Upcoming Conferences of the International Communication Association

 

ICA Annual Meeting

2025 - Denver, Colorado, USA
12-16 June 2025

https://www.icahdq.org/mpage/ICA25-theme

 

ICA Political Communication PhD Student Preconference (Thursday, June 12, 2025)

Deadline: March 31, 2025

Aims: This preconference has three main goals. 1) Get feedback from senior colleagues and peers on your PhD research.  2) Provide insights on important aspects of academia such how to publish, research ethics, and building a CV. 3) Cultivating a network among early-career political communication scholars. To achieve these goals, the preconference will bring together a select group of PhD students working on political communication projects and provide them with the opportunity to present and discuss their projects in a constructive atmosphere.

Format: The preconference will be held in the Baerresen Ballroom on the Auraria Campus. The address is 900 Auraria Parkway, Denver, CO. It is a 22-minute walk from the ICA conference hotel (Hyatt Regency Denver) or a 7-minute drive. The presentations and panels are planned in parallel rooms to enable direct feedback rounds between PhD candidates and participating senior mentors. There will also be joint sessions as well as catered coffee and lunch breaks on the day, which will give peers plenty of opportunities to interact and make new contacts.

Submission guidelines: We invite graduate students to submit their projects including all areas of political communication. Political communication involves creating, shaping, disseminating, and processing information among actors from the political system, the media, and the public, as well as the effects of such communication. Political communication today is initiated by a multitude of actors (with very different interests) who use a variety of different channels (including social media) to spread their messages. Studies of communication dealing with governments, media, policy, political actors, citizens, campaigns, social movements, and advocacy groups are all within the purview of the division. Papers that address political communication problems at all levels of analysis (from the individual to the institutional, from the local to the global) using a variety of theories and methods are welcome.

Abstracts should be no longer than 750 words of text (excluding references). Submitted as a PDF email attachment, they should include research questions, the theoretical or conceptual foundations of your PhD project, methods, preliminary findings (if available), and research significance. Abstracts will undergo review; please be sure to remove any identifying information.

Projects at all stages will be considered, including research currently in the early stages of data collection or analysis. Evaluation criteria will include quality of argument, methodological rigor, and the importance of the project to theory building in political communication.

The deadline for submissions is March 31, 2025. Please submit abstracts to kkenski@arizona.edu with “ICA25 Preconference” in the subject line.

NOTE: Please specify in the body text of your submission email the following items of information:

- stage of your PhD work (e.g., writing of the research proposal, complete and defended proposal, initial data collection, advanced data collection, data analysis, final writing/defending)

- author names

- institutional affiliation

- name of dissertation supervisor

- email address

Any questions about your submission? Just contact division Chair Kate Kenski at kkenski@arizona.edu

2025 Political Communication Mentorship Program

Deadline: April 15, 2025

This year (2025), we are launching a new mentorship program to support students and early-career scholars attending ICA, provide informal feedback, strengthen our division’s networks and sense of community, and better connect scholars from the Global North and South.

The program is open to all members of the division attending ICA 2025. If you are interested in participating as a mentee at this year’s conference, please complete this survey by April 15, 2025:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdA0zkscPpGMBuXfD4-5KX5H1y9q28gNOJpsitY7yBqzliVOQ/viewform?usp=header

If you are willing to serve as a mentor in the program at this year’s conference, please complete this survey by April 15, 2025:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdVZ6DODFeBTgH5wGCukrnB1RIfAjBQ49iUL3AWC7E6WcZmsA/viewform?usp=header

Based on the survey responses, we will do our best to match mentees and mentors with similar interests, who will have the opportunity to meet informally during the conference or virtually beforehand.

If you have any questions, feel free to email Tali Aharoni, the division’s Student and Early Career Representative, at tali.aharoni@politics.ox.ac.uk.

The Kaid-Sanders Award: Best Political Communication Article of the Year

Deadline: April 21, 2025

Every year the ICA Political Communication Division recognizes the best article published in our field. The award is based on nominations using the following criteria:
  • Each person may nominate one article, which may include self-nominations.
  • The nomination letter must include a rationale of at least 300 words for why the article is being nominated. It must address four criteria: theoretical merit, strength of evidence, significance of conclusion, and overall contribution to the field of political communication.
  • The article is published in 2024 or early 2025 in a reputable journal. The article is about political communication, and the journal is in the field of communication, political science, journalism, or public opinion.
  • Each article can only ever be nominated once for this award, either in the year in which it is published “online first” or when a (print) issue number is allocated.
This year’s award committee is chaired by Christian Baden (Hebrew U of Jerusalem). The award committee will judge each article on several criteria including the importance of the topic it addresses, theoretical depth, the strength of evidence it presents, the significance of its conclusions, and its overall contribution to the field of political communication. The nomination letter should indicate how the article meets these criteria.
The award for this year’s winner (a $1000 cash prize) and the first runner up ($250) will be presented during the Political Communication Division’s business meeting at the 2025 ICA conference.
All nominations should be emailed to Christian Baden (c.baden@mail.huji.ac.il) with “Kaid-Sanders Best Article Award” in the subject line.

ICA Political Communication Division's Travel Grants

Deadline: March 31, 2025

The Political Communication Division is accepting applications for travel grants from ICA attendees without (sufficient) funding for the conference.

These grants are especially directed at scholars from Tier B/C countries (see ICA country tiers here: https://www.icahdq.org/page/tiers) as well as junior scholars without their own funding. Presenting authors on a paper accepted by the Political Communication Division may apply. Typically, no more than one presenting author per paper may receive a travel grant.

This year, the Political Communication Division will accept travel funding applications in two rounds. Note that, if you applied during the first funding round, you do not need to apply again. We will be considering every application again in the second round.

The deadline to apply for travel funding in the second round is March 31, 2025 and funding decisions will be made in April. Graduate students who are applying to the Political Communication Division’s Graduate Student Pre-Conference are especially encouraged to apply. Authors who are interested in travel funding can apply here: https://kusurvey.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8udwPl8g8eu0IvA

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to direct them to the secretary of the Political Communication Division, Ashley Muddiman (ashley.muddiman@ku.edu).

 

FAIR Fund

ICA PolComm's Facilitating the Advancement of Integration and Representation (FAIR) fund is an initiative that supports events promoting the inclusion and advancement of underrepresented communities within the Division during the annual ICA conference. The fund aims to provide logistical, promotional, and financial resources to members of the Division who organize events that bring together diverse backgrounds and support their development. The goals of the FAIR fund include bringing underrepresented community members together, increasing their visibility within the Division, internationalizing the Division, and promoting initiatives for early career scholars. If you are interested in learning more and applying, find the full description here, or reach out directly to division leadership.

 

ICA Political Communication Division's "Guide for first-time presenters"

Our student and early career representative, Ernesto de León, recently put together a guide for first-time presenters. Whether you are an early career scholar or a seasoned presenter, the new guide to presentations from the Political Communication division is an essential resource to help you deliver a successful talk. The guide is packed with practical advice and tips, including how to communicate within the limited time, structure your presentation,  and engage with your audience. Even if you have presented before, the guide can still be a useful tool for refining your skills and ensuring that your talk is impactful and engaging.