FAQ - Leading a Section or Working Group

Being a member of a S/WG's Head involves a combination of coordination, communication, and creativity. The most visible and most important activities centre around the annual conference, but S/WGs undertake and manage a variety of other activities. For example, among the things you might be involved in are:

• Planning and running your S/WG’s conference activities, including preparing the call for papers, managing the abstract review process, preparing the final programme and making sure everyone in your S/WG is ready - that includes your reviewers, authors/presenters, and the chairs of your sessions.
• Work with other members of the Head to share responsibilities and maintain consistent communication within the leadership team.
• Engage with your members through newsletters, announcements, and social media.
• Represent S/WG's in IAMCR’s International Council and Heads’ meetings.
• Initiate scholarly activities, such as webinars, publications, workshops, or social events.
• Apply for project funding to support activities beyond the conference.
• Mentor and connect with scholars around the world, especially early-career researchers.
• Contribute to the intellectual life of the association by fostering inclusive, global, and collaborative scholarship.

If you are new to the role, here are a few recommended steps to help you settle in and collaborate effectively:

• Reach out to past and current Heads of your Section or Working Group. Their insights can help you understand how your S/WG has operated in the past—what has worked well and what challenges have arisen.
• Familiarise yourself with the organisation's governance, and contact other S/WG officers if you have questions.
• Connect with the chairs/vice-chairs of your S/WG to agree on how you will work together: how often will you meet? What projects you want to pursue? How will you communicate with members? How will you divide responsibilities—especially those related to the annual conference? (see more below).
• You will be subscribed to two mailing lists that are used for internal communication among the International Council, Committees, and the Heads of Sections and Working Groups: the Section and Working Group mailing list and the Council Plus mailing list (see below).

IAMCR maintains three mailing lists to support internal communication among the International Council, Committees, and the Heads of Sections and Working Groups:

• International Council Mailing List: This is the formal mailing list of the International Council. Only Section heads who have been designated, and Working Group heads that have been elected as their group's representatives to the Council are included.
• See the list of International Council members here.
• Section and Working Group Heads Mailing List: Used to communicate matters specifically related to Sections and Working Groups, such as the organisation of the conference programme and other group-related issues.
• International Council Plus Mailing List: This is IAMCR’s main list for informal updates and discussion. It includes all members of the two lists above, as well as all committee chairs and co-chairs. See the list of Task Forces and Committees here.

The workload of a Head varies over the year, with certain moments—particularly in relation to the annual conference—requiring more intense coordination.

• Call for Papers (CfP): Combining elements from the conference's main CfP that introduces the theme and conference timelines, with essential information common to all S/WGs, and specific information about its own sub-themes or special requirements, each S/WG drafts its own detailed CfP. These are typically worked on in October and published towards the end of the month.The submission platform usually opens at the beginning of December with submissions being accepted until early February.
• Review: Recruiting reviewers is an ongoing task and you should make sure that your reviewers are briefed on the task and ready to start reviewing a week or so after the submission deadline. Once you have your reviewers, the S/WG will have to manage assignments, and making acceptance decisions. This phase can be time-intensive due to a high volume of emails and threads with new contacts. Especially for larger S/WGs having at least one member of the head with a very good understanding of the submission platform (ExOrdo) will help. The review process usually begins in February and goes on for 4 to 5 weeks.
• Programme Creation: Once abstracts are accepted, Heads organise them into coherent sessions, for example by grouping 5 or 6 papers that explore a similar theme. They also assign chairs and (optionally) discussants, and they liaise with the conference team. The actual scheduling of the sessions is managed by IAMCR's secretariat.
• Briefing authors and chairs: Making sure that your authors know what is expected of them will help them as they prepare their presentations and make for a more valuable exchange. How much time will they have to present? How much will be left for questions? Do you want them to be familiar with the other work that is going to be presented in the session? If you are naming chairs from the membership of your S/WG, do they know what you expect of them?
• Workload distribution: It's crucial for the leadership team to plan the activities in advance and decide who is going to be responsible for what. 

The IAMCR annual conference is a central moment for all S/WGs. The sample timeline below can help structure the preparation work. Please note that dates vary depending on the conference year. You can see the current year's timeline on the event's website when it is published. 

• 9 months before (typically October) – Prepare call for papers
• 8 months before (typically November) – Call for papers launched and conference website online
• 7 months before (typically December) – Abstract submission system opens
• 21 weeks before (typically early-February) – Deadline to submit abstracts
• 20 weeks before (typically mid-February) – Peer review begins
• 18 weeks before (typically mid-March) – Abstract decisions announced by sections and working groups
• 9 weeks before (typically early May) – Authors’ registration deadline (any paper without a registered author is withdrawn)
• 8 weeks before (typically early to mid-May) – Draft detailed conference programme schedule published
• 4 weeks before  – Conference programme published and app made available
• 2 weeks before – Deadline for full paper submission

Each S/WG prepares its own call for proposals for the annual conference based on the general CfP prepared by the conference organisers. See an example general CfP at https://iamcr.org/singapore2025/cfp and examples of individual S/WG CfPs at https://iamcr.org/singapore2025/swg-cfp. 

Make sure that your S/WG's CfP includes the following: 

1. Reference to the conference's central theme - this can include a summary of the important elements of the theme, a few ideas of how the theme could apply to proposals submitted to your S/WG, and/or a link to the main CfP (which will be at https://galway2026.iamcr.org/cfp).
2. Guidelines for abstracts - if your S/WG accepts proposals with a different word length or has specific guidelines or requirements for proposals, please make sure they are included in this section
3. Evaluation criteria - the criteria listed in the general CfP are used in the review process on ExOrdo.
4. Language policy - specify which language(s) your S/WG will accept proposals in, and, if different, which languages on-site presentations can be made in.
5. Statement on use of AI tools should be included in all CfPs.
6. The deadline to submit proposals.
7. At least one contact email address that people can contact with questions for your S/WG.

Maintaining regular communication with your S/WG members helps strengthen their connection to the group and increases participation. IAMCR offers several tools:

•  Dedicated page on IAMCR website: Each S/WG has a dedicated page on the IAMCR website. It has a description of the S/WG, information about its newsletters or social media presence, a link to a list of its current members, information about the annual conference and information about publications or other initiatives the S/WG is involved in. Links to all S/WG pages.
   
• Email: The Secretariat can send emails to the membership on behalf of the S/WG leadership in the following cases:
  • Newsletters: These may include CfPs, conference updates, announcements of books or events, and highlights of S/WG activities. They should be submitted to the Member Services Coordinator at info@iamcr.org for formatting and distribution. Monthly, bi-monthly, or quarterly are all acceptable frequencies. See examples at https://iamcr.org/s-wg/gen/apr-2025-newsletter and https://iamcr.org/s-wg/section/pcr/nov-2024-newsletter
     
  • Occasional Announcements: If you need to share an urgent or critical message related to the S/WG, the Secretariat can send individual messages on your behalf. Another use of this service might be to send an annual message to your members reminding them to subscribe to or follow your social media account. Note that this service is for occasional mailings only and can be used only two or three times a year.
     
• IAMCR Announcements List: You may post directly to the announcements list which reaches a wide audience of media and communication researchers. To send a message to the list, address it to announcements@broadcast.iamcr-list.org. If you are not subscribed to the list, must first do so at https://iamcr.org/announcements-list
• Social Media: Several S/WGs maintain pages or groups on social media. Facebook pages, WhatsApp groups and others are all possible. Some S/WGs use Google Groups or similar email services for distributing regular emails. The secretariat can help promote them on your page and to the IAMCR membership at large. Some S/WGs name a communications or social media coordinator. If your S/WG does this, let the Secretariat know so they can update the contact information on the IAMCR website.
   
• ExOrdo: Once the submission deadline is over you'll have access to ExOrdo's email system that lets you send messages to the authors of abstracts submitted to your S/WG, whether or not they are actually members of IAMCR or your S/WG. This is especially useful for preparing the conference. You can choose to send messages to only the corresponding author or to all authors. 

In addition to their core responsibilities, Heads are encouraged to develop new initiatives:

• Pre or post-conferences: These events often take place before or after annual conference and allow for more focused discussions.
• Social Events and Networking: In-person meetups during the conference help build relationships and engagement.
• Webinars: Your S/WG can request to host a webinar as part of the IAMCR Webinar Series. They can feature presentations, roundtables, interviews, or book talks.
• Workshops or symposia can be held outside of the main conference period. These can be online or
• Publications: Heads can initiate edited volumes or special issues in collaboration with members and peers. See some examples here.

IAMCR provides limited financial support for projects that promote the work of S/WGs beyond the annual conference. The fund can support projects such as publications, workshops and advocacy/outreach activities.

See the Section and Working Group Project Fund page for more details and an application form. There are two rounds of application evaluations every year (check the dates on the fund's page). Generally you should plan to submit your application by the end of January or the end of September and to have an answer within one month.

In May 2025 we organised a webinar where current and former heads shared their experiences about the opportunities and challenges of being in a leadership position at IAMCR. We summarised the main points below:

• Fostering Community: S/WGs are key spaces of belonging for members, often serving as their main point of connection within IAMCR.
• Professional Advancement: Opportunities arise for editing special issues, publishing collaborative work, and building new academic partnerships.
• Global Engagement: The association encourages cross-cultural and cross-regional collaboration and exchange.
• Support and Mentorship: Many Heads form lasting professional relationships, including mentoring roles for early-career scholars.
• Personal Fulfillment: Heads describe the experience as intellectually enriching and enjoyable.

Watch the webinar recording here

S/WGs have representation on IAMCR’s International Council. Each section can nominate one of its members to be on the council while working groups are able to elect 10 representatives, 

Heads, like all other members, are able to join and contribute the work of one our many committees and task forces.

Do you have another idea for how to help? Talk to us!