals relating to the nature of the public sphere, contemporary journalistic practices and norms, news values, media regulation, new media, cancel culture, and moral certainty. (For further information contact Dr. Mark O’Brien – mark.obrien@dcu.ie)

Interdisciplinary Digital Communications Research: Fellowship(s) in this area will ideally focus on interdisciplinary digital research, grounded in Communications and incorporating / developing novel methods. Of particular interest are (a) studies of discourse and participation in online spaces, particularly within established and emerging social media platforms; (b) studies exploring the technological mediation of public discourse, community building, or collaborative learning; or (c) explorations of the ethics within such online digital communications research. Proposals for monograph thesis PhD projects, as well as practice-based doctoral projects in these thematic areas will be considered. Applicants should directly address the interdisciplinary elements of their proposed research (or practice) and discuss their intended methodological approach(es). (For further information contact Dr. Dónal Mulligan – donal.mulligan@dcu.ie)

NB. Applications should consist of a 2,000 word research proposal as well as a brief CV detailing academic qualifications and professional experience to date.

NB. Applicants must contact the relevant supervisor prior to submitting an application.

NB. All applications should be submitted to Ms. Eileen Myers, Secretary, School of Communications, DCU (eileen.myers@dcu.ie), clearly indicating the theme under which they are applying.

We intend to shortlist and interview selected candidates either in person or online over April and May. Successful candidates then will be required to apply formally to be admitted as PhD students and may also need to show proficiency in the English language. Successful candidates will begin their studies in October 2022 and are required to be normally resident in Dublin for the duration of their studies.

Closing date for applications: Thursday 31st March 2022

East European Film Bulletin

Proposals: June 15, 2022

Papers due: November, 15 2022

In the late 1950s and 1960s, experimental cinema in the Balkans developed away from the mainstream despite occasional official support. Experimental cinema often originated in socalled amateur film, and flourished in numerous cinema clubs in all major cities of the former Yugoslavian federation. However, the cinema clubs were also part of the socialist project of spreading art to all layers of society. In the 1970s artistic activity and forms of provocation continued to be produced clandestinely despite the reinforcement of censorship of Marshal Tito’s regime. The "New Art Practice", a generation of artists active in Yugoslavia in the late 1960s and the 1970s, practiced experimentation in art, turning the traditional studio to artist-run spaces, creating multimedia performances in the street, as well as experimental publications. The concept of “anti-films” thrived, especially supported by the Genre Experimental Film Festival (GEFF). With the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s, cinematic practices branched out to a questioning of memory and identity, often through an ethno-anthropological gaze. In recent years, questions of ethnic identity remain relevant, but experimental cinema has expanded into diverse forms and subjects – gender, ecology, a return to folk mythology among others. Much of this has been approached through contemporary technological explorations of digitality or analogue media.

As part of its 2022 Balkans focus, the East European Film Bulletin is preparing a special issue on experimental cinema, including experimental documentary, video and moving-image art and new media. We are looking for essay-length contributions that should discuss current and past trends of these art forms in the Balkans (or of Balkan artists from abroad) and/or contributions that focus on the work(s) of a particular artist.

We are particularly interested in discussions on the work(s) of: Marina Abramović., Neša Paripović, Sanja Iveković, Dalibor Martinis, Maria Kourkouta, Marianna Christofide, Goran Trbuljak, Igor Toholj, Jurij Meden

Publications should be in English.

Proposals should be sent to editors@eefb.org

Stylistic guidelines for essays published in our journal can be found here.

East European Film Bulletin | 22 rue des Envierges, 75020 Paris | Facebook | eefb.org

June 16-18, 2022

Online Conference 

Deadline for extended abstracts: April 3, 2022

Conference website: www.mediatingscale.com

Confirmed keynote speakers:

• Prof Benjamin Bratton (University of California, San Diego)
• Prof Kathryn Yusoff (Queen Mary University of London)
• Dr Joshua DiCaglio (Texas A&M University)
• Dr Zachary Horton (University of Pittsburgh)
• Dr Bogna Konior (NYU Shanghai)
• Dr Thomas Moynihan (University of Oxford)

The problem of scale has historically been discussed primarily within the confines of specific disciplinary contexts (biology, geography, mathematics, etc.), however it is increasingly emerging as a transdisciplinary concern. Similarly to the ways in which contemporary problems exceed disciplinary boundaries, and require heterogeneous approaches in order to be productively understood, the future orientation of our strategies for addressing those problems must engage with the full scalar spectrum of our planetary existence. Global crises such as pandemics or climate change disturb the human comfort of the mesoscale and require us to grapple with the underlying material reality, including molecular as well as global processes.

The COVID-19 pandemic proved that the biological, chemical, and epidemiological reality is indifferent to the cultural and political narratives conjectured by the human vectors of transmission. A post-pandemic world needs to learn the lessons from this ‘revenge of the real’ (Bratton, 2021) and recognise the complexity of the world which cannot be reduced to myopic projections and illusions. As Dipesh Chakrabarty points out: ‘the coming together of human and nonhuman scales produces the political in the form of a paradox that calls into question previous ways of thinking about and using that category’ (2021, p. 8). As global society is affected by ‘mega processes’, our orientation towards the future should be guided by reason, and a planetary politics which exceeds the logics of the nation-state and includes the whole physical universe (Mbembe, 2019).

In order to access different scalar perspectives, humans have always constructed mediating devices. Instruments such as the telescope or the microscope provided an insight into the scale of reality beyond human visual perception, and demonstrated that ‘the invisible makes up a continuum of reality with the visible’ (Blumenberg, 1987, p. 618). More recent examples of scalar media include the James Webb Space Telescope, mediating the spatial and temporal scale of the universe through an analysis of infrared light, as well as potentially shedding light on the local condition of far-off planets. It contributes to a wider process in which scientists use numerical data from telescopes and satellites to help imagine worlds and places which can be made sense of on a human scale (Messeri, 2016). Computational technologies also help us conceptualise some of the most pressing scalar problems. Inequalities related to labour relations and the distribution of resources can be traced through the mineral materialities of media devices and the cartographies of electronic waste (Parikka, 2015), whilst the concept of ‘climate change’ is an epistemological accomplishment of planetary-scale computation (Bratton, 2019). The history of media and technologies is a history of evolving modes and scales of perception and knowledge, and cultural texts such as Powers of Ten, Fantastic Voyage, Alice in Wonderland, and Gulliver’s Travels have been discussed as motivating thinking about scale (Horton, 2013, 2020; DiCaglio, 2020, 2021). Recent scholarship has also emphasized the necessity for developing a theory and a vocabulary of scale itself, foregrounding the ongoing negotiations between scalar alterity and scalar access (Horton, 2020), and placing scale ‘at the intersection of a transformation of the world and a transformation of ourselves’ (DiCaglio, 2021, p. 9).

With this conference, our ambition is to map the broad spectrum of frameworks and attitudes towards scale, reflecting on how scalar thinking should orient our visions towards the future. We are interested in the role of scalar media, technologies, scientific theories, models and concepts in confronting the scalar disjunction between human sensory and cognitive capacities, and the scale of reality independent of our perception. We believe these questions are crucial to developing the multi-scalar thinking required to address some of the most urgent global issues including automation, planetary governance, or the climate crisis. This conference will therefore explore ways of framing the problem of mediating scale, and the stakes involved in addressing epistemological barriers to facing contemporary problems at an appropriate scale.

We welcome contributions from across disciplines whose work is relevant to the question of mediating scale.

Topics may include, but are not limited to:

• approaches to scale in media studies
• history and archaeology of scalar media
• politics of scale in visual cultures
• scale and political tactics (including local vs global organising)
• planetary politics and governance
• existential risks, including climate change
• the science and politics of geoengineering
• scientific models and model-world relations
• reductionism, antireductionism, and complexity theory
• theories of scale, rhetoric of scale
• timescales, geologic time, deep time, longtermism

Submission guidelines:

We are inviting submissions for 30-minute talks in English that address the conference theme.

Please send an extended abstract of 600-900 words and a short biography to mediatingscale@gmail.com. The deadline for submissions is Sunday April 3rd 2022. Responses will be sent out in mid-April.

Conference details:

This online conference will be free to attend but registration will be required. The conference will be streamed live with recordings of the keynote presentations available afterwards on YouTube. For more information, please see the conference website: www.mediatingscale.com and if you have any questions, please email mediatingscale@gmail.com

Organised by Dr Oliver Kenny (Institute of Communication Studies (ISTC), Université Catholique de Lille) and Magdalena Krysztoforska (University of Nottingham).

The event is hosted and funded by the Institute of Communication Studies (ISTC), Université Catholique de Lille.

Bibliography:

Blumenberg, H. (1987). The Genesis of the Copernican World. MIT Press.

Bratton, B. H. (2019). The Terraforming. Strelka Press.

Bratton, B. H. (2021). The Revenge of the Real: Politics for a Post-Pandemic World. Verso.

Chakrabarty, D. (2021). The Climate of History in a Planetary Age. The University of Chicago Press.

DiCaglio, J. (2020). Scale Tricks and God Tricks, or The Power of Scale in Powers of Ten. Configurations, 28(4), 459–490.

DiCaglio, J. (2021). Scale Theory: A Nondisciplinary Inquiry. University of Minnesota Press.

Horton, Z. (2013). Collapsing Scale: Nanotechnology and Geoengineering as Speculative Media. In K. Konrad, C. Coenen, A. Dijkstra, C. Milburn, & H. van Lente (Eds.), Shaping Emerging Technologies: Governance, Innovation, Discourse (pp. 203–218). IOS Press / AKA.

Horton, Z. (2020). The Cosmic Zoom: Scale, Knowledge, and Mediation. The University of Chicago Press.

Mbembe, A. (2019). Bodies as Borders. From the European South: A Transdisciplinary Journal of Postcolonial Studies, 4, 5–18.

Messeri, L. (2016). Placing Outer Space: An Earthly Ethnography of Other Worlds. Duke University Press.

Parikka, J. (2015). A Geology of Media. University of Minnesota Press.

June 27- July 1

Virtual Online Conference (Conference Platform: Webex)

Deadline: March 27, 2022

The 27th International Conference of the International Association for Intercultural Communication Studies

Conference Hosts: The University of Toledo; Department of World Languages and Cultures

When COVID-19 pandemic struck in early 2020, it interrupted almost every aspect of life around the globe. Intercultural communication, social interaction, education, international and local travel, healthcare systems, supply chains and economy were all affected and impacted at different levels. Global lockdowns, lack of social interaction and extended “shelter in place” orders caused sharp rise in conflicts, domestic violence, stress, anxiety, mental health breakdowns and even suicide. However, the same pandemic opened new opportunities and even forced many people to communicate beyond their comfort zones as some had to learn new ways of communicating and rely on virtual communication-technology. It even offered opportunities for new and emerging businesses. As we look beyond the pandemic, what lessons did we learn? How are we moving forward? How do we re-create communities and resolve conflicts in complicated religious, linguistic, educational, and cultural contexts? What linguistic choices are emerging? And how priorities, education, healthcare systems and even life are being reformatted? The theme of this conference seeks to address these issues, among many others, in the context of Intercultural and intra-cultural communication.

The International Association for Intercultural Communication Studies (IAICS) invites scholars, educators, administrators, graduate and undergraduate students from all disciplines of cultural sciences, and related fields, to submit proposals to this conference. All submissions will be considered. All authors of accepted proposals will have the choice to submit their papers to a special issue of IAICS journal.

Conference registration: registration will be waived for all participants and attendees that have IAICS membership (The new introductory rate is $30) Click below to sign up:

https://utep.questionpro.com/a/TakeSurvey?tt=qg0IsHqxx7I%3D

About IAICS

The International Association for Intercultural Communication Studies consists of scholars from a range of the cultural sciences who are dedicated to doing research on communication across cultures. Its membership is made up of participants from over 32 countries. These participants meet annually at different locations around the world to discuss common research interests. The results of their investigations are published in the journal of the organization, Intercultural Communication Studies (ICS).

Conference Goals

• To provide scholars, educators and practitioners from different cultural communities with opportunities to interact, network and benefit from each other’s research and expertise related to intercultural communication issues
• To synthesize research perspectives and foster interdisciplinary scholarly dialogues for developing integrated approaches to complex problems of communication across cultures
• To advance the methodology for intercultural communication research and disseminate practical findings to facilitate understanding across cultures
• To foster global intercultural sensitivity and involve educators, business professionals, students and other stakeholders worldwide in discourses about diversity and transcultural communication issues.

Conference Topics

Conference topic areas are broadly defined as, but not limited to, the following:

• Communication during and post pandemics
• Intercultural communication in the healthcare systems
• Cosmopolitanism in culture
• Intercultural communication and cosmopolitanism
• Shifts in Linguistics
• Time and space in culture / literature
• Language and culture
• Intercultural communication and nationality
• Language and identity
• Comparative culture
• Cultural identity
• Interculturality in literature
• Cultural hybridity
• Diversity studies
• Intercultural communication and interculturality
• Language Teaching and Intercultural Communication
• Mediated intercultural communication
• Virtual intercultural communication
• Multi cultures and interculturality
• Intercultural communication competence
• Culture and travel
• Intercultural education
• Cross cultural encounters
• Indigenous cultures
• Comparative poetics
• Public policy
• Comparative literature
• Transnational enterprises and intercultural communication
• Social media and culture
• Cultural study theories
• Literature and religion
• Culture and diplomacy
• Literature and film
• Language planning and policy
• Translation studies
• Intercultural pragmatics
• Communication, stress and anxiety
• Communication and therapy
• Computer assisted learning and teaching

Guidelines for Submissions

• Abstract, 100-150 words in English, Please include positions, affiliations, email addresses for all authors. Please use Times New Roman 12 point font size, single spaced.
• Panel proposals reflecting the conference theme or topic areas may be submitted. Panel proposals should include title of panel, a 100-150 word abstract of each panelist’s paper (as above). Panel proposals must include positions, affiliations, email addresses for all authors. Please use Times New Roman 12 point font size, single spaced.

Contact: Please submit abstracts, panel proposals, to the following web address:

https://utep.questionpro.com/a/TakeSurvey?tt=prQmzAFMKi0%3D

Conference email: IAICS@utoledo.edu

Conference Webpage: https://www.utoledo.edu/al/world-languages-and-cultures/iaics-conference/

Conference Registration & IAICS Membership Application : https://utep.questionpro.com/a/TakeSurvey?tt=qg0IsHqxx7I%3D

Deadline: Please submit abstracts and panel proposals by March 27, 2022

Proposals acceptance: Scholars will be informed of acceptance decisions before or by May 1, 2022.

Conference program will be emailed and available online by or before May 30, 2022

Conference Working Language: Abstracts should be submitted using English. Oral presentations could be in the author’s language of choice.

For questions related to the conference contact conference chair: IAICS@utoledo.edu

For questions concerning payment of IAICS dues contact Kenneth Yang.

For general questions related to IAICS contact Keith Lloyd or Joanna Radwanska Williams