In alignment with the possibilities offered by the COVID-19 pandemic, and with the conference’s main theme, Rethinking Borders and Boundaries, IAMCR’s 2021 conference will be held online.
Registration is free for all IAMCR members and includes access to the full online conference. This includes four Plenary Sessions, Online Conference Papers, Section and Working Group Live Interactive Forums, Section and Working Group Online Sessions, Special and Partner Sessions, and the Virtual Cinema and Podcasts of Flow34. (There will be an additional cost of USD 25 for submitting papers to Online Conference Papers)
Non-members will be invited to access a limited selection of plenaries and special sessions.
How to participate
- Plenary sessions
- Online Conference Papers (OCP)
- OCP Interactive Forums
- Section & Working Group Online Video Sessions
- Special and Partner Online Video Sessions
- Flow 34 Virtual Cinema and Podcasts
Join us for the Plenary sessions
IAMCR 2021 will feature five plenary sessions, including opening and closing plenaries and three thematic plenaries during the week. Plenary sessions will be freely accessible online to all. See more details about topics and speakers here >>.
- Opening - Rethinking borders and boundaries: Beyond the global/local dichotomy in communication studies - 11 July
- The Rebirth of Populist Discourses - 12 July
- Media scholarship as resistance - 13 July
- Decolonizing Communication Studies - 14 July
- Closing - Identity and Intersectionality - 15 July
Be part of Section and Working Group Online Conference Papers (OCP)
Online Conference Papers (OCP) is a space for IAMCR members to present and get feedback on their work and to get certification of their presentation of a conference paper. Abstracts responding to the calls for papers of our 33 thematic sections and working groups (deadline 9 February) were peer-reviewed and successful authors were invited to submit conference papers of 1,000 to 4,000 words by 7 June at 23h59 UTC.
These papers will be arranged thematically, in panels of 4 to 5 papers, by the sections and working groups, who will also allocate one chair and one respondent to each panel. The panels open before the conference starts, so that the authors/panellists can read each other’s papers beforehand, and provide feedback to each other’s work.
During the conference the website will provide access to the full programme of Online Conference Papers. Participants will be able to follow the panels of one or more thematic sections and working groups, browse all panels by panel title, or search all papers by author's name, affiliation or title of the paper. The respondent will provide feedback to the panel papers and each author will be expected to provide feedback to at least one other paper in the panel. The panel chair stimulates more feedback and discussion, especially during the first days of the conference.
The papers and the discussion platform will remain online for 2 months after the conference, until 11 September.
OCP Resources
The resources linked to below will help you prepare your submission and your participation in Online Conference Papers.
- Information for authors
- Information for Chairs and respondents
- Overview: How will online conference papers work?
Discuss your work in the Section and Working Group Live OCP Interactive Forums
Fundamentally connected to OCP, the live interactive forums are a new component for the 2021 version of IAMCR Online. Not all sections and working groups will necessarily participate.
Format: Live online discussion meetings with a selection of authors of OCP papers. Recordings of the meetings will be accessible online during the conference and for several weeks afterwards.
Process: The authors/presenters from two or three OCP panels will be grouped by the section or working group into a “supercluster” and assigned 1 hour for a live online discussion meeting during the week of the conference. Participants at the meeting will include a chair selected by the section or working group, the respondent from each OCP panel, the authors, and any IAMCR members who wish to join. The respondents will kick-start the discussion (through a short summary of, or reflection on, the panel). Then the authors will be invited to respond and interact. Other IAMCR members present will be invited to comment or ask questions.
Interface at the conference: Interactive Forums will be live, with chairs appointed by the section or working group. They will be recorded and made available online to IAMCR members until 11 September.
Interactive Forums will take place from 12-15 July, at scheduled times between 04h00 and 24h00 UTC. The time of each session will be selected by the sections or working groups, allowing them the flexibility to, for example, ensure that some sessions are available at a relatively convenient time in various time zones. IAMCR members span the globe, so time slots may not be ideal for all presenters and members.
Watch the Section and Working Group Online Video Sessions
Section and Working Group Online Sessions will be a series of pre-recorded sessions, one for each section and working group. The topic, speakers and format of these one hour sessions will be decided by the sections and working groups. They may include presentations based on a selection of papers submitted to OCP, a panel around a single theme of relevance, or a panel made up of 4 or 5 experts who are asked to talk about emerging research in different areas covered by the section or working group. There are many possibilities and creativity is encouraged.
The sessions will be released according to the timing announced in the conference programming. Following initial release, they will remain online and accessible to all IAMCR members until 11 September.
See technical guidelines for recording video sessions
Watch the Special and Partner Online Video Sessions
Similar to Section and Working Group Online Sessions, Special and Partner Sessions will be pre-recorded, released according to the schedule in the conference programme, and available to all IAMCR members until 11 September. Selected Special and Partner Sessions will be accessible to non-members.
See thecnical guidelines for recording special and partner sessions
Innovate with the Flow 34 Virtual Cinema and Podcasts
Flow 34 is a stream of the conference that aims to stimulate the use of a broader range of modes for the communication of academic knowledge, complementing conference papers and panels with audio and/or visual work. In particular, it seeks to highlight podcasts and videos that integrate academic and aesthetic dimensions, and that use sound and/or image creatively to communicate academic knowledge. Flow 34 is based on proposals submitted by the 9 February deadline in response to the call for proposals at https://iamcr.org/nairobi2021/cfp-flow34
