ECREA’s 2nd European Communication Conference – Science and Environment Communication Section – Call for papers

Call for Papers

ECREA’s Science and Environment Communication Section welcomes the submission of proposals for papers, posters and panels for ECREA’s 2nd European Communication Conference to take place in Barcelona on 25-28 November 2008.

Section overview

The 21st century faces unprecedented challenges in the environment and science fields. The meanings of issues such as climate change and biotechnology, and the decisions taken in relation to them, are associated with a variety of communication practices. Research on communication can therefore provide a central contribution to current debates about scientific and environmental problems and issues of democracy, citizenship and power.

The Science and Environment Communication section seeks to foster a strong network of research in the wide area of science and environment communication. Science is understood here in broad terms as research that has its roots in the social sciences, humanities or natural sciences, including technology. Environment is also understood broadly as both the natural and the built milieu.

Issues that are categorized as environmental and/or scientific are also political, economic and social, and the section therefore aims to promote an integrated, inter- and trans-disciplinary analysis of communication practices. This opens up new opportunities for research and education, including collaboration with other ECREA sections.

Topics

Examples of topic areas that can be addressed include – but are far from restricted to – the following :

  • Media representations of science and/or the environment
  • Political and commercial discourses on science, technology and/or the environment
  • The communication of environmental or science-related risks
  • The dialogic, interactive communication of research-based knowledge
  • The discourse and politics of environmental activism
  • The roles of communication in scientific (or environmental) governance, democracy and citizenship
  • Public engagement with science and/or with environmental issues
  • Constructions of nature, science and technology in popular culture
  • Communication and the production of research-based knowledge

The section welcomes work that crosses a range of disciplinary (communication/media/cultural studies, science and technology studies, sociology, social psychology) and methodological (quantitative/qualitative/empirical/theoretical) boundaries.

Proposal submission deadline : 15th February 2008

Conference website : www.ecrea2008barcelona.org

On-line forms for submitting proposals :

Feel free to circulate this call to colleagues or any other research networks that may be interested in submitting a proposal.