In 2025, elections were conducted for the leadership teams of 13 Sections and Working Groups. The voting period concluded on 21 May, and we are pleased to present the election results below.
We would like to thank all the candidates who demonstrated their interest in serving as officers for a section or working group, as well as to everyone who participated in the voting process.
We warmly congratulate the newly elected officers on their successful appointment!
- Audience Section
- Comic Art Working Group
- Crisis, Security and Conflict Communication Working Group
- Digital Divide Working Group
- Environment, Science and Risk Communication Section
- Ethics of Society and Ethics of Communication Working Group
- Gender and Communication Section
- History Section
- Journalism Research and Education Section
- Mediated Communication, Public Opinion, and Society Section
- Communication in Post- and Neo-Authoritarian Societies Working Group
- Public Service Media Policies Working Group
- Communication, Social Justice and Democracy Working Group
Audience Section
The Audience Section currently has two co-chairs and three vice-chairs. All positions were open for election.
Ballot sent to 173 members
72 votes received (42%)
There were two candidates for two co-chair positions:
- María T. Soto-Sanfiel, National University of Singapore received 51 votes (71%)
- Rafal Zaborowski, King’s College London, United Kingdom received 40 votes (56%)
- There were 8 abstentions (11%)
María T. Soto-Sanfiel and Rafal Zaborowski are elected as co-chairs of the section for the period 2025-2029.
There were five candidates for three vice-chair positions:
- Maria-Jose Masanet (Universitat de Barcelona, Spain) received 36 votes (50%)
- Erika Ningxin Wang (The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen) received 29 votes (40%)
- Chikezie E. Uzuegbunam (Rhodes University, South Africa) received 23 votes (32%)
- Nissim Katz (Kinneret Academic College on the Sea of Galilee, Israel) received 18 votes (25%)
- Ratan Kumar Roy (South Asian University, New Delhi, India) received 12 votes (17%)
- There were 10 abstentions (14%)
Maria-Jose Masanet, Erika Ningxin Wang and Chikezie E. Uzuegbunam are elected as vice-chairs of the section for the period 2025-2029.
Comic Art Working Group
The Comic Art Working Group currently has one chair and two vice-chairs. They are changing the Head composition to one chair and three vice-chairs. All positions were open for election.
Ballot sent to 26 members
16 votes received (62%)
There were two candidates for one chair position:
- Iván Facundo Rubinstein (National Autonomous University of Mexico - UNAM, Mexico) received 8 votes (50%)
- André Pase (Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil) received 6 votes (37%)
- There were 2 abstentions (12%)
Iván Facundo Rubinstein is elected as chair of the working group for the period 2025-2029.
There were five candidates for three vice-chair positions:
- Shamala Ramappa (Central University of Tamil, India) received 11 votes (69%)
- Citlaly Aguilar Campos (UNAM, Mexico) received 7 votes (44%)
- Levi Obonyo (Daystar University, Kenya) received 6 votes (37%)
- Laura Nallely Hernández Nieto (Metropolitan Autonomous University - UAM, Mexico) received 5 votes (31%)
- Zhang Qiyun (Tsinghua University, China) received 4 votes (25%)
- There were no abstentions
Shamala Ramappa, Citlaly Aguilar Campos and Levi Obonyo are elected as vice-chairs of the working group for the period 2025-2029.
Crisis, Security and Conflict Communication Working Group
The Crisis, Security and Conflict Communication Working Group currently has one chair and one vice-chair. They are adding a second vice-chair position this year. Both vice-chair positions were open for election.
Ballot sent to 101 members
41 votes received (41%)
There were four candidates for two vice-chair positions:
- Minos-Athanasios Karyotakis (Hong Kong Baptist University) received 19 votes (46%)
- Mazlum Kemal Dağdelen, Charles University, Czech Republic) received 16 votes (39%)
- Gregory Asmolov (King’s College London, United Kingdom) received 13 votes (32%)
- Zhe Xu (Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany) received 12 votes (29%)
- There were 3 abstentions (7%)
Minos-Athanasios Karyotakis and Mazlum Kemal Dağdelen are elected as vice-chairs of the working group for the period 2025-2029.
Digital Divide Working Group
The Digital Divide Working Group currently has two co-chairs. Both positions were open for election.
Ballot sent to 123 members
41 votes received (33%)
There were two candidates for two co-chair positions:
- Bhanu Bhakta Acharya (University of Ottawa, Canada) received 32 votes (78%)
- Uma Shankar Pandey (University of Calcutta, India) received 28 votes (68%)
- There was 1 abstention (2%)
Bhanu Bhakta Acharya and Uma Shankar Pandey are elected as co-chairs of the working group for the period 2025-2029.
Environment, Science and Risk Communication Section
The Environment, Science and Risk Communication Section currently has two co-chairs and two vice-chairs. All positions were open for election.
Ballot sent to 198 members
81 votes received (41%)
There were two candidates for two co-chair positions:
- Claire Konkes (University of Tasmania, Australia) received 59 votes (73%)
- Hanna E. Morris (University of Toronto, Canada) received 58 votes (72%)
- There were 6 abstentions (7%)
Claire Konkes and Hanna E. Morris are elected as co-chairs of the section for the period 2025-2029.
There were two candidates for two vice-chair positions:
- Miki Kawabata (Mejiro University, Japan) received 61 votes (75%)
- Sibo Chen (Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada) received 45 votes (56%)
- There was 1 abstention (1%)
Note: David I. Stokes withdrew his candidacy while the election was underway.
Miki Kawabata and Sibo Chen are elected as vice-chairs of the section for the period 2025-2029.
Ethics of Society and Ethics of Communication Working Group
The Ethics of Society and Ethics of Communication Working Group currently has one chair and two vice-chairs. All positions were open for election.
Ballot sent to 85 members
41 votes received (48%)
There was one candidate for one chair position:
- Yanick Farmer (Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada) received 40 votes (98%)
- There was 1 abstention (2%)
Yanick Farmer is elected as chair of the working group for the period 2025-2029.
There were three candidates for two vice-chair positions:
- Marta Martín Llaguno (University of Alicante, Spain) received 28 votes (68%)
- Ben-Hur Demeneck (Independent researcher: JDL-IEA/USP; CROSSMEDIA Project, Brazil) received 25 votes (61%)
- Nathalie PIERRE-CHARLES (France) received 13 votes (32%)
- There were 2 abstentions (5%)
Marta Martín Llaguno and Ben-Hur Demeneck are elected as vice-chairs of the working group for the period 2025-2029.
Gender and Communication Section
The Gender and Communication Section currently has two co-chairs and two vice-chairs. One co-chair and one vice-chair positions were open for election.
Ballot sent to 252 members
105 votes received (42%)
There were four candidates for one co-chair position:
- Patricia Núñez-Gómez (Complutense University, Spain) received 46 votes (44%)
- Sadia Jamil (University of Nottingham Ningbo China) received 26 votes (25%)
- Sneh Gupta (Bennett University, India) received 15 votes (14%)
- Ambrish Saxena (South Asian University, India) received 12 votes (11%)
- There were 6 abstentions (14%)
Patricia Núñez-Gómez is elected as co-chair of the section for the period 2025-2029.
There were three candidates for one vice-chair position:
- Hoornaz Keshavarzian (Simon Fraser University, Canada) received 38 votes (36%)
- Christy Mady (Notre Dame University, Lebanon) received 30 votes (29%)
- Faiza Rafique (Canadian University of Dubai, United Arab Emirates) received 22 votes (21%)
- There were 15 abstentions (14%)
Hoornaz Keshavarzian is elected as vice-chair of the section for the period 2025-2029.
Patricia Núñez-Gómez was serving as vice-chair of the section. With her election as co-chair, her vice-chair position became vacant. Consequently, Christy Mady, the second most voted candidate for vice-chair, is designated as the section’s second vice-chair for the 2025–2029 term.
History Section
The History Section currently has one chair and one vice-chair. Both positions were open for election.
Ballot sent to 80 members
39 votes received (49%)
There was one candidate for chair:
- Anne MacLennan (York University, Canada) received 36 votes (92%)
- There were 3 abstention (8%)
Anne MacLennan is elected as chair of the section for the period 2025-2029.
There was one candidate for vice-chair:
- Wajiha Raza Rizvi (Film Museum Society Pakistan) received 29 votes (74%)
- There were 10 abstention (26%)
Wajiha Raza Rizvi is elected as vice-chair of the section for the period 2025-2029.
Journalism Research and Education Section
The Journalism Research and Education Section currently has one chair and two vice-chairs. All positions were open for election.
Ballot sent to 265 members
113 votes received (43%)
There was one candidate for chair:
- Ruhan ZHAO (Communication University of China) received 73 votes (65%)
- There were 40 abstentions (35%)
Ruhan ZHAO is elected as chair of the section for the period 2025-2029.
There were two candidates for two vice-chair positions:
- Nimmagadda Ramakrishna Bhargav (Indian Institute of Management Indore, India) received 62 votes (55%)
- Mustapha Muhammed Jamiu (RUDN University & MISIS University, Russian Federation) received 45 votes (40%)
- There were 33 abstentions (29%)
Nimmagadda Ramakrishna Bhargav and Mustapha Muhammed Jamiu are elected as vice-chairs of the section for the period 2025-2029.
Mediated Communication, Public Opinion, and Society Section
The Mediated Communication, Public Opinion, and Society Section currently has one chair and one vice-chair. They are returning to their previous composition of one chair and two vice-chairs. All positions were open for election.
Ballot sent 155 members
55 votes received (35%)
There were two candidates for one chair position:
- Karolína Šimková (Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic) received 27 votes (49%)
- Pengxiang Li (Minzu University of China, Beijing, China) received 24 votes (44%)
- There were 4 abstentions (7%)
Karolína Šimková is elected as chair of the section for the period 2025-2029.
There was one candidate for two vice-chair positions:
- Xiufang (Leah) Li (RMIT University, Australia) received 43 votes (78%)
- There were 12 abstentions (22%)
Xiufang (Leah) Li is elected as vice-chair of the section for the period 2025-2029. As agreed by all candidates, Pengxiang Li will assume the second vice-chair position, having received the second highest number of votes in the chair election.
Communication in Post- and Neo-Authoritarian Societies Working Group
The Communication in Post- and Neo-Authoritarian Societies Working Group currently has one chair and two vice-chairs. All positions were open for election.
Ballot sent to 51 members
17 votes received (33%)
There was one candidate for chair:
- Anke Fiedler (University of Greifswald, Germany) received 15 votes (88%)
- There were 2 abstentions (12%)
Anke Fiedler is elected as chair of the working group for the period 2025-2029.
There were two candidates for two vice-chair positions:
- Carola Richter (Freie Universität Berlin, Germany) received 13 votes (76%)
- Alexander Gatilin (Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russian Federation) received 6 votes (35%)
- There were 3 abstentions (18%)
Carola Richter and Alexander Gatilin are elected as vice-chairs of the working group for the period 2025-2029.
Public Service Media Policies Working Group
The Public Service Media Policies Working Group currently has two co-chairs and one vice-chair. All positions were open for election.
Ballot sent to 39 members
20 votes received (51%)
There were two candidates for two co-chair positions:
- Marta Rodríguez Castro (Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Spain) received 18 votes (90%)
- João Paulo de Jesus Faustino (University of Porto, Portugal) received 12 votes (60%)
- There was 1 abstention (5%)
Marta Rodríguez Castro and João Paulo de Jesus Faustino are elected as co-chairs of the working group for the period 2025-2029.
There was one candidate for one vice-chair position:
- Marína Urbániková (Masaryk University, Czech Republic) received 20 votes (100%)
- There were no abstentions
Marína Urbániková is elected as vice-chair of the working group for the period 2025-2029.
Communication, Social Justice and Democracy Working Group
The Communication, Social Justice and Democracy Working Group currently has two co-chairs and one vice-chair. The vice-chair position was open for election.
Ballot sent to 61 members
28 votes received (46%)
There was one candidate for vice-chair:
- Tania Cantrell Rosas-Moreno (Loyola University Maryland, United States) received 24 votes (86%)
- There were 4 abstentions (14%)
Tania Cantrell Rosas-Moreno is elected as vice-chair of the working group for the period 2025-2029.