IAMCR Newsletter - September 2021

In this issue...

Letter from the President

Nico Carpentier, President, IAMCR

In this letter to the members, IAMCR's president, Nico Carpentier, talks about our conferences and an initiative to expand IAMCR's Ambassador Programme. Read the letter >

IAMCR Nairobi 2021

IAMCR is not over yet

For the second year in a row the annual IAMCR conference was held as an online conference with more than 1,000 conference papers, 150 videos and 27 live interactive forums. Access to all papers and videos, and participation in the live interactive forums, was open and free for all IAMCR members. Many of the videos, including plenary sessions, special and partner sessions, and Flow 34 Virtual Cinema and Podcasts, were open to the general public.

All papers and sessions, as well as a comment and dialogue platform, will remain online and accessible at https://iamcr.org/nairobi2021/online until 12 September. The videos of the conference plenaries will remain online indefinitely.

2021 Award winners

The winners of three IAMCR awards were announced during IAMCR 2021´s opening plenary. They are: 

  • Hanna E. Morris (Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania) won the Prize in memory of Stuart Hall, with an honorary mention to Dr Wunpini Fatimata Mohammed (College of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Georgia). 

  • Kelsey Whipple (Journalism Department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst) won the UCF/IAMCR Urban Communication Research Grant, with an honorary mention going to Ratan Naga Deepika (Department of Communication, University of Hyderabad). 
  • Anne Leitch and Bridget Backhaus (Griffith University) won the New Directions for Climate Communication Research Fellowship, with an honorary mention to Solomon Oyeleye and Ifedolapo Ademosu (Caleb University).

Watch the awards ceremony included in the opening plenary at https://iamcr.org/nairobi2021/online/plenary-sessions

"No travel" events

Fourteen universities in 7 countries received grants to organise  "no travel" events during the week of the main conference. At these events, groups of colleagues met to watch one or more IAMCR 2021 video sessions, presented papers included in the conference OCP programme, invited guest speakers, and engaged in group discussions. See photos and videos of these events >

Tell us what you think

A few weeks ago we sent IAMCR 2021 participants a request to answer a survey to help evaluate IAMCR 2021 and make future IAMCR conferences even better. Thank you to the hundreds of you who have responded. On 7 September a reminder was sent to all registered participants who haven't responded inviting them to complete the survey by 15 September. 

IAMCR Beijing 2022

We are pleased to announce that IAMCR, together with the Department of Media and Communication of School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU), and Tsing Hua University, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to host IAMCR 2022 in Bejing, China. Watch for more news on the IAMCR website, social media and in upcoming newsletters. Read more >

IAMCR News

Ambassador initiative

IAMCR has established a worldwide network of IAMCR Ambassadors to promote and represent the Association in various countries and regions. IAMCR members are invited to become IAMCR Ambassadors for their country or region for a period of three years. Read more >

Read this interview with Uma Shankar Pandey, IAMCR Ambassador in India, to learn about his experience as an IAMCR ambassador.

IAMCR Webinar Series

IAMCR organised six webinars during the first semester of 2021. Digital Divide and Digital Inclusion, BRICS Short Films Fest, Communication in Africa & the Caribbean, JRE Books Launch, Ecologies of Care, and Media Education: Movement or Field? The second semester is already fully booked, with one webinar scheduled per month. Sections and Working Groups and the IAMCR members who want to connect to a section or working group to promote an event can have a look at the webpage of the IAMCR webinars for information on how to apply for a webinar. 

Read an interview with Andrea Medrado, IAMCR vice president and coordinator of the IAMCR Webinar Series.

Clearinghouse for Public Statements

IAMCR’s Clearinghouse for Public Statements issued three statements in recent months. The first one in solidarity with Colombian academic colleagues committed to building peace, during the wave of violence experienced in Colombia in June this year.

A second statement was issued endorsing the Public Service Media and Public Service Internet Manifesto, a collective work of communication scholars and practitioners that calls for the safeguarding of the existence, funding, and independence of Public Service Media as well as the creation of a Public Service Internet. 

A third statement was issued calling on the Nigerian government to drop proposed restrictive legislation regulating the media and to lift its suspension of Twitter.

Section and Working Group Elections

Several of IAMCR's sections and working groups are holding elections for their leadership teams. Online voting opened on 16 June and there is time to vote until 14 September. A voting link has been sent to the members of the Sections and Working Groups that are holding elections. Thanks to all of you who already voted. On 6 September a reminder was sent inviting those that haven't voted to do so before the polls close.

See the sections and working groups that are holding elections and their candidates' statements at https://iamcr.org/s-wg/elections2021.

Upcoming events 

The Gender and Communication Section will be holding the webinar: "Digital ethnographies, intersectionality and interdisciplinarity: Feminist methodologies from quantitative to participatory methods and queer research in the Covid- 19 age", featuring presentations by a diverse range of top female academics working across the Humanities and Social Sciences. The webinar will be held on Friday 15 October, from 1 to 3pm (London UK time). Read more about this event and find out how to register > 

IAMCR is co-sponsoring the 13th edition of the Moscow Readings conference organised by the Faculty of Journalism, Lomonosov Moscow State University. The conference will be held on 18 - 19 November as a virtual event with a few offline sessions organized at Lomonosov Moscow State University. Read more >

Publications

Cultural & Technological Images

The Visual Culture Working Group launched the VIC Dossier Cultural & Technological Images, featuring texts by authors from ten different countries who discuss contemporary aspects that deal with images in their cultural environments and/or in their technological productions. Read more > 

The Political Economy of Communication

Volume 8, Number 2 of The Political Economy of Communication is now available online. The peer-reviewed and open-access journal is published under the auspices of the IAMCR Political Economy Section. Read more > 

Members' books

IAMCR members are invited to announce their recently published books and book chapters to the IAMCR community and website visitors. Click here to see the most recent ones.