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• ECC2026: YECREA conference fee waiver

  • Start
    08.09.2026
  • End
    11.09.2026
  • Location
    Brno, Czech Republic

  Registration is closed

  ECREA and its Young Scholars Network (YECREA) invite applications from early-career scholars whose presentations have been accepted for ECC 2026 and who lack sufficient funding opportunities. 
  

  We offer 10 grants for early-career scholars in the form of conference fee waivers. At least 5 grants will be awarded to applicants from low- and middle-income countries (see the list here: https://ecrea.eu/Low-income-and-Middle-income-counries).

  To apply for YECREA Conference Fee Waiver, click on the Register button on the left.

  Conditions for applying

  • Conference acceptance: The grants will be awarded only to early-career scholars whose presentation has been accepted to the conference programme. Applications will not be reviewed in terms of academic quality. However, applicants should preferably have submitted abstracts as first authors to the ECC conference programme.
    
  • Career stage: Eligible applicants are PhD students and scholars within one year after completion of their PhD.
    
  • Membership: The grants are intended for YECREA members. Information on how to become a member is available at https://yecrea.eu/membership. 
    
  • Access to financial resources: Applications will be evaluated based on several criteria, with the most important being the applicant’s access to financial resources (for example from their home university, third-party funded projects or national funding institutions).
    

  The applicants are allowed to combine conference fee waivers with the YECREA Travel Grants (information and application form here: https://ecrea.eu/event-6608245).

  If selected

  Successful applicants will be asked to send proof of acceptance to the conference by forwarding the acceptance email, as well as evidence of their PhD or postdoctoral status. This may include proof of enrolment, a letter from their institution, or a link to their university profile.
  

  Application deadline: 17 April 2026 (23:59 CEST). We will notify the applicants by May 30 2026. All grantees should confirm their attendance by 2 August 2026.

  Questions? Email us at yecreanetwork@gmail.com.

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• ECC2026: YECREA travel grant

  • Start
    08.09.2026
  • End
    11.09.2026
  • Location
    Brno, Czech Republic

  Registration is closed

  ECREA and its Young Scholars Network (YECREA) invite applications from early-career scholars whose presentations have been accepted for ECC 2026 and who lack sufficient funding opportunities. 
  

  We offer up to 5 travel and accommodation grants for early-career scholars. The travel grant reimburses travel and accommodation costs up to 310 EUR.

  To apply for YECREA Travel Grant, click on the Register button on the left.

  Conditions for applying

  • Conference acceptance: The grants will be awarded only to early-career scholars whose presentation has been accepted to the conference programme. Applications will not be reviewed in terms of academic quality. However, applicants should preferably have submitted abstracts as first authors to the ECC conference programme.
    
  • Career stage: Eligible applicants are PhD students and scholars within one year after completion of their PhD.
    
  • Membership: The grants are intended for YECREA members. Information on how to become a member is available at https://yecrea.eu/membership.  
    
  • Access to financial resources: Applications will be evaluated based on several criteria, with the most important being the applicant’s access to financial resources (for example from their home university, third-party funded projects or national funding institutions).
    

  The applicants are allowed to combine YECREA travel grant with the YECREA Conference Fee Waivers (information and application form here: https://ecrea.eu/event-6608234).
  

  If selected

  Successful applicants will be asked to send proof of acceptance to the conference by forwarding the acceptance email, as well as evidence of their PhD or postdoctoral status. This may include proof of enrolment, a letter from their institution, or a link to their university profile.

  For the travel grant, the relevant claim form together with digitized invoices and receipts documenting the actual costs must be submitted electronically to treasurer@ecrea.eu. The original documents must also be posted to the ECREA accountants at: RSM Belgium, Lozenberg 22 b3, B-1932 Zaventem, Belgium.

  Application deadline: 17 April 2026 (23:59 CEST). We will notify the applicants by May 30 2026. All grantees should confirm their attendance by 2 August 2026.

  Questions? Email us at yecreanetwork@gmail.com.

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• Beyond the Bans – Policies and Pedagogies in the Post-Digital Era of Restrictions

  • When
    15.09.2026
  • Location
    University of Innsbruck, Austria

  ECREA TWG Media Literacies and Communication Competencies (MLCC) and the Department of Media Education and Digital Literacy at the University of Innsbruck have the pleasure to invite doctoral students and junior scholars to a joint symposium on media literacy. 
  

  Call for Papers

  Interdisciplinary Symposium for Emerging Researchers: 
  Beyond the Bans – Policies and Pedagogies in the Post-Digital Era of Restrictions

  Organized by the ECREA TWG Media Literacies and Communication Competencies at the University of Innsbruck, Austria | One-day workshop | 15 September 2026

  Across Europe and beyond, debates are intensifying around age restrictions on social media for children and young people. Proposals to raise minimum age limits or strengthen age verification are often justified by concerns about online safety, mental health, distraction, exposure to harmful content, and the commercial pressures built into platform design. In various European countries, legal approaches to banning social media are being developed, while the European Commission (2026) recently published its plans to develop enforce age limits for social media. Moreover, schools are increasingly introducing restrictions or outright bans on learners’ use of mobile phones during the school day (Campbell et al., 2024; Grigic Magnusson, 2023). The policies of restriction are often justified by concerns related to distraction, wellbeing, academic performance, and the influence of digital media on young people’s social and cognitive development. Digital detox or sufficient use of digital tools is defined as a key factor, but their effects vary (see e.g. Radtke, 2022).

  At the same time, social media and smart devices play an important role in young people’s communication, identity formation, civic participation, and access to information. Smartphones, as everyday companions, are also a digital tool for all school subjects, but especially for media education. As a result, age restrictions on social media and bans of smartphones raise complex questions about how to balance protection and participation, how responsibility should be shared among families, schools, policymakers, and platforms, and what such measures mean for young people’s rights, agency, and inclusion in digital society.

  The doctoral symposium Beyond the Bans invites doctoral researchers to explore how post-digital educational systems (see e.g. Jopling, 2023) respond to restrictions and bans and how pedagogical practices evolve in their aftermath. The workshop seeks to foster dialogue on the broader implications of these policies and to examine how different European contexts approach the regulation of digital devices and platforms in schools.

  The symposium will take place as a one-day workshop at the University of Innsbruck in Austria and is designed as a collaborative forum where doctoral researchers can present and discuss emerging research. Contributions may be authored by doctoral researchers alone or co-authored with senior researchers or supervisors. The event aims to support early-stage scholarship and encourage comparative perspectives across countries and educational systems.

  Topics of interest

  We welcome contributions addressing questions such as:

  Policy perspectives

  • How have bans of digital infrastructure – e.g. mobile phones, social media – form school emerged and been implemented in different European contexts?
  • How do national or regional education policies frame the role of digital infrastructures in schools?
  • How do bans differ across European regions and what role do supranational policies and guidelines (e.g. from EU, UNESCO) or international research on existing bans (e.g. Australia) play in this?
  • What rationales and policy discourses underpin these restrictions?
  • What differences and similarities emerge in cross-country comparisons?
  • What are the blind spots in public and academic discourse, for example regarding the normalisation of technocapitalist developments?

  Pedagogical perspectives

  • How do teachers and schools adapt their pedagogical practices in response to mobile phone and/or social media bans?
  • What alternative pedagogical strategies emerge in classrooms where mobile devices are restricted?
  • How do schools balance digital literacy goals with device restrictions?
  • What educational implications arise from existing bans on social media, and what didactic and educational implications can be derived from them for European educational contexts?
  • What kinds of post-ban pedagogies are being developed to support fosterin critical media education and digital literacies?
  • How do bans affect media and information literacy (MIL) and digital competence education?
  • How can we deal with blind spots in post-ban pedagogies as well as in corresponding public debates, political reasoning/policy debates and in academic research?

  We particularly welcome comparative and cross-national contributions that examine differences between European regions or explore the relationship between policy frameworks and classroom practices. We will be able to host 20 participants at the maximum. Participants will be selected on the basis of relevance and scientific quality, while also aiming to ensure a balanced composition in terms of thematic focus, methodological approach, and gender representation among presenters.

  Format

  The doctoral symposium will consist of short paper presentations followed by structured discussion sessions. The workshop is intended as a supportive space for developing research ideas, sharing empirical findings, and building networks among doctoral researchers working on digital education, media literacy, and education policy. The symposium will be opened by a keynote lecture.

  In addition to peer feedback, participants will receive comments on their papers from senior scholars, either onsite or online. They are also encouraged to further develop their texts in dialogue with a senior scholar; where appropriate, we may suggest a potential senior collaborator, so that the event can also serve as an opportunity to initiate new academic collaborations.

  Submission guidelines

  Please send your submission to maarit.jaakkola@gu.se by 1 May 2026:

  • An abstract (250–300 words excl. references) outlining the research question, theoretical approach, and (if applicable) methodology and empirical material
  • Author information, including doctoral affiliation and supervisor(s)
  • Indication if the paper will or could be co-authored with a senior researcher

  Important dates

  • Abstract submission deadline: 1 May
  • Notification of acceptance: 1 June
  • Symposium at the University of Innsbruck: 15 September

  Practical issues

  The symposium is free of charge to the selected participants. Participants will cover their own travels and potential accommodation.

  Participants receive a certificate that can be used for validating 5 ECTS (recommendation) at the home institution. 

  The symposium is organized in collaboration with the Media Education Section of the Austrian Association for Educational Research (ÖFEB – Österreichische Gesellschaft für Forschung und Entwicklung im Bildungswesen), the Young Media Education Network of the Division for Media Education of the German Educational Research Association (GERA, DGfE – Deutsche Gesellschaft für Erziehungswissenschaft), and Network 06 of the European Educational Research Association (EERA).

  Contact

  For submissions and inquiries, please contact the organisers:
  
  Maarit Jaakkola
  Chair, ECREA TWG MLCC
  Associate Professor, Department of Journalism, Media and Communication
  University of Gothenburg, Sweden
  maarit.jaakkola@gu.se

  Petra Missomelius
  Associate Professor, Department of Media, Society and Communication
  University of Innsbruck, Austria
  petra.missomelius@uibk.ac.at

  Nina Grünberger
  Professor, Department of Subject Didactics, Research Group: Media Education and Digital Literacy
  University of Innsbruck, Austria
  nina.gruenberger@uibk.ac.at 

  References

  Campbell, M., Edwards, E. J., Pennell, D., Poed, S., Lister, V., Gillett-Swan, J., Kelly, A., Zec, D., & Nguyen, T.-A. (2024). Evidence for and against banning mobile phones in schools: A scoping review. Journal of Psychologists and Counsellors in Schools, 34(3), 242–265. https://doi.org/10.1177/20556365241270394

  Jopling, M. (2023). The postdigital school. In: Jandrić, P. (Ed.) Encyclopedia of postdigital science and education. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35469-4_24-1

  European Commission (2026, March 17). The EU approach to age verification. https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/eu-age-verification

  Grigic Magnusson, A., Ott, T., Hård af Segerstad, Y., & Sofkova Hashemi, S. (2023). Complexities of Managing a Mobile Phone Ban in the Digitalized Schools’ Classroom. Computers in the Schools, 40(3), 303–323. https://doi.org/10.1080/07380569.2023.2211062

  Radtke, T., Apel, T., Schenkel, K., Keller, J., & von Lindern, E. (2022). Digital detox: An effective solution in the smartphone era? A systematic literature review. Mobile Media & Communication,10(2), 190–215. https://doi.org/10.1177/20501579211028647

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• Connected Generations: Media, Communication, and Intergenerational Exchange in Contemporary Lives

  • Start
    17.09.2026
  • End
    18.09.2026
  • Location
    Online

  ECREA 2026 Post-Conference organised by the ECREA Section Children, Youth and Media; ECREA TWG Aging and Communication; and CNSC – UOC research group

  This post-conference explores intergenerationality in contemporary mediated lives, focusing on how different generations interact, learn, and communicate across evolving media environments. It brings together scholars and practitioners to reflect on research, practices, and policies related to intergenerational communication. Topics include intergenerational research approaches, media use across age groups, digital literacy and inclusion, family communication, and critical perspectives on ageism and generational stereotypes.

  Abstract deadline: 15 May 2026

  Notification: 15 July 2026

  Submission form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfKci7psWj6RDZqq1Qo6Sn8Hxwxag_2F58iZirLGJKR1bmEkQ/viewform?pli=1

  More info: https://symposium.uoc.edu/149878/detail/connected-generations-media-communication-and-intergenerational-exchange-in-contemporary-lives-17-1.html

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• ECC26 TWG MLCC online post-conference

  • When
    09.10.2026
  • Location
    Online

  Not able to travel to ECC2026 to Brno? We are pleased to invite you to the online post-conference of the ECREA Temporary Working Group (TWG) Media Literacy and Communication Competencies (MLCC), which will take place on 9 October 2026 at 13–17 CET!
  

  The online post-conference provides a space for scholars working on topics related to media literacy and communication competences to share ongoing research, exchange ideas, and strengthen collaboration within the field. It is inclusive, as it is free of charge and does not require any travelling. 

  We welcome paper submissions on topics that fall within the scope of the TWG MLCC. We are interested in different European approaches to media literacies and digital literacies among different groups of learners. Papers can deal with policies, pedagogies, didactics or practices, and especially cross-country comparisons are welcome.

  If you are interested in joining us, please submit your abstract (150–200 words excl. references) via this online form.

  • Submission deadline: 15 May 2026
  • Notification of acceptance: 1 June 2026

  The keynote speaker will be announced in May.

  In order to participate you do not need to be a TWG and an ECREA member. However, we hope that you will become one! Here you can take a look at the instructions regarding how an existing ECREA member can become a member of the TWG – you are basically just one click away.

  For inquiries, please contact Maarit Jaakkola, chair of the TWG MLCC: maarit.jaakkola@gu.se.

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