The Religion & Communication (REC) Working Group of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) invites the submission of abstracts for IAMCR 2025, which will be held in Singapore from 13 to 17 July 2025, hosted by the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information at Nanyang Technological University.
The deadline for submission is 7 February 2025, at 23h59 UTC.
See the list of all sections and working groups and their remits
See the CfPs of all sections and working groups
IAMCR conferences address many diverse topics defined by our 37 thematic sections and working groups. We also propose a single central theme to be explored throughout the conference with the aim of generating and exploring multiple perspectives. This is accomplished through plenary and special sessions, as well as in many of the sessions of the sections and working groups. The 2025 central theme is Communicating Environmental Justice: Many Voices, One Planet.
In an era defined by environmental crises and social disparities, the need for effective communication championing environmental justice has never been more urgent. Our theme, Communicating Environmental Justice: Many Voices, One Planet, highlights the critical intersection of diverse voices from various stakeholders and their collaborative action in addressing the pressing challenges of our time.
Consult a detailed description of the main theme
Religion and Media interpretations of this theme will be most welcome. These include:
- Religious media coverage of the Environment
- Audience interest in the Environment among religious persons
- Sacred Ecology in Media Narratives
- Eco-Theology and Climate Change in Religious Media
- Faith-based activism for environmental justice in social media
- Indigenous Spirituality, Environmental Advocacy, and Media Representation
- Rituals, Nature, and Media Coverage of Religious Celebrations
- Environmental Stewardship in Sacred Texts and Digital Communication
As in past conferences - not all submissions to the Religion & Communication working group have to address the central theme.
For 2025 the Religion and Communication Working Group plans to address the question of sacred places of pilgrimage (Mecca, Rome, Ayodha, Salt Lake City etc.) and the various roles of the media in sacred places. The subject of the media and pilgrimage sites offers many possibilities: these include media coverage by the media – new and traditional media - of the pilgrimage site; how religious organisations use media channels to project the pilgrimage site; the role of media channels for the management of access to such sites; how people write about their visits to such sites on social media; the influence of the media in legitimising the pilgrimage site, etc.. But there are many other related questions.
As discussed at the 2024 business meeting of the Religion & Communication Working Group in New Zealand, the working group wishes to produce a book on the role of sacred places and the media - which will be our third book after the successful publications of Spiritual News: Reporting Religion Around the World (Peter Lang Publishers 2018), and The Handbook of Religion & Communication (John Wiley Publishers 2023), and which included important contributions from the working group’s members. At the Singapore conference we are interested in holding a panel or two on the theme. Outstanding papers comprising original research at the 2025 Singapore conference on the theme, will be invited to be a basis for a chapter in the forthcoming book.
But papers across the broad spectrum of research on the relationship of religion, media and communication are equally encouraged. There is hardly an established canon of research in this wide field of religion, communication and culture, although some nuclei in the current research agenda can be identified. These include:
- Images of religion in mass media; news coverage of religion.
- Religious communities and the media.
- Impact of media on religious practices whether personal or institutional.
- Theological approaches to the mass media.
- Film and religion.
- Religious media.
- Religious public relations.
- The specificity of communication practices in religions given their singular content and claims.
- Religious communication processes.
- Media expression of faith and spirituality.
Theoretical, methodological, empirical - all approaches are welcome for proposed papers, provided they offer good quality and interesting, novel perspectives in their respective methodological nature.
Guidelines for abstracts
Abstracts must be submitted exclusively through IAMCR’s submission system from 3 December 2024 through 7 February 2025, at 23.59 UTC. Submissions should not be sent directly to the heads of the working group.
Abstract should be between 600 and 1000 words. It is expected that each person will submit only one abstract. However, no author’s name should appear on more than two abstracts, either individually or as part of any group of authors and authors should not submit more than one abstract to any single section or working group.
Evaluation criteria
Submitted abstracts will generally be evaluated on the basis of:
- Theoretical contribution
- Methods
- Quality of writing
- Literature review
- Relevance of the submission to the work of the Working Group
- Originality and/or significance
- Depth of knowledge of the research, theory and/or literature related to to the proposed topic as evidenced in the submission
- Acceptance of proposals may also be conditioned by programme diversity and balance criteria
Statement on use of AI tools
IAMCR does not encourage or condone the use of generative AI tools to prepare abstracts submitted for consideration for our conferences. IAMCR values originality, integrity, and transparency in academic work, and believes that human-authored contributions best support rigorous and innovative scholarship in media and communication research. Should an author choose to use a generative AI tool in the preparation of an abstract, we require that they include a clear statement within their submission disclosing the tool's use. This statement must specify: (1) the name of any AI tool used; (2) how the tool was used in preparing the abstract, and; (3) the reason for using the tool. Failure to disclose the use of generative AI in accordance with these guidelines may impact the evaluation and acceptance of the submission.
Languages
The Religion and Communication Working Group accepts abstracts and presentations in English.
Deadlines and key dates
The deadline to submit abstracts is 7 February 2025, at 23.59 UTC. For other key dates see https://iamcr.org/singapore2025/keydates. Dates are subject to change.
Please share this notice with other academic researchers on media and religion.
We look forward to seeing old and new participants in the working group in Singapore.
Contacts
(Professor) Yoel Cohen
School of Communication
Ariel University
Ariel 40700
Israel
prof.yoelcohen@gmail.com
Tel +972 2 5710171 mobile +972 506 580224
(Professor) Kusuma Krishna Sankar
AJK Mass Communication Research Centre
Jamia Millia Islamia
New Delhi
India 110025
kusumakk@gmail.com
Tel Mobile: +91 98188 88 863
