IAMCR - International Association for Media and Communication Research

IAMCR's Annual Conference took place in Cairo (Egypt) from 23-28 July 2006. This year's Conference was organized by the Journalism and Mass Communication department of the American University in Cairo. It's theme, Knowledge Societies for All: Media and Communication Strategies, was timely and very important because it signals the need to build a bridge between the emerging knowledge societies of developed and less developed regions.

Read the IAMCR President's report on a remarkable week in Cairo...

The opening …

During the opening ceremony of the conference, chaired by Professor Hussein Amin, Department of Journalism & Mass Communication, American University in Cairo and Chair of the Local Organising Committee, I noted that IAMCR’s mandate is to achieve research excellence and inclusiveness; inclusiveness of countries, regions, cultures, men and women, and researchers, journalists and other media and communications practitioners of all ages.  The American University in Cairo’s invitation to IAMCR to hold our conference in Cairo was a testament to this mandate.  I thanked the local organising committee for all of its work on IAMCR’s behalf and I welcomed all the participants, especially those coming to the conference for the first time.  

Our conference was held this year in a city with a long history and a variegated present.  It took place in a time of huge global turmoil.  I said that I hoped that discussions during the conference would reveal the central role of media and communications at this time in our collective history; that everyone would enjoy their opportunities to contribute – and that I hoped we would come away with a new comprehension of the many challenges we face in emerging knowledge societies.  I think that we did so.