The Communication, Social Justice and Democracy (CSD) 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.
Consult a detailed description of the main theme
The Communication, Social Justice and Democracy Working Group invites proposals within the thematic perspective of the general call, addressing issues in the areas of Communication, Social Justice and Democracy and their intersections. Proposals falling within the 2025 central theme Communicating Environmental Justice: Many Voices, One Planet could examine, for instance, how justice and environmental claims communicated through different voices and spaces can strengthen one another, or how they can both inform policy and action for genuine democratic practice; also, how ecocentric approaches to nature and the environment communicated through different media and practices may instruct struggles for fairer and more democratic societies.
In addition to the call for proposals that reflect the general conference theme, we would like to invite proposals for papers and panels that address the working group’s areas of interest, critically examining the role of spaces, practices and technologies of communication, through the exploration of themes that centre around, but are not limited to:
- the diverse understandings and practices of social justice and democracy in the different parts of the world, moving beyond western conceptualisations and embracing non-human-centric approaches in considerations of viable democracy and justice (e.g., eco-justice),
- how contestations of democracy, and the rising appeal of the far-right and of authoritarian regimes are entangled with a failure to genuinely address social justice claims,
- how digital communication and AI are used in mediating, facilitating or destabilising democracy, enabling or disabling social justice claims,
- how state and corporate forms of surveillance, disinformation and propaganda contribute to social injustice and citizens’ rights violations,
- how citizens resist oppression and authoritarian systems that assault democracy, struggling for fairer societies, dignity and freedom.
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.
Abstracts submitted to the Communication, Social Justice and Democracy Working Group should be between 800 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:
- Technical merit
- Readability
- Originality and/or significance
- Use of or contribution to theory
- Relevance to the section and current trends or controversies in its field
- Depth of knowledge of the research, theory and/or literature related 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 create 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 Communication, Social Justice and Democracy working group accepts abstracts in English, French or Spanish. Presentations are also welcome in any of the three languages, but we recommend researchers to prepare presentation aids (e.g. PowerPoint), in English to facilitate comprehension and discussion.
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.
Contacts
For further information about the Communication, Social Justice and Democracy working group, its themes, submissions and panels please contact the Head of the section:
Co-chair: Vaia Doudaki, vaia.doudaki@fsv.cuni.cz
Co-chair: Fernando Oliveira Paulino, fopaulino@gmail.com
Vice-chair (interim): Usha Raman, usha.raman@gmail.com
