IAMCR Webinar Series
Problematising Participatory Communication and Transformation: Between Promise and Paradox
The Participatory Communication Research (PCR) and the Community Communication and Alternative Media (CAM) Sections will host a two-day webinar on the theme "Problematising Participatory Communication and Transformation: Between Promise and Paradox". The deadline to submit abstracts is 24 October.
The event seeks to critically interrogate the intersections of participation, transformation, and power within communication for development and social change. It aims to revisit the assumptions underpinning participatory and community-based approaches, and to explore how genuine transformation may be fostered — or hindered — through the practices, media, and politics of participation.
The webinar aims to include scholars across different career stages, and particularly those who find it challenging to travel to in-person conferences to submit presentation abstracts (i.e. Early Career Researchers, PhDs, people with caring responsibilities, people from low-income countries, etc.). The webinar will take place on Zoom across two half day meetings:
Day 1: Tues 11 November @08h00 UTC / 08h00 London / 09h00 Paris / 11h00 Nairobi / 13h30 Kolkata / 16h00 Beijing
Day 2: Wednesday 12 November @13h00 UTC / 13h00 London / 14h00 Paris / 16h00 Nairobi / 18h30 Kolkata / 21h00 Beijing
Each day will include one invited guest speaker, followed by four presenters who responded to the call for papers.
Call for papers
Please review the full Call for Papers for instructions on how to submit abstracts. Abstracts should be 300 words, and creative formats (screenings, etc.) are welcome. A short biographical note should also be included. Abstracts will be selected based on originality, rigor, relevance to the webinar and Section themes. We aim to be inclusive of early career and Global South scholars, and scholars for whom conference travel is inaccessible.
Abstract deadline: 24 October, 2025
Registration
Location: The meeting will take place on Zoom. Pre-registered participants will receive personal invitations 24 hours before the webinar begins. Pre-registration will be required by 9 November through a form that will be made available here.
Who can participate: The webinar is open to all IAMCR members but space is restricted. PCR and CAM section members are encouraged to attend. A limited number of guest invitations for non-members may be available.
Not sure if you're a member? Check the membership directory.
If you are not a member of IAMCR, you can join here.
Participatory Communication Research Section (PCR)
The Participatory Communication Research Section explores theoretical, methodological and practice-based processes and case-studies of participation in many different places and in many different contexts. We welcome presentations that address issues related to communication between community members and other stakeholders that are engaged in processes of social change. This includes subjects and processes such as: community and sustainable development, cultural heritage, communication and information rights, health communication, environmental communication, agricultural extension services, folk media, community media, social movements, activism; national and cultural identities and more; and methods such as participatory video, photovoice, community media production, participatory rapid appraisals, participatory action research, participatory arts, and so on.
Community Communication and Alternative Media Section (CAM)
The Community Communication and Alternative Media Section focuses on media that originates, circulates and resonates from the sphere of civil society. It seeks to advance research on the objectives, practices and dynamics of community, alternative and citizens' media, including issues of localism, politics, socio-economics, language, ethnicity, gender, or other interests and intersections. Our concerns include issues of media access, participation and reception; media projects undertaken by marginalized and underrepresented groups; development and support of community-based media institutions and infrastructures; communication practices by social movements; innovative forms of media activism; interactions between classic community and new social media; alternative forms of journalism; and theoretical contributions to the research, evaluation and practice of community communication.
About the series: The IAMCR Webinar Series aims to open-up channels for engagement and participation in addition to the annual conference, while echoing the great work that is done by Sections, Working Groups and IAMCR members. The series includes presentations, debates, book and project launches. The format is flexible, the connection is what matters. Join us!