ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

November 29-28, 2025

Masaryk University, Brno (Czech Republic)

Deadline (EXTENDED): July 6, 2025

Workshop on Aggression is a friendly, medium-sized conference and an annual event for all European and international researchers in the field of empirical aggression research, enabling a platform for the presentation and discussion of the newest research findings, theoretical advancements, and practical applications in aggression research. Workshop on Aggression is an ideal place for scientific exchange between researchers with different theoretical and methodological backgrounds concerning aggression. This year's focus is on Aggression, media, and digital technologies. In the face of the dynamic development of digital technologies and artificial intelligence, we are especially interested in submissions on basic and applied research on the intertwined relation of (communication) media, digital technologies and aggressive behaviour. Likewise, we welcome contributions that identify how to prevent and diminish cyberaggression. However, all submissions that cover the breadth of topics within the field of aggression research are invited.

READ MORE:

We are proud to announce three interesting keynotes, delivered by established researchers and esteemed colleagues in aggression research:

• Brad J. Bushman, The Ohio State University, USA: Blood, gore, and video games: Effects of violent content on players
  
• Lenka Kollerová, Czech Academy of Sciences / Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic: When teachers intervene in school bullying: How morality and bias related to peer exclusion shape anti-bullying efforts
  
• Jörg Matthes, University of Vienna, Austria: Cutting one head, growing two: The struggle to combat digital hate 
  

Call for abstracts is now open with an extended deadline of July 6. See all the detailed information here: https://irtis.muni.cz/woa

November 11-14, 2025

Lusófona University, Portugal

September 26, 2025

The Media Literacy and Civic Cultures Lab – MeLCi Lab (Lusófona University, CICANT) is organising its V Autumn School from 11 to 14 November 2025 in the form of a bootcamp to boost research hands-on skills. 

The MeLCi Lab Autumn School invites applications from PhD students, postdoctoral researchers, and early-career scholars for a four-day intensive online program focused on innovative research methods at the intersection of AI, Communication, and Media Studies.

The School combines practical workshops and keynote lectures, allowing participants to develop hands-on skills with classical and AI-driven methodologies.

In 2025, the school’s AI tracks are specifically designed to meet the needs of media studies and PhD students, post-doctoral researchers, and early-career scholars. Participants will explore case studies and practical examples directly relevant to media analysis, digital journalism, and content curation. The sessions will address unique challenges in media-related research, such as bias in content classification, audience segmentation, and the interpretative complexity of multimedia annotation. Interactive workshops and tailored exercises will enable participants to apply AI tools to media-specific datasets, ensuring immediate applicability and facilitating deeper understanding through experiential learning.

In this sense, contributions for the following tracks (not exclusively) will be considered.

Track 1: AI in Research Practice: Foundations, Methods, and Ethics

1. Foundations of current AI tools → Recent natural language processing (NLP) breakthroughs, particularly through large language models (LLMs) such as GPT-4, Claude, and Gemini, have significantly transformed research methodologies across disciplines. The unprecedented accessibility and effectiveness of zero- and few-shot prompting techniques have led to widespread adoption, sometimes even replacing traditional human coders (Gilardi et al., 2023; Grossmann et al., 2023; Ziems et al., 2024). Yet, these powerful tools introduce critical concerns regarding reproducibility, transparency, and ethical use. Prompt stability and variability in LLM responses—affected by minor prompt adjustments—can challenge the replicability and accountability of research (Barrie et al., 2025). This subtrack equips researchers in communication science with essential knowledge of the theoretical foundations of contemporary AI tools, highlighting methodologies and best practices for their ethical and accountable use.

2. Accountable Literature Search Using AI Tools → AI-powered tools such as SciSpace and Litmaps have radically improved the efficiency and comprehensiveness of literature searches. However, the convenience of these tools requires heightened researchers’ accountability. This subtrack guides participants through strategies to validate AI-generated results, critically assess literature coverage, and maintain transparent documentation practices, ensuring methodological rigour and reliability in AI-assisted literature reviews.

3. AI-Assisted Data Annotation in Research Pipelines → Data annotation is a cornerstone in research pipelines, traditionally relying heavily on human coders. However, AI-based annotation tools are emerging as viable and highly effective alternatives, particularly for large datasets. Barrie et al. (2025) highlight that prompt stability—the consistency of AI-generated annotations across multiple semantically similar prompts—remains a significant challenge. This subtrack introduces participants to AI-driven annotation, focusing on practical approaches to enhancing annotation consistency through frameworks like Prompt Stability Scoring (PSS). Participants will gain hands-on experience in assessing and improving the reliability of AI annotations, integrating responsible AI practices into their research workflows.

Track 2: Communication, Audiences, and Civic Cultures in the Age of AI

1. Civic Cultures and Artificial Intelligence → AI can play a crucial role in how citizens engage with the digital world in contemporary times, and a set of opportunities and challenges emerge from it (Sarafis et al., 2025). This subtrack explores the impact of AI-driven platforms and recommendation algorithms on civic engagement, activism, and media literacy.

2. Digital Citizenship and Media Literacy in an AI-Mediated World → Leveraging AI and overcoming its challenges requires the development of broad and critical skill sets, the definition of which is still fuzzy (Chiu et al., 2024). This subtrack intends to explore critical media literacy skills in the era of misinformation, deepfakes, and algorithmic personalisation.

3. Data Ethics, Equity, and Inclusivity in AI Research → Different biases can emerge from the use of AIs, and the ethical implications of using different tools for knowledge production are still unclear. While AI is frequently represented as either a magical solution or a looming threat, our Autumn School aims to demystify AI, exploring its realistic capabilities, limitations, and responsible use (Ferrara, 2024; Ntoutsi et al., 2020). This subtrack will focus on responsible research practices, equity grants, and inclusive research design for underrepresented communities.

Participants do not require previous experience with AI or data science, as introductory modules will provide a foundational understanding.

The Autumn School will be conducted online and in English.

For inquiries, please contact: melci.lab@ulusofona.pt

Call for proposals deadline

Deadline: 26th September  2025

Notification of Acceptance: 13th October 2025

Registration: 27th October

See details about how to submit a proposal at the bottom of this page.

Format

Online

Dates

11 to 14 November 2025 – V MeLCi Lab Autumn School

TIME (Lisbon time zone)

V MeLCi Lab Autumn School Schedule

Check here for details. 

How to apply 

Interested participants must send their application (in English) by 26 September 2025, including:

• Updated Curriculum Vitae (máx. 3 pages); 
  
• Candidate’s research statement that includes a description of their doctoral dissertation, research questions and methods (máx. 2 pages);
  
• Motivation letter describing your current perspective on AI, specific concerns or interests regarding AI’s role in media practices, and your preferred track/subtrack(s) máx. 1-2 pages;

Please send your application as a ZIP file to melci.lab@ulusofona.pt with the subject “Application for the V MeLCi Lab Autumn School”.

Target-group

PhD Students

Early Career Researchers (with a PhD obtained in the last five years)

Fee *

Lusófona University, CICANT PhD Students 70 euros

PhD students from other Institutions 100 euros

Others 150 euros

*The best participant will not pay the fee

Keynote Speakers

To be announced shortly.  

Organisers

Bruno Saraiva

Carla Sousa

Lúcia Mesquita

Manuel Marques-Pita

Maria José Brites

Zuil Pirola

December 11-12, 2025

Virtual

Deadline: July 30, 2025

Organizers: Filipa Subtil, LIACOM/ESCS-Politécnico de Lisboa, Portugal and Rafiza Varão, Universidade de Brasília, Brazil

Portuguese- and Spanish-language version of the call are available here: https://hms.mediastudies.press/pub/mundo-de-lingua-portuguesa

## Call for Papers

Communication and media studies have historically been narrated or recounted from canons centered on the Anglophone world, especially the USA, erasing intellectual traditions, voices, and contexts that have grown up outside of and challenged this hegemony. This symposium will give participants an opportunity to map, critique, and celebrate the histories of communication studies in the Portuguese-speaking world - including Portugal, Brazil, Portuguese-speaking African countries (PALOP), East Timor, Macau, and the diasporas - by inquiring into how the dynamics of colonialism, post-colonialism, dictatorships, and globalization have shaped the field. We have a twofold commitment: to decentre dominant narratives, highlighting epistemologies, institutions, and marginalized figures; and to connect the multiple Portuguese-speaking world traditions, exploring transatlantic dialogues and tensions and resistances. We encourage papers that explore connections among Portugal, Africa, Brazil, East Timor, and Macau, as well as connections with other countries and regions in the “Global South.”

We invite proposals that address, but are not limited to, the following topics:

1. Field Genealogies

* National or regional histories of communication and media studies in Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe, East Timor, and Macau;

* Influential figures, forgotten pioneers,(e.g. women and members of other marginalized groups), as well as intellectual networks;

* The role of universities, associations, and scientific journals in establishing the field.

2. Colonialism, dictatorships and resistances

* Communication as an instrument of power during Portuguese colonialism and the dictatorships of the 20th century;

* Communication theories and practices developed in contexts of anti-colonial struggle and post-independence;

* The place of the portuguese language as a vehicle of domination and/or emancipation.

3. History of the transatlantic dialogues and hegemonies

* The influence of Anglo-Saxon, French, and German traditions on the Portuguese-speaking world;

* Circulation of ideas between Brazil, Africa, Asia and Portugal: appropriations, adaptations, and resistances;

* The myth of the “universality” of North American models and their local critiques.

4. Alternative epistemologies

* Decolonial, feminist, and anti-racist perspectives in Portuguese language studies;

* Indigenous, Afro-diasporic, and community knowledge in the history of communication research;

* The impact of social movements (e.g. land struggles, Indigenous rights, Black feminisms) on communication theory.

5. Contemporary challenges

* The place of the Portuguese-speaking world in global debates in the history of communication;

* Digitalisation, platforms, and new forms of exclusion/epistemocide;

* Pedagogical proposals for decolonizing communication education.

In this way, we hope to contribute to a broader global understanding of the history and traditions of communication research in the Portuguese-speaking world as well as to foster new opportunities for collaboration between researchers and academics from different parts of the world.

### Organization

This symposium is an initiative of LIACOM/Escola Superior de Comunicação Social, Politécnico de Lisboa, ICNOVA and the Faculdade de Comunicação, Universidade de Brasília, in partnership with Associação Portuguesa de Ciências da Comunicação, Associação Moçambicana de Ciências da Comunicação e da Informação, Sociedade Brasileira de Estudos Interdisciplinares da Comunicação, and with the scholar-run US journal History of Media Studies. Our aim is to strengthen critical research networks in the Portuguese-speaking community.

### Calendar

Extended abstracts (3.000 characters including spaces and excluding bibliography) must be sent in Portuguese, English or Spanish by 30 July 2025 to:

historia.dos.estudos.de.com.pt@gmail.com

Decisions will be announced by 30 September 2025.

Registration for the symposium will run from 1 October to 15 November 2025. To help with the costs of simultaneous translation and the organisation of the event, a symbolic registration fee will be charged (20 euros/120 reais). If the participant does not have institutional support, he/she/they should contact the organization in order to assess a possible waiver from the registration fee.

Papers must be sent to the organizers by 30 November in order to be circulated among commentators.

### Other relevant information

Potential publication in History of Media Studies journal: http://hms.mediastudies.press

Selected papers may be considered for publication in a special issue of the open access, scholar-run journal History of Media Studies. The deadline for submitting full articles for peer review will be 30 May 2026.

November 20, 2025

Polytechnic Institute of Lisbon, Portugal

Deadline (EXTENDED): July 4, 2025

Dear colleagues,

We hereby announce the new deadline for submitting abstracts for the I LIACOM International Conference, under the theme “The (Un)Sustainability of the Media”, which will be held on November 20, 2025, at the School of Communication and Media Studies – Polytechnic Institute of Lisbon (ESCS-IPL).

We inform you that the call for papers has been extended until July 4, 2025, for the following parallel sessions:

• Journalism: Sustainability in an ecosystem looking for solutions
  
• Media Literacy and Communication: Challenges for Citizenship
  
• Brands, Advertising, and Consumption in the Age of Media (Un)Sustainability
  
• Mobilizing for Change: The Role of Public Communication Campaigns
  
•  Disruptions and continuities in communication professions
  

For more information about the conference and details on submitting proposals, please do not hesitate to contact us (conferencia.liacom@escs.ipl.pt), or visit the official conference website: https://liacom.escs.ipl.pt/en/conferencia-liacom/

We look forward to your participation and would like to thank you in advance for sharing the new deadline with your networks and institutions.

Best regards,

Jorge Veríssimo and Sandra Miranda

Participations (special issue)

Deadline: September 30, 2025

The European audiovisual landscape is complex, with a huge variety of content providers and a traditionally strong public service. While only about 10% of all European providers feature public ownership, these play a key role as facilitators of original European productions across the continent (Fontaine, 2024:7; Antoniazzi et al., 2022). However, the US has a substantial and increasing influence on the European audiovisual sector (Schneeberger, 2024:7). The SVOD segment, as the most concentrated market segment in Europe, has the highest share of US (84%) and private (99%) interests (Ene Iancu, 2024:10). In terms of SVOD consumption, a lion part of what is watched originates from the US (Grece & Tran, 2023; Iordache et al., 2023), and earlier concerns on US cultural imperialism have been revived (Davis, 2023; Lotz, 2021). 

Recently, public service media across Europe have experienced dire economic conditions. For example, in Sweden, budget cuts were announced for public service in the spring of 2024 with the argument of unfair competition, while diversity and democratic arguments are downplayed (SOU 2024:34). This development is in line with the European Commission’s focus on competition and on creating a single market. Ultimately, this bypasses opportunities for cultural objectives such as media pluralism, cultural protection or social regulations (Humphreys, 2008:154). Although the European Audiovisual Media Services Directive (2018) has sought to level the market between domestic and transnational platform suppliers and protect the production of film and television in Europe (Kostovska et al. 2020), the political space to discuss streamed content as culture seems to have shrunk. This has far-reaching consequences for European content and democratic values such as equality and diversity (Jansson et al., 2024). In this special issue for the journal Participations, we aim to investigate what these developments mean for audiences, as fiction consumers, but also – and especially – in their role as citizens. 

On a theoretical level, there is a range of conceptualizations of how fiction (and culture) shapes citizens, including the “political self” (Van Zoonen, 2007), the cultural public sphere (McGuigan, 2005), and civic cultures (Dahlgren, 2009). Scholars have focused on identity formation, articulations of community (Askanius, 2019:273) and  “public connection” (Couldry ea., 2007; Nærland 2019:652), as well as the creation of “lifeworlds” (Bengesser, 2023: 63) to denote more complex orientations of the audience toward the public and the political. 

On an empirical level, the link between fiction and democracy is often presupposed in research relating to democratic values or “the political” (Van Belle, Aitaki and Jansson, 2025). Audiovisual fiction has been argued to directly correlate with political engagement (e.g. Fielding, 2014; Cardo, 2011) and opinion-formation or political attitudes (e.g. Hermann et al., 2023; Swigger, 2017; Adkins et al., 2014; Butler et al., 1995). Indirectly, identities and bodies are assumed to be the glue between connecting audiences and democracy through the viewing of fiction (e.g. Smith, 2020; Yea, 2014). On a more structural level, fiction is seen as contributing to imagined worlds (Randall, 2011) or discourses (Kato, 2015). Regardless of theoretical belonging, most studies have a rather crude understanding of the audience and its agency (see e.g. La Pastina, 2004). This activates questions about how democratic values and political topics are negotiated in relation to the fictional content audiences watch. Further, it includes exploring audiences’ understandings of fiction in relation to their roles as citizens in a democratic European context.

This special issue is interested in contributions that could, but are not limited to, illuminate some of the following topics: 

- The relation between SVODs, reception and citizenship or democracy

- Public service audiences and society

- Fiction and political activism from an audience perspective

- Viewers’ negotiation of identities via fiction, in relation to democracy and politics

- Viewers’ negotiation of political and democratic values in relation to fiction, such as equality, solidarity, community, or freedom

- Fiction audiences and political trust

- Missing audiences/citizens 

- Media pluralism, cultural protection, social regulations, or diversity from an audience perspective

- SVODs’ conceptualizations of audiences and audiences’ conceptualizations of SVODs

- Fiction, ethics, and democracy from an audience perspective

Those with an interest in contributing should submit an abstract (max. 750 words) where the main theme (or argument) of the intended article is described along with an indication of the theoretical and methodological approach of the article. The abstract should contain the preliminary title and five keywords. A clarification on how the article fits into the overall scope of the issue should be included.  

Send your abstract to the editors by 30 September 2025 on jono.van-belle@oru.se, georgia.aitaki@kau.se and maria.jansson@oru.se. 

Scholars invited to submit a full manuscript (maximum 8000 words including footnotes, bibliography, tables and appendices) will be notified by e-mail after the abstracts have been assessed by the editors. All submissions should be original works and must not be under consideration by other publishers. The reference system should be Harvard author-date format. More information on style and formatting can be found on the Participations website: https://www.participations.org/submissions/ 

Deadline for submission abstract: 30 September 2025

Deadline for full paper: 30 January 2025

Estimated publication date: November 2026. 

December 5, 2025

Online

Deadline: October 27, 2025

Continuing our series of research meetings focused on specific issues in mediatization research — chaired in past years by eminent experts such as Göran Bolin (2017), Johan Fornäs (2018), Andreas Hepp (2019), Mark Deuze (2020), André Jansson (2021), Andrew Hoskins (2022), Kirsten Frandsen (2023), and Carlos A. Scolari (2024) — this year’s workshop will be held online on 5 December 2025.

It will be led by Michael Skey from Loughborough University.

The title of this year’s edition is: Youth, Sports, and Media.

We invite researchers who wish to discuss their current projects within a focused and closed group of media scholars, under the guidance of an expert.

Important dates: 

• 27 October 2025 – Submission of abstracts
  
• 5 December 2025 – Closed online workshop
  

Details and registration form: 

https://www.umcs.pl/pl/towards-development-of-mediatization-research-ix-youth-sports-and-media,32378.htm?fbclid=IwY2xjawJ1eVpleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFYVmd3MVhPdXh2U0NDM1VVAR6n83CD81hTEs8jIjkc1w33VqH2zVxwWR3It2-6kgtBwj4oIKyUPWl12AoMZA_aem_yo4EG_k9V-m5jI6jjoWMbg

For any substantive questions about the workshop, please contact:

Katarzyna Kopecka-Piech

Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin

katarzyna.kopecka-piech@umcs.pl

September 24-26, 2025

University of Pamplona (Spain)

Deadline (EXTENDED): June 30, 2025

ECREA’s section for Interpersonal Communication and Social Interaction (ICSI) is delighted to announce that the 8th bi-annual meeting of the ICSI section of ECREA will take place in University of Pamplona in Navarra, Spain at 24.-26.9.2025.

Overcoming differences celebrates the spectrum of research themes, metatheories, methods and paradigms that have created a fruitful soil for understanding mutual interaction in interpersonal encounters. Overcoming differences means accepting differences, respecting them and seeing the huge possibilities and synergies that we have as interpersonal, interaction and communication scholars. ICSI2025 conference creates a platform for being together and discussing the nuances and potential that our discipline provides. During the conference a Young Scholar’s workshop will also take place.
Call for abstracts is now open. See all the detailed information here: https://www.unav.edu/web/instituto-cultura-y-sociedad/actividades/overcoming-differences-icsi-conference-2025 Notice the extended deadline June 30.

If you have any questions, please contact: ICSI2025@tuni.fi

Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences

We are seeking two post-doctoral researchers to conduct ethnographic studies of game production for the ERC grant GAMEINDEX: Politics and aesthetics of indexical representation in digital games and VR. The project is headed by Dr. Jaroslav Švelch and located at Charles University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism, within the Prague Game Production Studies research group. The starting date is in 2026 and the duration of the position is 2 years, with the possibility of extension to 3 years.

The deadline for applications is 30 September 2025.

Project focus:

GAMEINDEX focuses on indexical representation in games – both as traces of real-life objects or people in the simulated worlds of digital games and VR, and as references to physical locations. Besides games themselves, we are interested in analyzing indexical techniques such as motion capture, 3D scanning, voiceover recording, and others. The post-doctoral researchers will primarily contribute to the work package that analyzes the use of indexical techniques within the production practices of video games and/or VR, and explores the transformation of real-life objects and people into in-game assets. The GAMEINDEX project presupposes that material will be collected in game/VR production studios using ethnographic methods (studio ethnographies, participants observation, interviews). Within the scope of the GAMEINDEX project, described here, the applicant is free to come up with their own research project with more specific research questions.

Required qualifications:

• A completed Ph.D. degree or a document from home university confirming that Ph.D. will be awarded by the starting date of contract
  
• Documented experience in social scientific or humanistic research of digital games or other media
  

Recommended qualifications:

• Experience with studio ethnographies or other ethnographic methods of researching game or media production
  
• A Ph.D. from fields such as media studies, film studies, anthropology, or sociology
  
• A solid record of publishing academic research in the English language
  
• Knowledge of contemporary game production and familiarity with indexical techniques (technical experience with them is welcome but not required)
  

Required materials:

• An academic CV and a list of published works
  
• Two references from within academia (include name, title, institution, email address, and phone number); an additional reference from the game industry may be provided if applicable. No letters needed.
  
• A copy of a Ph.D. certificate or an official record of planned/completed defence
  
• Research project – a 2,000 word description of your intended project, which should fit the aims and scope of GAMEINDEX but may reflect the applicant’s personal research interests and previous experience. The project should include: a theoretical background and positioning, research questions, methodology, a list potential case studies, risk analysis, and a rough work plan for the 2 years (Gantt chart not needed).
  
• Two samples of academic writing – ideally from published articles, dissertation, or conference papers
  

Practical arrangements:

The incoming applications will be screened by the GAMEINDEX team and suitable candidates will be invited for an online or in-person interview. Successful applicants are expected to relocate to Prague and are eligible for a relocation fee from the project budget.

Successful applicants will become full-time employees of Charles University, with benefits and a competitive salary commensurable with experience (details provided upon request).

Once employed, the researcher can be granted funding from GAMEINDEX to cover costs of fieldwork and conference travel.

Submissions:

Applicants may submit their applications by September 30, 2025, via e-mail to:

kariera@fsv.cuni.cz, with the subject: “Postdoc ERC GAMEINDEX”. Applicants may approach the PI Jaroslav Švelch at jaroslav.svelch@fsv.cuni.cz to ask questions about GAMEINDEX and the postdoc positions.

By responding to this advertisement, you consent to the Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, located at Smetanovo nábřeží 6, Prague 1, Postal Code 110 01, processing your personal data for the purposes of the selection procedure. The processing of personal data is carried out in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR) and Act No. 110/2019 Coll., on the Processing of Personal Data.

Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University in Prague

We are seeking two PhD students to work on dissertations aligned with the ERC grant “GAMEINDEX: Politics and aesthetics of indexical representation in digital games and VR.“ The project starts in October 2025, is headed by Dr. Jaroslav Švelch, and located at Charles University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism within the Prague Game Production Studies research group. 

Dissertation topic: 

GAMEINDEX focuses on indexical representation in games – both as traces of real-life objects or people in the simulated worlds of digital games and VR, and as references to physical locations. PhD students will be involved in the work package that analyzes indexical representation in games and/or VR apps as media artifacts. The applicants are invited to propose a project within the scope of GAMEINDEX, focusing on representation of a certain region and its locations, culture, and/or history in games and VR apps produced both within and outside that region. We are looking for applicants from a diverse set of regional backgrounds including locations deemed peripheral by mainstream game culture. The research is expected to involve qualitative content analysis/close reading, discourse analysis, and interviews with developers or stakeholders. For more information about the project, see the project description here. Besides their main focus on in-game representation, the PhD students will also take part in the analysis of discourse about indexical techniques and contribute to a database that is a part of the project’s output. 

Candidate requirements: 

Candidates must complete their Master’s degree by August 30, 2025. They are expected to be well-versed in literature related to game production and game representation and be skilled in qualitative content analysis or related methods. During their PhD, the candidates will be required to present papers at academic conferences and produce publications for international peer-reviewed journals.  

Practical arrangements: 

Starting in the Fall semester of 2025, the successful applicants will enroll into the Media and Communication Studies 4-year English-language PhD program in the combined form. They will be employed by the GAMEINDEX project and will receive a full-time salary for the duration of four years. Successful applicants are expected to relocate to Prague and are eligible for a relocation fee from the project budget. 

Application procedure: 

The deadline for the application is APRIL 30, 2025. To apply, the candidate must submit a structured CV, a 10-page dissertation project and a list of literature they wish to discuss at the admission interview. We strongly encourage prospective applicants to get in touch earlier to consult their application. The admission interview will focus on the dissertation project and the list of literature and will be conducted remotely. The application and the interview will be evaluated by the selection committee, chaired by the guarantor of the PhD program. If accepted for the PhD program, the applicant’s employment on the ERC project will then be confirmed by GAMEINDEX’s PI. 

More information about the admissions process, along with a link to the online application form are available here: https://iksz.fsv.cuni.cz/en/admissions/phd-programme-media-and-communication-studies/how-apply 

When applying, please choose the “combined” rather than “full-time” form of study. For administrative purposes, externally funded full-time PhD students fall under the “combined” form.  

Frequently asked questions:

Can international students apply? 

The position is primarily intended for international, meaning non-Czech, students. We are looking for expertise on other countries or regions.

What do you mean by “dissertation project”? How should it relate to GAMEINDEX? 

Based on the information about the GAMEINDEX project, you are supposed to come up with your own dissertation project that is in line with our goals, meaning that it studies indexical representation in games from a certain region. You can specify your research question and add your own twists based on your knowledge of a given region or based on your previous work and academic background. When filling in the dissertation project, use this form, as instructed on the “How to apply” page. The form is generic and meant for any applicant into the program. You will be able to elaborate on your project’s relationship to GAMEINDEX in multiple fields of the form.

How should I start consulting my application?

Check the dissertation project form to familiarize yourself with its structure. In line with the instructions within the form, prepare an extended abstract (800 words) of your prospective project. Send the extended abstract to the GAMEINDEX PI Jaroslav Švelch (address below) along with your CV. Prepare the questions you want to ask.

For more information about the positions (including the salary) and GAMEINDEX, please contact Jaroslav Švelch at Jaroslav.Svelch@fsv.cuni.cz.  

To learn more about the doctoral program, please check this webpage: https://iksz.fsv.cuni.cz/en/study/phd-studies.

Call for Chapter Proposals

Deadline: August 15, 2025

Editors: CarrieLynn D. Reinhard, Linda Howell, and Jessica Hautsch 

In the wake of the 2024 American presidential campaigns and election, this book seeks to explore the current American political situation from the perspective of fan studies. The goal of this collection is to understand the conditions, processes, objects, people, and institutions of contemporary democracies for their overlaps with fans, fandoms, and fan communities. The collection seeks to answer this question: can fan studies help us understand political experience and expression within American democracy and, if so, what led to, is involved in, and impacted by this understanding?

A political fandom occurs when fannish behaviors, both external and internal, operate in relation with a traditional political entity or process. Political fandoms have emerged in the 21st century as politics have increasingly become mediated and celebritized, with the emergence of Trump and the MAGA movement as, perhaps, the inevitable expression of the intersection between politics, mass media, and celebrity culture. These observations are also not unique to fan scholars, as journalists have begun to question the extent to which political campaigns and politicians have begun to interact with voters and constituents as fans. Journalists and political analysts have even begun to use fannish terms like “cosplay” in their discussion of the second Trump Administration. This collection, then, seeks to explore and understand how fandom concepts occur in contemporary democratic processes and institutions. 

Understanding political fandoms means utilizing both the affective and cognitive aspects of fandom to illuminate the personal, social, and political actions of networked citizen-as-fans. We hope this book will theorize the nature of the citizen-as-fan and the development of political fandoms, analyze the actions that constitute and maintain political fandoms, and understand the implications of political fandoms and citizens-as-fans for the world and people’s everyday lives and, through these implications, to offer warnings and suggestions for the future.  

Thus, the purpose of this book is both an analysis of the current state of politics in the United States and a consideration of what the future may hold for this Ameri-fan experiment.

We are seeking chapter proposals from various methodological, disciplinary, and ideological perspectives to help us explore current American politics from a fan studies perspective. Our hope is to produce a collection of interest outside of academia, as such a general interest book may be of vital importance at this time.

The chapters can be empirical studies, case studies, theoretical explorations, philosophical musings, and/or conceptual explorations that seek to answer the question above. Thus, the chapters can be of variable length, from 2000-8000 words, including references (likely a footnotes system). Possible topics for these chapters includes, but are not limited to:

•   Applications of fan studies concepts and theories to political sphere (e.g., MAGA merch and memes)
  
•   Relationships between emotions, fandom, and political attitudes and actions (e.g., patriotism)
  
•   Relationships between ideology, politics, popular culture and fandom (e.g., Aaron Rodgers)
  
•   Fandoms that interconnect popular culture, celebrities and politics (e.g., Joe Rogan)
  
•   Indoctrination into political ideology through popular culture fandoms (e.g., UFC)
  
•   Canons, fanons, and head canons in political fandoms
  
•   Fannish rhetoric in political sphere
  
•   Co-optation of fannish behaviors by political movements
  
•   Overlaps in psychology of fandom and politics
  
•   Overlaps in political economics of fandom and politics
  
•   Historical perspective on the relationship between politics and fandom
  
•   Ethical considerations associated with political fandom and citizen-as-fan conceptualizations
  
•   Suggestions for how to handle this current political situation
  

This list is not comprehensive, as it reflects our perspectives, and the goal of the anthology is to bring together a variety of perspectives. Additionally, ideas can be combined in whatever way you feel illuminates this current moment.

We will write the introduction chapter to set a conceptual foundation for the collection, and we will provide a conclusion chapter that comments on the throughlines and connections among the chapters as well as recommendations for future actions for fans, fan scholars, citizens-as-fans, and citizens.

The number of accepted proposals depends on the variety of topics received and the desired lengths of those proposed chapters. Right now, we anticipate the anthology’s overall word count to be 100,000-200,000.

Chapter proposals are due by August 15, 2025. Proposals should be sent to carrielynn.reinhard@gmail.com and include the following: Title; 3-5 keywords; 300-500 word abstract that covers chapter’s topic, approach taken, purpose of the work, significance of the work; Proposed length of the chapter (between 2000-8000 words); Contact information

The current timeline for the project is:

• 8/15/25: Proposals due
  
• 9/15/25: Proposal acceptances notified
  
• 11/15/25: Finalize contract with publisher (several currently interested)
  
• 2/28/26: Chapter first drafts due
  
• 4/30/26: Internal peer review complete
  
• 7/30/26: Chapter final drafts due
  
• 9/30/26: Manuscript sent to publisher