ECREA EXECUTIVE BOARD (Governing BODY) ELECTIONS 2024: stage 2 (S/N/TWG Representatives)

The General Elections took place online from 23 to 26 September 2024, with the results announced during the General Assembly organised at 10th European Communication Conference on 26 September. The new Executive Board (Governing Body) was be elected for the period 2024 – 2028.

Elections of ECREA Executive Board (Governing Body) take place in two stages. During the first stage, ECREA members elected up new members of ECREA Executive Board (Governing Body).  The elected Executive Board (Governing Body) members then organised a vote for positions of the President, the Vice-President, the Treasurer and the General Secretary. 

You can find the newly elected ECREA Executive Board (Governing Body) HERE.

In the second stage, the call for representatives of Sections, Networks and Temporary Working Groups was organised. The candidates come from management teams of Sections, Networks and Temporary Working Groups and are elected by members of respective management teams. Sections can elect up to two representatives, while Networks and Temporary Working Groups can elect one representative. 

The election will take place online on November 6-8, 2024. Each member of a Management Team of a Section holds one vote for this election. Then, the results will be approved by General Assembly.

List of candidates (in alphabetical order):

Please note that only ECREA members can see the candidates CVs. Log in to download them.

SECTIONS REPRESENTATIVE CANDIDATES:

• Rita Araújo (University of Minho, Portugal)
• Catalina Iordache (Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium)
• Jelena Kleut (University of Novi Sad, Serbia)
• Johan Siebers (Middlesex University London, UK)
• Lenka Waschková Císařová (Masaryk University, Czech Republic)
• Anastassia Zabrodskaja (Tallinn University Baltic Film, Media and Arts School, Estonia)

NETWORKS REPRESENTATIVE CANDIDATE:

• Dina Vozab (University of Zagreb, Croatia)

TWGs REPRESENTATIVE CANDIDATE:

• Maarit Jaakkola (Nordicom)
  

SECTIONS REPRESENTATIVE CANDIDATES:

Rita Araújo

Health Communication (vice-chair)

CV: HERE

Position  statement:

Throughout my career I have always valued networking as a central aspect of research, since it allows us to develop new perspectives on communication challenges and to gather efforts in tackling them. Furthermore, I am deeply committed to increasing the visibility of research conducted in Europe, especially from countries that are often underrepresented. This is why I organize our next section conference in Braga (Portugal).

I apply as a Section Representative for the ECREA Executive Board, because I am enthusiastic about the mission of ECREA to further advance European communication research and would like to contribute to this. European scholarship is very diverse when it comes to funding opportunities, institutional support, or even the organization of PhD programs. In our section (Health Communication) we have organized several formats to overcome the challenges that may come with these differences and turn this diversity into opportunities. I am sure that other sections have made the same experiences and have developed different strategies to support their members. As a section representative in the ECREA Executive Board, I would like to support the management teams of the sections to learn about each other’s approaches and to join forces where appropriate.

Catalina Iordache

Media Industries and Cultural Production (vice-chair)

CV: HERE

Position  statement:

I would like to present my candidacy for sections representative on the ECREA Executive Board. As a longtime member of the association and vice-chair of the Media Industries and Cultural Production section since 2022, I have been deeply committed to fostering collaboration and dialogue within our community. With a decade of research experience in media industries studies at imec-SMIT, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium), I hope to bring a unique perspective that bridges established knowledge and understanding of academia with fresh, emerging approaches and support for young scholars.

ECREA has provided me with a supportive and engaging community of inspiring mentors and peers, both throughout my years as PhD researcher, and during my current position as postdoctoral researcher and guest professor at Vrije Universiteit Brussel. If elected, I aim to further strengthen the connections between our members and facilitate meaningful exchanges across disciplines. My goal is to support and represent the interests of all sections by creating more opportunities for dialogue, encouraging interdisciplinary collaborations, and ensuring our community remains vibrant, diverse, and engaged.

Drawing from my background in event organisation, project management, and communication, I am confident in my ability to help develop initiatives that will make our association stronger. As a Romanian woman based in Belgium, I deeply value cross- cultural perspectives, and I am dedicated to working with and for our members to shape the future of our association.

Jelena Kleut

Audience and Reception Studies (Chair)

CV: HERE

Position  statement:

As Chair of the Audience and Reception Studies Section, I am standing as a candidate for the role of Section Representative on the ECREA Executive Board.

I have been involved in ECREA for several years, initially in preparing the Newsletter (2017-2018), followed by roles of Vice-Chair (2021) and Chair (2022-2024) of the Audience and Reception Studies Section. These experiences taught me the strengths and value of ECREA in developing the academic field, connecting researchers, and providing support. I believe it is the task of every newly elected Board Member to proceeded on this well-established path, and enrich it with her own knowledge, skillset and experience.

My contribution would be inevitably tied to my academic and personal history. Serving as a Chair of the Section for a second term gives me a good overview of the internal workings of the sections, their strengths and challenges. I see my role as one of fostering closer cooperation between SNTWG and EB to achieve our shared goals. Joining ECREA as a PhD student, and coming from the Central and Eastern European country, allowed me to establish close ties to YECREA and CEE network, and to appreciate how ECREA combines academic excellence with fostering diversity. For this reason, alongside representing the Sections, I will advocate for initiatives that address gaps in opportunities among ECREA members. As a scholar from a non-EU, Western Balkan country I am familiar with challenges of overcoming barriers in publishing, conference attendance, and similar areas. These challenges are in part related to protecting the autonomy of science and university education under government attack. Given the economic and political situation across Europe, my experiences may, unfortunately, be of relevance. 

Finally, through my organizational roles in different academic and non-academic settings, I understand that there is a lot of “invisible” work to keep an organization running smoothly. I hope that some of my skills, gained through organizing project, conferences, summer schools, workshops, and edited volumes, would be in use in this respect. 

I would be honoured to serve as a representative of all ECREA sections and hope to be able to contribute to the successful development of the association as a whole.

Lenka Waschková Císařová

Journalism Studies (vice-chair)

CV: HERE

Position  statement:

My name is Lenka Waschková Císařová and I serve as a Vice-chair of the ECREA Journalism Studies Section. I am confident that I will make a significant contribution to ECREA activities as Section representative on the Executive Board.

I was invited to join the Journalism Studies Section management, because of my extensive experiences in communication, collaboration and organisation at Masaryk University. As a former Vice-dean for external affairs and former head of Department of Media Studies and Journalism, I have developed strong links and already collaborate with many of my ECREA colleagues on several international research projects.

As a potential Section representative, I would like to focus, in line with the objectives of the Journalism Studies Section, on:

• Increasing double-sided cooperation and open dialogue between ECREA management and all Sections, Networks and Temporary Working Groups;

• Creating and strengthening of diverse, equal, and friendly collaborations, particularly with young and less experienced colleagues, by working closely with YECREA and Women’s Network;

• Creatively and innovatively preparing the next ECREA conference, which I'm involved in organising at my home university.

Anastassia Zabrodskaja

International and Intercultural Communication (chair)

CV: HERE

Position  statement:

I am committed to promoting initiatives that encourage interdisciplinary research and inclusivity within ECREA. I am particularly passionate about leveraging intercultural communication to address global challenges such as migration, digitalization, and multilingualism, ensuring that ECREA remains a leading platform for innovative academic dialogue. My dedication to amplifying the voices of underrepresented scholars aligns with ECREA’s mission to advance communication research in an inclusive and forward-thinking manner.

I am confident that my experience, vision, and dedication to fostering inclusive academic communities will allow me to make a meaningful contribution to ECREA’s Executive Board. I look forward to supporting ECREA’s continued success and thank you for considering my nomination.

NETWORKS REPRESENTATIVE CANDIDATE:

Dina Vozab

CEE Network (Chair)

CV: HERE

Position  statement:

I would like to present my candidacy as the ECREA Network representative in ECREA Executive Board.

I've been a member in ECREA since 2012 and have since then participated in many activities organized by ECREA, presented at conferences, and participated in summer schools and workshops. From 2019 to 2022, I’ve been a Yecrea representative of the ECREA Central and East-European (CEE) Network. As a Yecrea representative, I was interested in needs of early-career media and communication researchers from the CEE region, and I presented results of the survey and recommendations to address these needs at the CEECOM conference in Poland in 2021. In 2022, I was elected as a vice-chair of the ECREA CEE Network (with Malgorzata Winiarska-Brodowska as chair, and Marton Demeter as vice chair), and in 2024, I was elected as a chair of the Network (with Marton Demeter, Roksana Gloc and Camelia Cmeciu as vice chairs, and Igor Išpanović as a communication officer).

The stated goals of the elected management team of the ECREA CEE Network are to continue working on the international visibility of media and communication scholarship from the CEE region, supporting conferences (e.g. CEECOM conference), providing networking and collaboration opportunities for scholars from the CEE region, exploring possibilities for providing mentorship in research methodologies, paper development, and international publication, building cooperation with media and communication academic associations and academic journals from the CEE region, and addressing inequalities among media and communication researchers from the region (e.g. generational, or those between less and more visible communities).

As a Network Representative in the ECREA Executive Board, I would like to contribute to ECREA's work, values, and commitment to the community of media and communication researchers and educators. I would also like to address the specific goals of the ECREA Networks, most importantly enhancing greater visibility of researchers from the Networks and enhancing academic collaboration opportunities within and beyond the Networks. 

TWGs representative CANDIDATE: