Call for Papers

Conference Theme

What is the place of media and communication in today’s globalized society, affected by ongoing social and political conflicts, wars, the systemic crises of the capitalist order, prospects of further environmental degradation, weather extremes and continuous pandemics, the restructuring of everyday life by the rise of artificial intelligence, and the epistemic crisis within which contemporary academia operates?

Disruptions in the fields of politics, economy, health, and technology have significantly reshaped contemporary communication, resulting in dysfunctional unpredictability of the social system with troubling consequences for individuals and society as a whole. At the same time, recent technological developments and changing communication practices have often been labelled as exacerbators and even the origin of these systemic disruptions, emphasizing their destructive (disorder) or creative potential (new order).

Historically, however, technologies and communication practices have continuously been reconfigured by the tendencies to reproduce the prevailing social organization and its control, sustaining the established norms, values, and relations, and the struggles to transform the prevailing structures and relations to ameliorate inequalities, discrimination, and surveillance on individual, social, and global levels. Considering that the trajectories of future societal development are shaped by the outcomes of current struggles, this underscores the urgency of scientific reflection and examination at this moment, in support of the necessary social change towards greater social justice.

The ECC 2024 conference invites participants to reconsider the communication (dis)order by reflecting upon ongoing political, economic, environmental, health, and technological disruptions, their (dys)functional (un)predictability, and their long-term societal implications. While the speed and scope of contemporary communicative developments and social disruptions can easily generate an impression of unprecedented changes, felt either as a breakdown of the “old” order or the creation of a “new” one, this sensation is by no means exclusive to the present moment.

Submission and Deadline

Proposals for individual papers, panels, and roundtables can be submitted to one of ECREA Sections, Temporary Working Groups, and Networks through the ECC 2024 submission platform until 16 January 2024. All proposals should be written in English.

Abstracts for individual papers (300 – 500 words; authors can choose to include or exclude references in the text without affecting the evaluation of their abstract) should succinctly convey the study’s primary research problem, methodology, key findings, and their implications. Individual papers should align with and support the conference theme.

Panel proposals should comprise five individual contributions, consisting of a panel rationale along with five panel paper abstracts. The panel rationale (300 – 500 words; authors can choose to include or exclude references in the text without affecting the evaluation of their abstract) should elucidate the theme and its relevance within the broader conference context. Each panel paper abstract (300 – 500 words; authors can choose to include or exclude references in the text without affecting the evaluation of their abstract) should further elaborate on specific research topics, main objectives, methodology, and findings, ensuring alignment with and support for the panel rationale.

Roundtables should involve no more than five initial participants and are designed to foster discussion and interaction among delegates on a specific topic. Roundtable submissions (300-500 words, including references) should provide details about the discussion topic and its relevance, including the names of the organizers and initial participants. The availability of these participants must be confirmed at the time of proposal submission.

Each participant may only be nominated as the first (presenting) author in one accepted submission. However, there are no restrictions on the number of presentations where a conference participant is listed as a co-author. Additionally, participants are welcome to serve as chairs, respondents for panels, or participants in roundtable discussions.

Audience and Reception Studies

The Audience and Reception Studies section invites individual contributions, as well as panel and round table proposals, that focus on diverse ways in which audiences interpret and engage with a mediatized environment. Along the conference theme “Communication and Social (Dis)order” we invite scholars to think about the relations between vernacular, mundane and everyday audience practices, and macro processes, infrastructures, institutions and organizations.

The section is particularly interested in audiences’ interpretations and practices concerning several uprising phenomena such as platformization, datafication, artificial intelligence and information disorders. We also encourage the topics around protests and activism, as well as those that examine invisible audiences and (inter)generational aspects of reception and participation.

The nexus of different texts, genres and audiences, fan and anti-fan activities remain a constant interest to the Section.

These topics are indicative of some of the many themes we are looking for. The section invites submissions that cross disciplines and welcomes theoretical, empirical, and methodological discussions.

Children, Youth and Media

Academia increasingly demands an evaluation of communication’s impact on the social dynamics of children and youth within the media context. This increased interest stems from the rapid advancement of technology, the ubiquitous presence of digital media in our daily lives, and the rising levels of media consumption. These factors triggered substantial shifts in social behavior, emphasizing the necessity for more profound investigations into how media shapes individuals’ lives. By explicitly prioritizing “Social Order and Disorder for and with Children and Media,” we urge a critical approach while acknowledging the diversity of perspectives.

These nuanced perspectives are vital, particularly especially given the differing viewpoints and priorities of children and young people compared to adults. Moreover, media usage is deeply rooted in local and cultural practices, further complicating the issue. Therefore, discussing “Media Order or Disorder for Children” remains somewhat abstract unless we consider how we evaluate and rectify its shortcomings, including issues related to the attention economy and design logics. Evaluation is guided by performance-based criteria, such as changes in attitudes and behaviors, normative considerations like ethics, and substantive engagement in theory.

We invite our community to engage in this ongoing conversation. This participation aims to ensure research and practice positively impact children and youth in today’s mediated society, elucidating the complexities of the current conundrum.

Communication and Democracy

The Communication and Democracy section invites abstracts for papers and panel proposals on the relationship between media, communication, and democracy. We take a broad definition of democracy that goes beyond institutional politics and conventional policymaking and looks beyond the scope of traditional (Western) democratic models. We seek submissions that explore political phenomena and novel forms of political engagement while considering the hybrid nature of media, including non-media centric approaches. Papers and panels on democratic practices by non-institutional actors of the so-called “third sector” (including social movements and NGOs) are also encouraged. We welcome contributions from emerging scholars.

The theme for the 2024 conference in Ljubljana is “Communication and Social (Dis)order.” The section invites submissions both within and outside of this general theme, ideally addressing – but not limited to – one of the following sub-themes:

• Authenticity and fakery in political communication
• The impact of AI on democratic systems and democratization
• Political disruptions through media and communication
• Prosocial or antisocial media activism
• Radical/alternative/participatory media
• Surveillance and control in/through media
• Organizing (for) political agency
• Civic resilience in times of social (dis)order
• Algorithms and democracy
• New and enduring forms of political participation and civic engagement
• Transformations in electoral communication
• The intersection of capitalism and democracy
• Identity-based social marginalization or empowerment (gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, etc.) in democratic societies
• The nexus of climate/environment/sustainability for democratic development

Communication Law and Policy

The CLP Section invites abstracts for papers and panels related to efforts to (re)order the communication and social (dis)order. Policymakers around the globe are attempting to address the challenges to social systems stemming from media and communications technologies and services. A wave of new laws, self/co-regulatory codes, guidelines and principles aims at preventing harm and reducing the negative consequences of platform dominance. Communications services are also often critical elements in policies addressing public health emergencies, natural disasters and even war. Questions arise about balancing of human rights and public interests, as well as about responsibility and accountability. Innovation in policy tools and institutional design are abundant, enticing exploration of governance models and methods.

We remain open to all high-quality empirical and theoretical work, and for ECC 2024 are particularly interested in:

• Combatting disinformation, hate speech, and other harmful content
• EU Digital services regulation, and similar policies in other jurisdictions
• Initiatives to govern streaming services and video-sharing platforms
• The regulation of AI in media and news production
• Recommender systems; prominence of public interest content
• Media concentration and issues of competition communications markets
• Media or regulatory independence/capture
• The role of public service media
• The role and governance of media/platforms in emergencies and crises

Communication History

The Communication History section is looking forward to submissions related to Communication and Social (Dis)order from an historical perspective. We put a special emphasis on submissions applying long term perspectives and cross-temporal comparison regarding changes and continuities. The COH Section aims to contextualise current debates against longer traditions and recurring questions and challenge the historical exceptionalism of the current moment. Proposals related to past disruptive and disrupted communication are very welcome. Topics welcomed include but are not limited to: communication in face of unforeseen events or crisis; efforts to disrupt the “traditional” organization of media; the role of media and mediated communication in establishing and warranting as well as undermining social cohesion, imagined communities and social order; media contesting social order in the service of democracy or repression; media as key players in covering, analysing, guiding, or participating to social (dis)order; questions of memory regarding idealised pasts as well as periods of disorder and turmoil; continuities and change in public and academic discourse about media, communication and social (dis)order.   

Crisis Communication

Today’s globalized society is, presumably more than ever, affected by ongoing social and political conflicts, wars, climate change accompanied by weather extremes and continuous pandemics. Such crises are at the center of the perpetual flow of order and disorder. The field of crisis and risk communication has the opportunity to learn from the experiences to consider:

• How can crisis and risk communication help to restore order from a state of disorder caused by crises?
• How can crisis and risk communication of organizations be implemented to successfully encounter disorder in digital media environments?
• What can be learned with a view to the communicative challenges that come with imminent wicked problems like climate change, war, mass migration, immigration, and pandemics?
• What are critical pedagogical, research, theoretical, amplification, and collaboration lessons have been learned through the pandemic?
• What critical themes of research and practice should be addressed in the short, medium, and long-term?
• In moving forward from 2024, how can our field meet crisis and risk communication needs across sectors?

We welcome abstract-based submissions that explore these themes as we reflect the implications of “Communication and Social (Dis)Order” for the European Communication Conference.

Diaspora, Migration and the Media

Under the theme “Communication and Social (Dis)order” the ECREA Diaspora, Migration and the Media section invites researchers to propose abstracts that engage with how recent technological developments and changing communication practices have affected the way migrants and refugee communities document, view and represent ongoing social and political conflicts, the experience of crossing borders, and the effects of dominant structures of power, discrimination, and surveillance on their transnational movement.

We are particularly interested in papers that discuss how media can become spaces where the disruptive potential of “crises” and conflicts can be challenged and resisted by allowing migrants and refugees to activate solidarity and caring narratives across borders. Research that prioritizes migrant voices and migrant-led projects including, for example, activist networks or diasporic diplomacy in conflict resolution have the potential to uncover the agentic role of migrants and diasporic populations in today’s globalized societies, and as such represents a timely and significant opportunity for further discussion.

We invite scholars to submit abstract proposals that engage with theoretical, methodological, and ethical approaches to the study of the role of media in the development, perpetuation, and control of social and political orders related to migration, as well as with the mediation of resilience practices.

Contributions might focus on, but are not limited to:

• The role of media in documenting conflict, resistance, and violence in migration
• The role and impact of participatory media projects/practices in fostering dialogue
• Ethnic minority media as opportunities for activist resistance
• Bordering media practices of exclusion
• Everyday media practices in border narratives
• Diasporic solidarity networks and conflicts
• Ethical dilemmas of researching “crisis” narratives in the media

Digital Culture and Communication

Digital spaces and social media platforms can be spaces of ambivalence. If, on one hand, important social and political movements emerged online, on the other, polarised platform environments also proliferate, harbouring backlashes to social advances. Digital tools and platforms can swiftly sway between order and disorder, often occupying uncertain spaces filled with tensions. Platforms once optimistically imagined as digital town squares can easily fall into disarray. Social media metrics that purport to order countless aspects of the everyday into datafied structures can be manipulated to cause societal disorder. Digital information can be mistrusted with the rise of fake news. Online creativity can be appropriated by exploitative AI generative tools. At the same time, re-ordering data from bottom-up can give visibility to people otherwise marginalised.   

The DCC section invites submissions for individual papers and panel sessions that interrogate how digital cultures can foster (dis)order in a variety of forms. Submissions that explore other aspects of digital cultures and communication, both within and outside of the general conference theme, are also welcome.

Contributions can be theoretically informed and/or empirically grounded, as well as critical, ethical, or methodological reflections. We also encourage submissions from diverse geographical contexts and cross-disciplinary approaches, as well as from scholars in all career stages, particularly early-career scholars.

Digital Games Research

The Digital Games Research Section invites submissions on all types of digital games, analyzing their use, effects, forms, and contents. In line with the conference’s main theme (“Communication and Social (Dis)order”), there is a special interest in research examining societal impacts of games and play in current times of globalization, conflicts, and uncertainties. In addition, the call is open to all contributions from the broad field of games research. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Possible positive (e.g., enjoyment, well-being, cognitive skills) and negative (e.g., aggressiveness, social isolation, sexism) effects of gaming
• Theoretical approaches and methodological advances in games research
• The production, content, audiences, and regulation of digital games
• Digital culture, gaming communities, and social interactions in and around games
• Particular target groups, such as adolescents, children, or the elderly
• The use of games in specific contexts, such as work, education, or health care
• Discursive approaches to games/play
• New forms of games/current trends in gaming, such as newsgames, retro gaming, virtual and augmented reality games

We welcome contributions from communication and media studies, but also from other disciplinary backgrounds, such as sociology, psychology, educational sciences, economics, and others. We are open to quantitative, qualitative, and theoretical approaches.

Film Studies

The ECREA Film Studies section approaches the phenomenon of film in its broadest sense: film as content, as cultural artefact, as commercial product, as lived experience, as cultural and economic institution, as a symbolic field of cultural production, and as media technology. On a methodological level, we strive towards openness and multilevel approaches to the study of historical and contemporary cinema: film text, context, production, representation and reception. Cultural studies perspectives, historical approaches, political economy, textual analysis, and audience research all find their place within the section. We want to leave behind the institutional tensions between humanities and social sciences approaches.

The Film Studies section thus invites contributions that deal with film from a broad variety of perspectives. We also invite contributions that deal with the general conference theme ‘Communication and Social (Dis)Order’ and that explore the challenges and opportunities for the research field of film studies. From outreach initiatives to practice-based research among many others, the section welcomes a diversity of approaches that help us think in what ways film studies may intervene and change social (dis)order.

Gender, Sexuality and Communication

Considering gender and sexuality is essential when thinking about (dis)order in media and communication. While different types of media play a key role in supporting alliances between collectives and minority voices, at the same time, harmful discourses spread through media platforms and reinforce power imbalances. Studies on gender, sexuality and media engage with different challenges and confirmations of the social order in a variety of ways. For example, by focusing on how representations construct social meanings of gender and sexuality, intersectional inequalities in media industries, or looking at media from a feminist, queer, postcolonial and/or disability studies perspective. The Gender, Sexuality and Communication Section welcomes contributions that explore different aspects of the relations between gender, sexuality and media on a theoretical, methodological and/or empirical level. We are open to studies in all areas of media and communication research: production, representation and and/or reception. Media is understood in a broad sense, which may include digital and social media, algorithmic and A.I. creations, popular culture, DIY media and zines, film and documentary, news and other forms. We are also interested in contributions that address the intersection of gender with other identity markers and concepts such as ethnicity, disability, class, age, and sexuality.

Health Communication

The Health Communication Section provides a forum to discuss issues and present cutting-edge research dedicated to analyzing the challenges of health communication.

Topics covered include media effects on information processing, knowledge and health related behavior, the representation of health-related topics in the media, the role of new communication technologies in health-related contexts, campaign strategies, doctor-patient interactions, health-related communication in social networks, and other related aspects of health communication.

The Health Communication Section is particularly interested in bringing together health communication scholars from different parts of Europe to better understand how different historical trajectories, national differences in cultural dimensions, health systems and policies shape health communication.

International and Intercultural Communication

The theme of the 2024 ECREA conference, ‘Communication and social (dis)order’, echoes particularly well some of the latest trends in the fields of International and Intercultural Communication that have engaged with the multiplicity and contradictory, fluid and unpredictable dimensions of interculturality (see e.g., Holliday & Amadasi, 2019; R’boul & Dervin, 2023). This body of work has further highlighted the embeddedness of interculturality and transnational and international communication in structural and historical processes such as globalized tensions, coloniality, and environmental challenges, and in connection to both interpersonal interactions and media representations. We encourage submissions that draw on such premises and attempt to offer conceptual as well as methodological ways of understanding and tackling ‘social (dis)order’ from an international and intercultural communication standpoint. Thus, we encourage submissions addressing the conference theme ‘Communication and social (dis)order’ through the following themes, but not limited to them:

• Social and cultural (dis)order: Recent years have been marked by many global crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and repeated environmental disasters. Each of these has shed light on inequalities and struggles within and across societies as racism, gender inequalities, and remnants of coloniality still pervade mediated and interpersonal communication constructed by and constructive of ‘us’ and ‘them’. How can concepts such as intercultural dialogue, intercultural competence, or intercultural literacies be used to address such local and global social and cultural (dis)orders? Which intercultural and international realities are (re)produced and challenged by current social and cultural (dis)orders?
• Ecological collapse and social (dis)order: Researchers of all disciplines are engaging with the current realities and ramifications of the ecological collapse in their work. Some scholars of intercultural communication (e.g., Mendoza & Kinefuchi, 2016) have indicated ways of incorporating sustainability and interculturality, but much work remains. How can an intercultural and international lens help us understand the implications of the ecological collapse for our globalized and interconnected societies? How are discourses of, for instance, culture, identity, community, or borders mobilized by different actors to communicate about the ecological collapse?
• Anti-racism and decolonial research: Injunctions to decolonize research have mushroomed in recent years, sometimes at the risk of becoming nothing more than a depoliticized buzzword and empty signifier (Tuck & Yang 2012). What does situating international and intercultural communication research in an anti-racist and decolonial agenda truly mean? What tools do we have at our disposal to implement anti-racist and decolonial perspectives in a meaningful and lasting manner? How can such a research agenda take place for disciplines such as International and Intercultural Communication that are still widely dominated by ‘Western’ frameworks?

In addition to these three themes, the International and Intercultural Communication (IIC) section also warmly welcomes submissions exploring ‘Communication and social (dis)order’ in connection to cross-border, transnational and global communication including both mediated and (inter)personal forms.

The International and Intercultural Communication (IIC) section accepts proposals for individual papers, panels, and roundtables (please see the main conference guidelines for word count submissions and deadlines). As in previous years, the division equally welcomes submissions that present fully developed ideas as well as work-in-progress in an effort to give room to discuss emerging research ideas, contradictory and preliminary results, and methodological challenges.

References

Holliday, A., & Amadasi, S. (2019). Making sense of the intercultural: finding deCentred threads. Routledge.
R’boul, H., & Dervin, F. (2023). Flexing Interculturality: Further Critiques, Hesitations, and Intuitions. Taylor & Francis.
Mendoza, S. L., & Kinefuchi, E. (2016). Two stories, one vision: A plea for an ecological turn in intercultural communication. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 9(4), 275-294.
Tuck, E., & Yang, K. W. (2012). Decolonization is not a metaphor. Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society 1(1), 1-40.

Interpersonal Communication and Social Interaction

Social order and disorder are constituted in communication; we negotiate the meanings of different disruptions in social interactions. Furthermore, we cope with uncertainties and create the new normal in our public and private relationships. Interpersonal communication and social interaction are the basic unit of humanity. What is communicated at the interpersonal level, helps to enhance mutual understanding and to strengthen social justice. 

The Interpersonal Communication and Social Interaction section welcomes contributions focusing on human interactions, the encounters between and relationships among people in private or public contexts, whether face-to-face or through various communication technologies. We especially welcome research with tangible and applicable results for society, policies, business and private life but also research with long-term implications through theory.

The research fields and theory development areas of interpersonal communication and social interaction are wide-ranging. Topics may include but are not limited to:

• Interpersonal relationships;
• Group and team communication;
• Communicative competence and interpersonal skills;
• Listening;
• Public speaking, rhetoric, argumentation, and persuasion
• Mediated interaction and digital interpersonal communication;
• Interaction with conversational human agents, personal assistants and chatbots;
• Ethnography of speaking.

All kinds of contexts are welcome, such as family, work, instructional, political, health. We also welcome different methodologies: qualitative, quantitative, mixed, meta-analysis etc.

Journalism Studies

The Journalism Studies Section invites abstracts based on empirical research or theoretical effort able to advance our conceptions of journalism and journalistic work. A plurality of theories, methods, and perspectives is encouraged. Subject areas include, but are not limited to, the roles of journalism in society, influences on news making, journalists’ attitudes and practices, economic and business models for news, news content, news consumption, the multitude roles of audience, the shifting boundaries of journalism, analysis of its news actors such as platforms. The research focus may be local as comparative. Included in this spectrum are theoretical works able to clarify, define, systematize the most important concepts link to the journalistic field. Research is stimulated that is aimed to analyse the meso and macro level addressing the relation between journalism and power, technological change, organization innovation and financial pressures. 

Media, Cities and Space

The ECREA Media, Cities and Space Section convenes interdisciplinary research and education focused on the manifold relationships of media and communications with cities and spatiality. Within these relationships, we conceive of ‘media and communications’ as encompassing everything from early writing systems to artificial intelligence; and equally, of ‘cities and spatiality’ as everything from megalopolises to the most remote corners of the Earth.

The Section aims at establishing a network focused around researchers based in Europe, yet also internationally inclusive. We welcome research that is theoretical, methodological, empirical and practice-based, with a strong emphasis on interdisciplinarity.

We invite contributions from scholars exploring entanglements of media, space and place from different angles and fields such as media and communications; science and technology studies; geography and environmental studies; political communication; critical data studies; locative and mobile media studies; and beyond.

This year we are especially interested in how the dynamics of media, space and place are conditions of possibility for different forms of communication order and disorder. If we live at a time in which media and communications take shape alongside technological disruptions, epistemic crises, geopolitical conflicts and environmental extremes, we need to not only ask how this takes place, but where.

Media Industries and Cultural Production

What is the role of media industries and cultural production in a world marked by disruption, change and an ongoing “polycrisis”, with economic, environmental as well as societal and cultural dimensions? In what ways could the media industries be seen as a part of the problem as well as the solution to contemporary disorder?

The section invites papers on all topics related to media industries and cultural production. Different perspectives, theoretical traditions and methodological approaches are sought. Presentations can focus on infrastructures, technology, media economics, policy, production, cultural expression, and the intricate relations between them. Contemporary developments within, as well and historical explorations of, the dynamics, structures and practices of the media industries are welcome. 

In line with the overall theme of the conference, we particularly encourage presentations that reflect on disorder and its relation to the media industries and cultural production. Disruption and volatility have always been part of the (self-)understanding of the media industries, and could arguably be seen as a stable factor in their ongoing development. Although the media and cultural industries are often drivers of technological and societal disruption, they are also significantly affected by the disruptive character of the contemporary moment and the ongoing societal crises.

Mediatization

The Mediatisation Section is joining the organisers of the ECC in Ljubljana and invites submission of papers dealing with the broadly understood challenge of communication and social (dis)order. Even since the last conference, the scale of disruptions such as wars, extreme climatic events, and different kinds of inequalities has only increased, not to mention the pandemics–in short, everything that leads us farther away rather than closer to the ideal of sustainability. Our field is particularly affected by the fragmentation of communication, now often driven by AI, non-linear communication, and the ever-increasing scope of mis- and disinformation. Entropy is on the rise, thanks to the consequences of mediatisation–but mediatisation can also be seen among possible solutions. We are inviting a range of submissions, particularly (but not limited to) future-oriented research pursuing the sociology of expectation with a focus on innovation and technology and dealing with the management of this entropy. Among others, we are especially interested in contributions to mediatisation theory in synchronic and diachronic dimensions, mediatisation of war and the military, datafication, AI, including applied research, and other relevant areas and topics.

Organisational and Strategic Communication

In today’s sociocentric challenges, organisations struggle with entropic forces from management, technological, economic and non-human elements in communication. These disruptive dynamics can be seen as a transformative process, aimed at reducing present (dis)orders, while simultaneously addressing the ongoing rising demands of stakeholders. Organisations are increasingly called upon to address socio-political challenges by means of corporate citizenship, corporate activism, corporate social responsibility, sustainability plans, ESG initiatives, or even adopting a B-corporation status. Moreover, governments and institutions are demanded to counteract information disorder to increase citizens’ trust and enhance intangible assets with offline and online activities. Concurrently, ethical considerations, boundaries of communication being instrumental and limits on communication strategies within persuasive communication are on the agenda. Furthermore, within the organisational context, pressing issues such as diversity and inclusion, health and well-being, transparency, or authenticity, and risk of propaganda demand immediate attention. Another big challenge is the impact of artificial intelligence, digital platforms and in general digital transformation. Those are pressuring for quick ongoing decisions regarding the adoption of those into communication activities, requiring new skills and competences. Thus, the following questions, among other, emerge: What kind of impact in the future and in the development of the global society strategic/organisational communication has? Which role the various types of organization would be able to assume?

We invite researchers to submit proposals that contribute to the development of an inclusive and extended theoretical framework and bring empirical insights. This, ideally, should mirror not only the technical and hermeneutic interests, but also critical/emancipatory perspectives.

Philosophy of Communication

The establishment of this Section is informed by the belief that the Philosophy of Communication is a particularly salient area of inquiry today, given the increased understanding of the fundamental role communication plays in almost all aspects of life, and increasingly, of science, and the social changes brought about by an increasingly globalised ‘communication society’.

These developments require the exploration of the relations between communication theory and traditional areas of philosophy, such as metaphysics and ontology, philosophy of language, epistemology, social and political philosophy and ethics. There are many examples of thinkers who have paid explicit attention to the emerging field of the philosophy of communication, from Empedocles and Aristotle to Leibniz, Dewey, Husserl, Merleau-Ponty, Luhmann and Habermas (to name a few), but a forum for the systematic discussion of topics in this field has been lacking up until now in Europe, as has the systematic discussion of the philosophy of communication itself.

Thinkers have had occasion to refer to communication in their theory formation, but have done so often in an ad hoc manner, highlighting specific aspects of communication but neglecting others, and have often proceeded in relative isolation. Even the opposing seminal accounts of Luhmann and Habermas of the nature and social role of communication have scarcely been examined from the point of view of their relative merits for a general philosophical understanding of communication and a communicative understanding of philosophy.

Political Communication

Political Communication section invites empirical and/or theoretical contributions on the new social (dis)order brought about by the high choice media environment. We welcome papers that address issues such as: information disorders; the changing nature of the relationship between citizens, political actors and the media, old and new; the implications of mediated and mediatized politics on the quality of modern democracy; the European political communication deficit; the link between political communication and media policy, new journalistic practices, but also rising antagonistic civic communicative inputs, practices and processes of the mediation and mediatization of politics. Similarly, we invite papers on communication strategies and news management of political elites; campaign communication; citizenship and public sphere; media effects on political orientations and participation; as well as interpersonal and online political communication. Papers that take a comparative view on political communication in Europe are very welcome. The section aims to bring together, and encourage critical and interdisciplinary approaches while creating dialogue between a broad diversity of methodological and theoretical approaches.

Radio and Sound

The moments of crisis and social (dis)orders embrace its own soundscapes defined by and through various sonic sources of radio broadcasting, podcasting and audio services. What constitutes the sonic environment of wars, pandemics, political conflicts, or capitalist (dis)orders, such as urban transformation or environment destruction? What are the sonic components of social and political “order” as reflected in dialogue, conflict resolution, negotiation, or restructuring?  In tune with the conference theme, ‘Communication and Social (Dis)order’, the Radio and Sound Section invites researchers to reflect not only on the complex relationship between sound and social (dis)orders in various contexts but also on the significance of sound and radio as a methodological and pedagogical tool for the reconceptualization of (dis)order.  We welcome abstracts and panel proposals in line with the conference theme but not limited to, from audience studies; research methodologies; peacebuilding, intercultural communication, innovation and diversity; sound content and practices; audio narratives and acoustic language; podcasting; social networking and user-generated radio; web and mobile platform content; radio and music streaming platforms; radio history; community radio; radio and gender; radio identities; sound art; aural culture. 

Science and Environment Communication

The 21st century faces unprecedented challenges in the environment and science fields. The meanings of issues such as climate change and energy, and the decisions taken in relation to them, are associated with a variety of communication practices. Research on communication can therefore provide a central contribution to current debates about scientific and environmental problems and issues of democracy, citizenship and power.

The Science and Environment Communication section seeks to foster a strong, reflexive and dynamic research network. Science is understood here in broad terms as research that has its roots in the social sciences, humanities or natural sciences, including technology. Environment is also understood broadly as both the natural and the built milieu.

The section welcomes work that crosses a range of disciplinary (communication/media/cultural studies, science and technology studies, sociology, social psychology) and methodological (quantitative/qualitative/empirical/theoretical) boundaries.

As the issues that are categorized as environmental and/or scientific, are also political, economic and social, the section aims to promote an integrated, inter- and trans-disciplinary analysis of communication practices. This poses new opportunities for research and education, including collaboration with other ECREA sections.

Examples of topic areas include – but are far from restricted to: media representations of science and the environment; science and environment reporting, alternative and citizen’s media; political and commercial discourse on the environment; dialogic, participatory approaches to the communication of research-based knowledge; communication, democracy and research governance; public engagement with science and the environment; Environmental and science activism; visualization and environment communication; the digital turn in science and environment communication; digital capitalism and the environment; sustainability and media; Southern/non-Western and Western approaches to science and environment communication; (de-)politicization of the environment; the environment and the political.

Television Studies

ECREA’s Television Studies Section facilitates cooperation for European research, education and outreach in the field of television studies. The audiovisual market, culture and practices are rapidly transformed by globalisation, platformisation, and socio-political change. The shared interest of this section is to investigate the impact of these and other trends on the medium of television as culture, technology, institution, product, text, industry, object of audience engagement as well as societal and political debate. This interest encompasses historical, current and future-oriented perspectives and includes research on all territories in and beyond Europe. In the light of ECREA 2024’s theme, we particularly encourage contributions that shed new light on, for instance:

• Television’s role in society and social change; particularly Public Service Media.
• Factual and fictional genres on television and their role in dissemination, detection and counter-action of disinformation.
• Television industries’ transformation by the Covid-19 crisis, platformisation, and macro-economic decline.
• Globalisation’s impact on television and streaming industries, texts and audience practices.
• Television as a shared, transversal medium during times of crisis.
• Representation, coverage and reception of climate crisis, war and conflict on television, particularly in news, documentary, comedy, and drama
• Uses of artificial intelligence in television industries.
• The regulation of broadcasting and streaming.

Visual Cultures

Building on the overall conference theme of social (dis)order, the Visual Cultures section invites papers that critically engage with the role of images and visual media in societal (dis)order. How do visual practices and visual representations enable or disrupt different forms of social order, in personal-intimate realms but also in public, journalistic, pedagogic, or political contexts? 

We are interested in empirical, theoretical, and methodological contributions of various forms that take into account the complex entanglement of institutional and algorithmic structures with visual production, audiencing and circulation. We also welcome contributions that discuss how visual media are socially constructed, and how the social is constructed visually.

Central and East-European Network

We are seeking contributions to a panel on ‘Communication (dis)order in the CEE’, organized by ECREA CEE Network at the ECC 2024 conference in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Central and Eastern Europe as the region of semi-periphery has long been a place of tensions and where “disorders” have been more visible- in the destruction of old and the creation of new orders. Contemporary disruptions are also very much felt in the CEE- the illiberal turn, war, and conflict, together with other evolving crises. We would like to encourage submissions that emphasize both destructive (disorder) or creative potential (new order) trends and refer to ongoing political, economic, environmental, health, and technological disruptions and their long-term societal implications.

Women’s Network

During the 10th European Communication Conference, the Women’s Network will organize a panel contributing to the main theme “Communication and Social (Dis)order” with a thematic focus on gender-based violence and inequalities in academia.

Special Session: Unveiling Gender-Based Violence and Inequalities in Academia

Amidst the intricate web of challenges and transformations outlined in our conference theme, we invite scholars, researchers, and practitioners to engage in a critical dialogue concerning the insidious yet often overlooked issues of gender-based violence and inequalities within academia. 

As academia grapples with the multifaceted crises of our times, it is imperative that we address the persistent disparities, power imbalances, and instances of gender-based violence that hinder equitable progress within educational institutions. This special session seeks innovative research, theoretical frameworks, and practical solutions that shed light on the intricate interplay between communication, academia, and the perpetuation of gender-based violence and inequalities.

We encourage submissions that explore topics such as:

• Gender disparities in academic leadership and decision-making.
• The role of media and communication in shaping academic discourse on gender.
• Strategies to combat gender-based violence and promote inclusivity in academic settings.
• Intersectionality and its impact on gender inequalities in academia.
• Innovative approaches to creating safe and supportive academic environments.

Join us in examining these critical issues and contribute to the ongoing discourse on addressing gender-based violence and inequalities in academia within the broader context of today’s complex societal challenges. Together, let’s pave the way for a more equitable and inclusive academic landscape. Submit your papers and proposals to be part of this crucial conversation.

YECREA (Young scholars network)

Recent developments in academic cultures and working conditions affect especially those in the lowest positions in the hierarchy: Early career researchers (ECRs). In line with the ECC2024 theme, the YECREA network aims to provoke conversations about (dis)order in academic culture and continue our work reimagining academia as a place of meaning and collaboration. We invite ECRs who are outspoken, engaged, and committed to coming up with creative and disruptive solutions to challenge academia in its current state, focusing primarily on inequality and access to the academic field, precarious working conditions, and mental well-being.

Submit a 500-word abstract addressing one of the following or related questions:

• How can we define precarity in academia?
• What sort of mental health issues have been observed in academia, and what solutions do you envision?
• How can we ensure the guidelines defining the ‘grant-application’ system are more equitable?
• How did academia arrive at the ‘publish-or-perish’ point, and how is it affecting academic output?
• What types of power dynamics characterize academia and what needs to change?
• What are the key forms of discrimination preventing access to academic spaces and opportunities, and how have they impacted you?

Affect, Emotion and Media

In recent years, affect and emotion added to disruptions in many fields facing significant crises. The climate catastrophe, wars, COVID-19, misinformation, populism, and generative AI are just some areas in which affect and emotion either added to complications or opened up new paths for solutions. Whether it is the more functional or dysfunctional dimensions, affect and emotion have become particularly salient in today’s societies. Affect and emotion have become prisms through which to observe the world and which shape how change is experienced, mediated, and discussed. Many examples demonstrate that from affect and emotion emerges a sense of urgency and motivation, yet, not only in the fight for justice but also in the push against it. In our Temporary Working Group, we want to ask how affect and emotion become disruptive forces—for better or worse—and how we can research their impact in media and communication contexts. Therefore, we invite submissions that engage theoretically, methodologically, and/or empirically with the question of the disruptive power of affect and emotion, both in the areas mentioned above but also beyond them and in all forms connected to media and communication.

Aging and Communication Studies

The Aging and Communication Studies temporary working group invites contributions at the intersection of aging/later life studies and communication studies. This new TWG aims at creating a community of practice in the European context, fostering solid empirical evidence, theories and reflections that help empower older adults within hyper-digitized societies.

The theme of ECC 2024 is ‘Communication and Social (Dis)order”. The TGW invites submissions both within and outside of this general theme ideally within any of the following areas of inquiry related to aging and communication studies:

• Ageism and its forms
• Representations of aging and later life (media, advertising, digital platforms, data, technological design, etc.)
• Intersectionality in aging and communication research
• Gender perspectives in aging and communication
• Aging and communication from a LGBTQIA+ studies perspective
• AI and algorithmic processes
• Cultural and critical studies of aging and communication
• Aging, digital transformation and communication
• Intergenerational communication dynamics
• Memory, media, and representation regarding aging and later life
• Diversity in later life: Third and Fourth age and communication studies
• Self-representations of older people (off- and online)
• Aging, social media cultures and usage practices
• Stereotypes and self-stereotypes

Communication and Sport

As a growing social and economic phenomenon, sport plays a key role in contemporary societies. The societal role of sport is inextricably linked to the potentials of mediated communication. Sport is distributed, consumed, and even practiced via media. Considering the impacts of sports communication in current society, the ECREA Communication and Sport Temporary Working Group invites submissions that bridge the study of mediated sport and the ECC’s main theme “Communication and Social (Dis-)Order”. We wish to concentrate on the still growing number of communicators who are now present in the European sports media landscape and represent a range of very diverse interests and agendas in relation to sport communication. We invite submissions that address, but are not limited to, issues such as: sports journalism; sports media content; strategic communication of sport-related issues; equality and diversity in sports coverage; advertising in sports; mediatization of sports; sport and emerging technologies such as mobile media, e-sports, and virtual reality; patterns of media sports consumption; and fan communication and mediated engagement with sport. The TWG understands itself as interdisciplinary. We encourage submissions from different theoretical and methodological perspectives that stimulate the debate on these pivotal areas for the present and future of sports communication.

Ethics of Mediated Suffering

Instances of suffering are heavily disrupting social order and have broad societal implications. For many, these events are experienced through, via and by the media. The Ethics of Mediated Suffering Temporary Working group invites scholars to join the ongoing debate on mediated distant suffering. It takes as a starting point the realization that the reporting of disruptive events such as disasters, crises and other cases of vulnerability is an integral part of our contemporary mediated experience, making moral demands on its spectators and forming the basis for post-national solidarities.

In this light, we welcome theoretical and empirical contributions that engage with the following questions: what are the political and moral implications inherent in the representation of suffering and the spectacularisation of pain? What is the role of (social) media and journalism in transforming practices of witnessing? What are the ethical concerns that arise in witnessing suffering? How are relationships between spectators and sufferers (both human and other living creatures) mediated? How is the concept of the ‘victim’ constructed and employed in both media and public discourses? We encourage scholars from different fields to engage in a dialogue on how research on mediated suffering can have impact and contribute to society.

Media Literacies and Communication Competencies

The newly established TWG Media Literacies and Communication Competencies (MLCC) seeks to gather and advance research with literacy- and competence-based approaches to media and communication. Within ECC24, the TWG aims to explore formal, non-formal and informal learning environments of media and communication, such as schools, higher education, professional education, cultural organizations and the workplace, for tackling systemic disruptions of our society. We invite presentations critically examining the role of literacies and competences within a world of disarray among media and communication students, professionals and citizens in a broad sense.  

We encourage theoretical, methodological and empirical contributions from the following fields within and beyond the conference theme:​

• Concepts related to media literacies (ML), media and information literacies (MIL), information literacies (IL) and digital literacies (DL) as well as related policies and  practices, e.g. disinformation, fact-checking, subtypes of literacies
• Education and learning with regard to digitization and technological development, e.g. professionalism, datafication, platformization, artificial intelligence (AI), algorithmic cultures
• Teaching and learning strategies in formal, non-formal and informal settings, e.g. disciplinary pedagogies, professional education and training, instructional design and pedagogy development 
• Implications of ethical issues related to digital competencies, e.g. the risks and opportunities of media use among different populations
• Analyses of the competences and skills demanded in the communication labour market