IAMCR - International Association for Media and Communication Research

Following the elections in Durban (July 2012), the ESN has a new leadership:

Francesca Musiani & Sandra Ristovska (co-chairs)

Sara Bannerman & Stefania Milan (outgoing co-chairs)

Since July 2010, the ESN leadership counts on a number of committees made up of volunteer members willing to help in a number of tasks. A brand-new group of volunteers started in the fall 2012. They are divided in a number of committees, each with a coordinator (market with a *), as follows:

• Ruth Sanz Sabido* and Lucy Bennett (Mentorship Programme)
• Katie Allen, Sylvia Blake, Annika Sehl, Carla Cerqueira, Jeroen De Keyser, Amira Firdaus, and Wajiha Raza Rizvi (Abstract Review Committee)
• Julia Pohle*, Burcu Bakioglu, Jacob Johanssen, Dimitris Tsapogas (Communications Committee)
• Sudhamshu Dahal, Michael Dick, and Mahdi Yousefi (Committee for Issues affecting Emerging Scholars)
• Irene Awino, Geisa Fernandes, and Irfan Raja (SocialComittee)
• Franklin Cornejo Urbina*, Gabriel Moreno, Geisa Fernandes and Ruth Sanz Sabido (ESN Hispanohablante)
• Sheena Johnson-Brown (Regional Coordinator, Caribbean)
• Amir Jahangir and Muhammad Tarique Mian (Regional Committee, India)
• Jacob Oermen* (Distance participation)
• Esther Chin (Prospective co-editor for Platform/ESN joint issue(s)
• Stefania Milan (website)

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The ESN co-chairs

Francesca Musiani

Francesca Musiani is the 2012-13 Yahoo! Fellow in Residence at the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, Georgetown University (Washington, DC), an affiliate at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, Harvard University (Cambridge, MA), and she completed her PhD at the Center for the Sociology of Innovation (CSI), MINES ParisTech/CNRS (Paris, France) in 2012. She holds MA degrees in organizational communication (University of Padova, Italy) and in international law (United Nations-mandated University for Peace). She is currently involved in a research project on distributed architectures and multimedia applications, while she wraps up her dissertation on the peer-to-peer “alternative” to Internet-based services. Both for her research work and in her free time, she tries to be a citizen of the world as much as possible. Ton know more, visit Francesca's website.

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Sandra Ristovska

Sandra Ristovska is a doctoral student at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania.  She has a master’s degree in communication from the Annenberg School for Communication, a bachelor in film and theatre from the University of Kansas, and a filmmaking degree from London Film Academy. Broadly, her research interests focus on ethnographic film as a mode of scholarly inquiry, visual communication, community media, media witnessing, and transnationalism. She works with Romani communities in Europe and the US, and she is also a filmmaker.

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The ESN volunteers

Irene Awino (Social Commitee, member)

Irene is a journalist in Kenya with the Nation Media Group. She has worked with the mainstream news media for more than five years, as a writer and a Sub Editor. She is also an active member of women and children's rights organisations like the YWCA, Association of Media Women In Kenya and the African Women of Distinction project, among others. She is a budding researcher with keen interest in Media/Journalism studies, the Political Economy, Sociology of Journalism and News Production research, as well as a part time events planner and manager.

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Born in Niterói, Rio de Janeiro. Degree in History (Universidade Estadual de Campinas - UNICAMP, in São Paulo, 1994) presenting a monograph on George Orwell and Europe between the wars. From 1995 to 2000 she has lived in Europe, first in Germany and later in Belgium, where she has worked as a Portuguese teacher and translator. Back in Brazil, she finished her M.Sc. in Communication (Universidade Federal de Pernambuco - UFPE, in Recife) in 2005, and in 2010, concluded her PhD in Communication Sciences (Universidade de São Paulo - USP). The thesis discusses the process of construction and reconstruction of identities in comics and how this form of expression is gradually building a particular image/identity for itself. Along with her academic work, Geisa is a jazz singer and composer, releasing her first CD this year.

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Irfan Raja is a researcher, volunteer and former journalist from Pakistan. He arrived in the North of England in January 2005 to study journalism at the University of Leeds. He completed an MA in International Journalism there, and is currently expanding his MA dissertation ‘Problems of Integration in Multicultural Britain and the Role of British Media’ into a more detailed project for his doctoral research, entitled: ‘Citizen Journalism and Social Cohesion in British Contemporary Culture’. His research is a case study about how the BBC could help the process of social cohesion and embraces citizen journalism. Within ESN, he serves in the Social Events committee.

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Ruth Sanz Sabido (Mentorship Programme Coordinator, and ESN Hispanoablante, member)

Ruth is completing her PhD at De Montfort University (UK). Her thesis explores the historical representations of terrorism in the coverage of the Palestinian conflict by the British press. She is Chair of the MeCCSA Postgraduate Network and an Article Editor and Peer Reviewer for various postgraduate journals. During her PhD, Ruth has worked as a Part-Time Seminar Tutor at University of Leicester, and as a Lecturer and Research Assistant at DMU. Ruth also has experience of organising conferences and is editing a special issue of Networking Knowledge (MeCCSA’s postgraduate journal).

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Lucy Bennett

Lucy Bennett is a member of the ESN mentorship programme committee. She graduated with a PhD in online fandom at JOMEC, Cdiences and their use of the internet, with particular focuses on fandom, music and social media. Click here to see Lucy's full profile.

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Dimitris Tsapogas is a Research Assistant and Doctoral Candidate at the Department of Communication at the University of Vienna, under the supervision of Prof. Katharine Sarikakis. He completed his undergraduate studies at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, where he studied Philosophy and History of Science. Dimitris continued his studies at the University of Brighton in UK, where he earned an MSc in Interactive Technologies. By bridging his philosophical and technical academic backgrounds, his research intends to explore the possible barriers that surveillance pose to citizens' digital political participation and show how such social control efforts raise different kinds of direct and indirect, intended and unintended costs of mobilization attempts.

Born in Hamburg, Germany. He studied Communication Studies, Sociology and Classical Philology at the University of Salzburg, Austria. In 2010 he completed his MA in Media and Communicatons at Goldsmiths, University of London. At present he is a PhD student at the University of East London. His academic interests include: Media Audiences, Psychoanalysis and Media, Critical Theory, Cultural Studies and Psychoanalysis, as well as Psychosocial Studies. Jacob is Online Editor for Free Associations (www.freeassociations.org.uk) and is also co-founder and co-editor of the journal Cyborg Subjects: Discourses on Digital Culture (www.cyborgsubjects.org).

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Marco Anderle (Communications Commitee, member)

Marco is a PhD candidate at the London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Media and Communications. His current research interests concern new media and democratic participation, especially – but not only – in the Italian democracy. Marco became a member of ESN at the 2010 IAMCR conference in Braga. He now contributes his expertise to help with ESN online communications. He holds a degree in Economics (Università degli Studi di Verona), he is a registerd journalist and a supporter of e-participation initiatives in Italy.

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Burcu is a post-doctoral researcher at Lawrence University, USA.

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Michael Dick (Committee for Issues affecting Emerging Scholars, member)

Doctoral Student in the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto, he holds MA and Honours BA degrees from Ryerson and York Universities in the field of communications. His research focuses on ICT infrastructure and related policy issues.

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Sudhamshu Dahal (Committee for Issues affecting Emerging Scholars, member)

Sudhamshu Dahal is a SAARC Doctoral Scholar at the Department of Media Sciences, Anna University Chennai, India. He is writing a PhD thesis on "Empowerment and Community Media in Nepal". Sudhamshu is involved as media consultant/trainer in management of rural community support projects including project building, monitoring and evaluations and developing national level programming including mass media and interpersonal outreach tools from past 15 years. His research interests are community media, political communication, empowerment and South Asia. He is involved within ESN at IAMCR in the Issue Committee.

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Annika Sehl (Abstract Review Committee, member)

Guest professor for online, crossmedia, and print journalism at the Institute of Journalism at TU Dortmund University in Germany. She completed her doctorate in journalism from the same university in 2011. Her research interests include journalism studies, audience research, and research methods.

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Jeroen De Keyser (Abstract Review Committee, member)

Jeroen De Keyser is a member of the ESN review committee. He is a researcher at the Department of Communication Sciences at Ghent University (Belgium), where he is also member of the Center for Journalism Studies. His doctoral research focused on the impact of emerging internet technologies upon news content, as well as the related changing relationship between journalists and their publics. His other research interests include the Web 2.0 phenomenon in general and various aspects of journalism practice. After working hours he is always in for a chat about arthouse cinema over a pint of Belgian-style beer, or for an alternative music gig.

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Katie Allen (Abstract Review Committee, member)

Katharine (Katie) Allen is a doctoral candidate (ABD) in Mass Communications at the Pennsylvania State University. She lectures in International Communications and World Media Systems. Her dissertation addresses new media and political activism, in particular the new generation of activist bloggers in Cuba. Also on her research agenda are United States First Amendment theory, international law, and democratization and international communications. Katie is an attorney and also focuses on regional constitutions and global rule of law. Click here for Katie’s full profile.

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Amira Firdaus (Abstract Review Committee, member)

Early career researcher at the University of Malaya in Malaysia. Amira recently completed her PhD in the field of global journalism at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Her PhD research interests include ethnography of news production, qualitative social network analysis, 'network(ed) newswork', satellite news channels, and international news agencies. Amira is also developing a keen interdisciplinary interest in the fields of psychology, gerontology, as well as developmental communication. Amira is proud to claim herself a member of the founding editorial team of Platform: Journal of Media and Communication, founded by fellow ESN volunteer, Esther Chin.

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Carla Cerqueira (Abstract Review Commitee, member)

Carla is based at the University of Minho, Portugal.

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Sylvia Blake (Abstract Review Commitee, member)

BAH (Queen’s University), MA (Ryerson University and York University), PhD Candidate (Simon Fraser University). Sylvia is a PhD Candidate in the School of Communication at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada. Her research interests include communication policy and regulation, globalization and cultural policy, and cultural trade. Sylvia has been involved with the ESN since 2012.

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Wajiha Raza Rizvi (Abstract Review Committee, member)

Fulbright, FCOSAS, Chevening, and GIMD research scholar working for the government, public, and private sectors. She is a media practitioner, educationalist, and researcher. She has produced and directed about 20 TV commercials, 65 quiz shows, and 6 documentary films, and supervised the production of 60 documentary films. Wajiha is CEO of the NPO and specializes in media education and research; she is a recipient of Chughtai Award for Excellence in Design by NCA.

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Jacob Oermen (Distance participation)

PhD student, University of Copenhagen.

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PhD en ciencias sociales con la especialidad de comunicación en la

Pontificia Universidad Gregoriana de Roma, sus trabajos están orientados a la trilogía: sociedad cultura y comunicación en América Latina, con un énfasis en los estudios de recepción y etnografía de los medios. Desde el año 2007 es docente por semestres en la Gregoriana y uno de los promotores del curso online Comunicación para el desarrollo. Ha vivido 10 años en Italia. Viaja con frecuencia entre Italia y Perú, actualmente enseña periodismo en la Universidad Antonio Ruiz de Montoya, en Lima. Él ha propuesto la perspectiva de la comunicación latinoamericana a la ESN en IAMCR.

Email Franklin: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; Twitter: @FranklinCornejo; acceda al blog de Franklin: “Voz escrita.”

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Gabriel Moreno (ESN Hispanohablante)

Gabriel is based at the University of Guadalajara, Mexico.

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Sheena Johnson-Brown (Regional Coordinator, Caribbean)

M.A., B.A., Dip. Education, University of the West Indies. Mrs. Sheena Johnson-Brown has worked in the field of communication and cultural development for over 10 years. She currently lectures in the Bachelor of Communication Arts and Technology programme at the University of Technology, Jamaica. Her research interests include: Online Learning, Media Literacy, Popular Culture and Media Convergence. She also serves on the board of the Broadcasting Commission of Jamaica. Mrs. Johnson-Brown has been a member of the IAMCR since 2007.

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Amir Jahangir (Regional Committee, India)

Alumnus, Harvard. Formerly with: Computer News; Competitiveness Support Fund; Television Business Production; Vision Network Television; CNBC Pakistan; SAMAA TV. With Mishal: currently CEO; launched flagship programme for Pakistan's media development by creating a common platform for press clubs and journalists associations to identify gaps in issues impacting society and media ethics; the initiative has brought more than 20,000 professionals together to understand the social, economic and political challenges and their impact in the new economy. Founder, AGAHI Foundation. Adviser, Stanford Center of Innovation and Communication, Stanford Univ. Young Global Leader, World Economic Forum (2010). Recipient of awards and honours, including: named one of top 10 media personalities, Festival of Media, Valencia.

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Muhammad Tarique Mian

Muhammad is based at the University of the Punjab, Pakistan.

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Esther Chin (Prospective co-editor for the Platform/ESN joint issue(s))

PhD candidate at the School of Culture and Communication, University of Melbourne, Australia. Her PhD, which has recently been submitted for examination, explores constructions of social spaces in experiences of media and migration, drawing on interview research with Singaporean university students in Melbourne. Esther’s research interests include the relationship between media and migration/mobility, social relations in contexts of mediated globalisation, as well as cosmopolitan approaches and perceptions. At the University of Melbourne, Esther has supervised undergraduate research projects as a subject coordinator, and has given lectures and research assistance. She is Founding Editor of the international graduate journal PLATFORM: Journal of Media and Communication.

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The ESN outgoing co-chairs

Sara Bannerman

Sara has served as Co-Chair of the Emerging Scholars' Network from 2008 to 2012.  She is an Assistant Professor at McMaster University in Canada. Her areas of research are in copyright, new media, and Internet law and policy. Email Sara at sara.bannerman [at] gmail.com

Stefania Milan

Stefania has served as Co-Chair of the Emerging Scholars' Network from 2008 to 2012. She is Assistant Professorat the Department of Communication and Information Sciences, Tilburg University, Netherlands, and a fellow at the Citizen Lab, Munk School for Global Affairs, University of Toronto. Her research interests include digital media, social movements, radical internet activism, the politics of code, and digital research methods. To know more, visit Stefania's website. Email Stefania at stefania.milan [at] eui.eu

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