Deadline: February 24, 2023
SlavX invites you to the #Connexions Conference at The University of Texas at Austin, April 9-12, 2023. Creating an international space for discourse on global media in diplomacy and foreign policy, #Connexions will bring together multidisciplinary scholars, policy experts, and media practitioners to share current research, experience, and expertise on the highly complex and hostile media landscape in order to make informed policy recommendations for a more effectual U.S. communications strategy in regions of social and political upheaval.
Through panels, talks, and moderated discussions, established and emerging experts will take a multi-pronged approach to modern communications, highlighting the inestimable power of media as not only a tool for persuasion, education, nation-building, and mass mobilization, but also as a weapon. Panels will feature the work of current media organizations abroad; delve into the history of media diplomacy and propaganda efforts, particularly during the twentieth century; and lay bare the many information challenges today, particularly in countries like China, Russia, and Afghanistan, and in the Middle East region as well. Furthermore, with disinformation as an added aspect of modern warfare, UT Austin’s Global Disinformation Lab will be a featured research partner, presenting recent findings, policy recommendations, and solutions for the convoluted “post-truth” world.
This event will take place both in-person and virtually to enable global participation. Registration for in-person attendance opens January 17, 2023. Our CALL FOR PAPERS is open now!
The #Connexions Faculty Review Committee looks forward to reviewing your papers and/or poster presentations on research pertaining (broadly) to media and its impact on international relations, diplomacy, and foreign policy. Any research within media studies, media history, communications studies, media policy, radio/TV/film studies, information studies, etc. is very welcome. We especially invite submissions from graduate students and scholars/journalists/media practitioners from (or currently based in) the Middle East, North Africa, China, Ukraine, Central Asia, East Asia, and Russia. For students whose submissions are accepted to the conference, scholarships are available on a limited basis to assist students who wish to attend the conference in person in Austin, TX.
UT Austin’s Qualtrics instance will be used to gather submissions. To comply with the latest university accessibility, security, and privacy requirements, all files will be requested as a shared link rather than as an uploaded file or files. Please only provide links to .doc, .docx, or .pdf format files and make sure that these and any additional supporting materials (high-res visuals, PowerPoint presentations, YouTube videos, etc.) will be accessible by the #Connexions Faculty Review Committee. If proposing a topic for a roundtable/panel, or requesting to moderate a discussion, please include a CV/resume or link to an academic profile as well as basic discussion points and expected outcomes.