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28 October 2024
Call for Papers: 2025 EUPRERA Annual Congress in Lund

2025 EUPRERA Congress will be titled: “At the Intersection between Academia and Practice in Public Relations and Strategic Communication”.

HOST UNIVERSITY

The host university will be Lund University, in Sweden,  founded in 1666 and one of the world’s top 100 universities. The University has approximately 45,000 students and 8,600 staff based in Lund, Helsingborg, Malmö, and Ljungbyhed.

Lund University’s Department of Communication is one of the largest units in Europe dedicated to strategic communication and has more students, lecturers, and researchers than any other department in Sweden in the field of strategic communication and includes education and research in the closely related disciplines of media and communication studies and journalism.

THE THEME

The XXVI EUPRERA Congress invites academics, researchers, and professionals in the field of communication to an interdisciplinary discussion on public relations (PR) and strategic communication concerning the relationships between academia, practice, and impact.

The reality becomes increasingly fluid, complex, unpredictable, paradoxical, and full of tensions. Thus, integrating academia and practice is critical for addressing and dealing with complex, “wicked problems” and grand societal challenges. Collaboration between academia and practice may also be a solution to address the need for alternative or improved approaches to organising, leading, and communicating.

However, such collaboration is not without difficulties. A strong dualism differentiates practitioners from researchers, means from ends, and thought from actions. This dualism cements the distance between practice and research, reducing the possibilities for impact and change.

Further, knowledge co-production needs facilitation and does not happen by itself.

CALL FOR PAPERS 

The organisers of the EUPRERA congress in Lund welcome theoretical, empirical, and applied research on the congress theme and are looking forward to stimulating discussions in different thematic areas and an additional open track. Interested authors should submit short-length or fulllength papers or panel proposals in one of the track options. Abstract submissions will not be reviewed and will be automatically disqualified.

CONGRESS TRACKS

TRACK ONE: Strategic Communication and Societal Impact
TRACK TWO: Co-Creating Knowledge
TRACK THREE: Turning Critical Research into Practice
TRACK FOUR: The Future of Strategic Communication and Public Relations – Professionals in a digital and AI-driven World
OPEN TRACK
EDUCATION TRACK

THREE TYPES OF SUBMISSIONS ARE POSSIBLE:

  1. Short-length paper (double-blind review).
  2. Full-length research paper (double-blind review).
  3. Panel proposal.

IMPORTANT DEADLINES

March 31 – Submission deadline
May 30 – Feedback to authors
June 30 – Full program released
August 25 – Submission of the final full paper

AWARDS

Five prizes are awarded yearly at the Congress. Our winners not only promote themselves and their institutions but their work celebrates the excellence and innovation in learning and research that EUPRERA stands for.
During the 2025 Congress the following recognitions will be awarded.
EUPRERA Annual Best Paper Awards
EUPRERA Best Reviewer
EUPRERA PhD Award for Excellent Doctoral Thesis
EUPRERA Master Thesis Award for Excellence

Deadline for applications: March 15, 2025.

 

CONTACT

www.euprera.org/congress2025

e-mail: congress2025@euprera.org

VENUE

AF-Borgen Sandgatan 2 223 50 Lund, Sweden www.afborgen.se

 

More info will be disclosed on the submission and registration platform, coming soon.

Read the Complete Call for Papers and contributions 

 

1 October 2024
2024 Distinguished Public Relations Scholar Award

The European Public Relations Education and Research Association (EUPRERA), a body of academic institutions, researchers and senior professionals in the field of strategic communication with 550 members from 51 countries, has named Anne Gregory, Professor Emeritus of Corporate Communication at University of Huddersfield, UK, Distinguished Public Relations Scholar.

The lifetime award recognizes her outstanding contribution to research and education in public relations as a social science discipline on an international level.
She has been awarded on September 13, 2024, at Bucharest University, Romania, on the occasion of the EUPRERA annual congress.

Anne Gregory (Ph.D.) is Professor Emeritus of Corporate Communication at University of Huddersfield, UK, and a global thought-leader in our field. She is also Adjunct Professor at RMIT Australia and LSPR Indonesia and Visiting Professor at the Universities of Navarra, Spain, Johannesburg, South Africa and UTS, Australia.

Anne became a Professor at the University of Huddersfield in 2014 after several years at Leeds Beckett University, where she also completed a term as Pro Vice Chancellor, and was Director of the Centre for Public Relations Studies.

Before starting her academic career, Anne spent many years in practice, including being Director of Weber Shandwick (North) and Director of External Affairs, University of Bradford. Anne was Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Communication Management until 2016 and has as impressive publishing list. Among many books, the 2nd edition of Strategic Public Relations Leadership (Routledge) was published in 2022. Anne is the Director of the Global Capabilities Framework research project, adopted by the Global Alliance of Public Relations and Communication Management which is the
confederation of the professional bodies worldwide.

Anne has published high-quality public relations and corporate communication research, often with a focus on applied and professional aspects, connecting theory with practice, Anne has numerous other assignments. She is a Reviewer of Government Communication Departments in the UK, appointed by the Prime Minister’s Office and Cabinet Office. She is a former President of the CIPR in the UK, leading it to chartered status and former Chair of the Global Alliance. She holds the Sir Stephen Tallents Medal for outstanding contribution to the profession, The Institute for Public Relations Pathfinder Award for outstanding research, the Canadian Public Relations Society Outstanding Achievement Award for the Global Capability Framework and the Public Relations of America Atlas Award for outstanding contribution in international public relations.

Anne has been a part of and contributed to the EUPRERA community for many years. One example of this is when she organized the 2011 EUPRERA congress in Leeds (with the still relevant theme “Public Relations in Times of Turbulence”).
We acknowledge and thank professor Anne Gregory for her contribution to the field and we are honoured to call her an EUPRERA “Distinguished public relations scholar”.

 

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19 September 2024
Awards for Best Papers 2024: EUPRERA honours academics and practitioners from Europe

We are just back from the EUPRERA Annual Congress, organised by the University of Bucharest, looking grand in its 160 years of history.

The congress was a success both in participation with nearly 200 attendants and in scientific contribution, with works on the theme “The Art of Communication”, grasping the legacy and challenges of the unprecedented times we are facing, characterized by fast-facing changes.

The Annual Congress is also time to hand out the EUPRERA Best Paper Awards. As always, the Awards were given to the authors of three papers with the highest rankings in a blind peer-review process performed by experienced reviewers from the EUPRERA community, under the guidance of the Heads of the Scientific Committee, Alina Dolea and Sarah Marschlich.

EUPRERA Best Paper Awards

The three winning papers:

Strategic Communication and Value Creation: Towards a Multi-Perspective Understanding of the Value-Formation Process in Strategic Communication Management
by Rickard Andersson

This paper significantly contributes to understanding the value formation process in strategic communication management. It proposes a novel multi-perspective that integrates the stakeholder, organizational, and societal perspectives. It has academic relevance and strong link with professional practice especially since demonstrating how strategic communication management creates value has long been considered a critical challenge for communication departments and managers. Moreover, it advances the theorizing of value creation in strategic communication.

Interdisciplinary Patchwork: A Bibliometric Analysis of Investor Relations and Financial Communication
by Laura Hackl

This paper provides a state-of-the-art overview of an important area that is less studied, investor relations and financial communication. It uses a bibliometric approach that draws on big data analysis and opportunities for different forms of analysis that technology/AI allows. Through the historical review, it nicely positions itself in relation to previous literature, highlighting similarities, differences, and relationships. It is a well-designed and methodologically sound interdisciplinary paper that significantly contributes to the under-developed study of investor relations and financial communication as part of strategic communication.

Policy Window and News Media Lobbying – Crisis Narratives of Finnish Trade Associations During a Public Health Crisis
by Markus Tapani Mykkänen, Chiara Valentini

This paper explores how the three major Finish trade associations used news media for lobbying during the pandemic. It is innovative in the sense that it tries to combine the theory of policy windows/cycles with the study of media lobbying. The combination of these approaches constitutes the originality of the study. The authors show the main narratives and meta-narratives the trade associations used, emphasizing the importance of timing. Overall, this is a very well-executed and argued study. It is neat, clear and relevant both for practice and research. The research on how lobbyists are arguing and how they work through media is understudied and this paper contributes to the literature on lobbying, interest groups and strategic communication.

 

Special recognition to the best reviewer

EUPRERA Best Reviewer Award recognizes the work done by the reviewer because it is an essential contribution to the quality and success of the annual congress. This year’s winner is:

Dr Martina Topić,
College of Communication and Information Sciences, The University of Alabama

Dr. Topić stood out through the number of high-quality reviews she did for EUPRERA this year. Her feedback was detailed, diligent and constructive, with lots of suggestions offered to help authors develop and improve their papers.
Her willingness to help and pick-up last-minute additional reviews was also genuinely appreciated by the Scientific Committee.

 

 

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16 September 2024
2024 Master Thesis Awards – #euprera2024

The European Public Relations Education and Research Association (EUPRERA), a body of academic institutions, researchers and senior professionals in the field of strategic communication with more than 500 members from 51 countries has awarded two master students for their excellent theses in strategic communication.

The Master Thesis Award for Excellence is an annual prize aimed to celebrate the PR academia and the role performed by European Higher Education Institutions in the evolution of knowledge of this field. The jury, headed by Martina Topić, from the University of Alabama, selected the winning theses in two categories:

Practical Impact Award

Darejan Tsurtsumia
“Flexible Organizational Structures of the Digitally Mediated Collective Actor – A Case of the Shame Movement in Georgia”
Supervisor: Ilkin Mehrabov, Lund University, Sweden

The success of social movements is highly dependent on their sustainability, and in
their efforts to produce meaningful change, they inevitably encounter oppressive
dominant forces. The winning dissertation is entitled ‘Flexible Organizational
Structures of the Digitally Mediated Collective Actor – A Case of the Shame
Movement in Georgia’ an analyses the stages of transformation a collective actor
undergoes, from a reactionary crowd-enabled network to a more traditional social
movement and emphasises the role of strategic communicative processes and
digital technologies in the constitution of its organisational structures.

 

Theoretical Impact Award

Megan Rollerson
“Strategic Communication of Trustworthiness in Autonomous Systems, Machine Learning & AI”
Supervisor: Marléne Wiggill, Lund University, Sweden

Autonomous systems, machine learning and artificial intelligence are increasingly
integrated into our everyday lives at an accelerating pace. The winning dissertation
is entitled ‘Strategic Communication of Trustworthiness in Autonomous Systems,
Machine Learning & AI’ and analyses how an organisation can effectively and
strategically communicate an autonomous system’s trustworthiness before and
during a system crisis, failure or rupture and develop a framework for how strategic
communication can foster trust in the technology and support a successful
organisation-public relationship.

 

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20 February 2024
EUPRERA 2024 Congress in Bucharest – submissions deadline approaching!

We are happy to announce that the EUPRERA XXV annual congress submissions platform is open!

If you attended the EUPRERA Congress in the past and you already have an account on ConfTool, then you can access the platform using the same username and password. If not, you must create an account to submit a paper or a panel.

The Congress submissions platform can be accessed at https://www.conftool.net/euprera2024/

More details on tracks, submission requirements, and publication opportunities are available on the Congress website: https://euprera2024.unibuc.ro/

Submit your short-length paper, full-length research paper or panel proposal by March 15th, 2024!

16 October 2023
EUPRERA 2024 Congress in Bucharest – Call for Papers

We are happy to invite members and colleagues to the EUPRERA XXV annual congress, taking place in Bucharest on September 11-14, 2024, and co-organized by the Department of Communication Sciences, Faculty of Letters, University of Bucharest, Romania on the theme:

The Art of Communication
Bridging the Future and Past of Strategic Communication
in a New Technological Ecosystem

In addition to sessions and panels, the programme will also include:

  • multiple activities from our networks,
  • the Paper Development Workshop,
  • the PhD Seminar,
  • the Education Café,
  • a session on project collaboration proposals (new!),
  • activities from EUNES European Network of Emerging Scholars.
Call for Papers

Academics, PhD students and practitioners are invited to submit papers and panel proposals related to the congress theme and tracks:

  • Track 1 – Interdisciplinary Perspectives in Communication Research
  • Track 2 – The Future of Strategic Communication: Ethical Implications and Impact of Emergent PR Tools
  • Track 3 – Learning from the Past of Strategic Communication: Old Theories in a New Ecosystem
  • Track 4 – Community, Communication, and Stakeholders’ Interactions in the New Technological Ecosystem
  • Education track (new!) – Public Relations and Strategic Communication Education Research
  • Open track – Current Research in (Strategic) Communication and Public Relations

THREE TYPES OF SUBMISSIONS ARE POSSIBLE:
1. Short-length paper (double-blind review),
2. Full-length research paper (double-blind review),
3. Panel proposal.

Important dates
    • Deadline for submissions: March 15
    • Feedback for authors:  May 28
    • Full programme release: June 25
    • Submission of final full paper: August 25
Publications

Authors who have successfully submitted and presented papers at the congress can enter the selection for:

    • a special issue of the Journal of Communication Management (publication conditional upon the double-blind peer review process of the journal)
    • the EUPRERA Congress Book (edited collection), part of the Advances in Public Relations and Communication Management series, published by Emerald (publication conditional upon a peer-review process by the editors).
Call for Papers | The programme
Poster

4 October 2023
2023 Distinguished Public Relations Scholar Award

The European Public Relations Education and Research Association (EUPRERA), a body of academic institutions, researchers and senior professionals in the field of strategic communication with 550 members from 51 countries, has named Peggy Simcic Brønn, from BI Norwegian Business School, Distinguished Public Relations Scholar. The lifetime award recognizes her outstanding contribution to research and education in public relations as a social science discipline on an international level.
She has been awarded on September 22, 2023, at Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic, on the occasion of the EUPRERA annual congress, by the association’s president elect Prof. Jesper Falkheimer.

Peggy Simcic Brønn is professor emerita at the highly-ranked BI Norwegian Business School, where she has been a professor since 2011. She has a long history as a leader, researcher and lecturer in the field of corporate communications and public relations. She was founder and leader of BI Centre for Corporate Communication for several years as well as an associate editor of Journal of Communication Management, among other assignments. Her research contribution is clear and relevant, especially in the field of reputation, corporate social responsibility and corporate branding. Besides her international career – she is a US citizen but with a strong base in Norway – she has been an active communication expert in the Norwegian public sphere. Alongside her academic reputation, she is a notorious motorcyclist, along with her husband Carl.

 

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29 September 2023
2023 Master Thesis Awards and PhD Award

The European Public Relations Education and Research Association (EUPRERA), a body of academic institutions, researchers and senior professionals in the field of strategic communication with 550 members from 51 countries has awarded two master students for their excellent theses in strategic communication.

The Master Thesis Award for Excellence is an annual prize aimed to celebrate the PR academia and the role performed by European Higher Education Institutions in the evolution of knowledge of this field. The jury, headed by Martina Topić, from Leeds Beckett University in UK, selected the winning theses in two categories:

Practical Impact Award

“PR Strategies for Audience Engagement and Dialogue on Social Media: A Multimodal Discourse Analysis of Select British NGOs’ Twitter Posts”
by Temitope Oyelade, University of Stirling, UK
Supervisor: Sally Chalmers

This dissertation expands upon the dialogue theory of PR as enacted by Taylor and Kent in 2002 and 2014 by focusing on the use of social media for engagement by NGOs. It addresses the lacunae in PR research on social media engagement and dialogue within the relational paradigm, especially regarding social media’s multimedia affordances for facilitating dialogic engagement between organisations and their publics and building ethical Organisation-Public Relationships (OPR). The study indicates that purposeful selection of social media discourses for maximum cognitive and affective engagement may allow for more dialogically oriented conversations, and thus more ethical relationships with online audiences, as the presence of a dialogic orientation in the NGO communications has the effect of largely mitigating the effect of the unequal power dynamic that naturally exists between organisations and their audiences, leading to better OPRs in practice. The study also situates social media engagement within the dialogue theory of PR and provides direction for further research on the use of social media for dialogue, particularly the implementation of vulnerability, a key element of dialogic orientation.

Theoretical Impact Award

“The Role of Consumer PR in Feminist Menstrual Activism”
by Caitlin Carbury, University of Stirling, UK
Supervisor: Clare McKeown

This dissertation sought to examine the role of consumer PR in Feminist Menstrual Activism (FMA) to gather insight into what PR does for FMA and menstruators, and what FMA can do for PR. The findings revealed three dominant categories of meaning which (re)produced both old and new meanings regarding menstruation: 1. Prepare and Protect, 2. Menstruation as Womanly, and 3. Feminist Menstrual Activism. These dominant categories highlighted that consumer PR’s role in FMA is complicated by tensions and contradictions which largely stem from capitalism and commodification. Despite this, instances of transgression within the data suggested that PR has the potential to act as FMA. By drawing on these findings, this paper argues that PR practitioners need access to the dominant coalition, a will to do the right thing and harbour a feminist intelligence if consumer PR is to play an active role in the progression of both FMA and PR practice. Moreover, the paper highlights the need for further theoretical and empirical research which incorporates more organisations and media platforms to draw stronger conclusions on the role of PR in FMA and what these communications mean for varying identities.

 

The PhD Award for Excellent Doctoral Thesis is a bi-annual prize awarded by EUPRERA aimed to stimulate the academic discussion and build the body of knowledge in communication management across Europe. The jury, headed by Prof. Winni Johansen and Prof. Wim Elving, selected as winning thesis:

“The contribution of different communication channels and sub-state actors to country perception in today’s globalized and digitalized society. A public diplomacy listening approach”
by Jérôme Chariatte, University of Fribourg, CH
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Diana Ingenhoff

The thesis (179 pages) addresses new, relevant, and fascinating topics: listening within public diplomacy, as well as civic engagement across countries, and the role of sub-actors such as cities for the country image and the branding of a country. In addition, the relationship between place branding and public diplomacy in the digital sphere is addressed and extended by linking it to concepts like global governance and social responsibility. Furthermore, the study contributes with combining new and multiple methods and ways to listen and to measure country image and public diplomacy that take into account the globalized and digitalized context of todays’ public diplomacy efforts.

The methods are ambitious and broad ranged. Based on four different empirical studies the thesis contributes a mixed methods approach to study country image and public urban actors relying on both classical and recent research methodologies, such as media content and survey analysis, semantic network analysis, structural equation modelling and analysis of trace data. The analyses are thoroughly executed and based on appropriate and well-argued research methodologies. The ‘mystery’ of the thesis is clearly embedded in its implementation of new research methods adopted to match the digitalization and social media implementation in today’s public diplomacy practices. Furthermore, the thesis contributes to strengthen the role and status of communication in the public diplomacy and country image branding, and to add new insights into methodological theories and issues related to public diplomacy research enriching the perspectives of diplomacy and urban civic engagement across countries.

The thesis clearly demonstrates how the field of public diplomacy and public relations can benefit from taking new theoretical and methodological steps forward.

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27 September 2023
Awards for Best Papers 2023: EUPRERA honours academics and practitioners from Europe

We are just back from the EUPRERA  Annual Congress, organised by Charles University in Prague, one of the largest and oldest universities in the world, as it was founded in 1348 by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV.

The congress was a success both in participation with nearly 200 attendants and in scientific contribution, with works on the theme “Responsible Communication – or Communicating Responsibility?”, grasping the legacy and challenges of the unprecedented times we are facing.

The Annual Congress is also time to hand out the EUPRERA Best Paper Awards. As always, the Awards were given to the authors of three papers with the highest rankings in a two-stage, blind peer-review process performed by a scientific committee of renowned international scholars, headed by Chiara Valentini.

EUPRERA Best Paper Awards

The three winning papers:

“I want what you want! Understanding the Impact of Public Interest Arguments in Lobbying and Public Affairs”
by Ketil Raknes and Øyvind Ihlen

This paper significantly contributes to the realm of public affairs by providing valuable insights into how politicians and lobbyists in Norway use the concept of public interest to advocate for or against energy and environmental issues. The paper is well constructed, rigorous and well-argued. It offers a comprehensive, relevant, and coherent theoretical framework that thoroughly examines the utilization of “topos” in the communicative interactions of these influential social actors. The theoretical framework is highly valuable in that it can be used to analyze a diverse set of advocacy initiatives beyond the ones in focus in this study. Overall, this study constitutes a significant advancement in the understanding of lobbyism and rhetoric within the political sphere and offers a theory-driven tool to dissect the quality of argumentations of those in power and the role of communication in affecting democratic processes.

“Sustainable Engagement with Digitalization Challenges in Strategic Communication: Introducing the VUCA Radar”
by Peter Winkler, Jannik Kretschmer, and Philip Wamprechtsamer

This paper explores the frequently used, yet ambiguously defined concept of VUCA, aiming to provide a conceptual and empirical analysis that sheds light on its impact on strategic communication and outlines effective responses to its challenges. The study is backed by qualitative data gathered in Austria. A commendable aspect of this research is the authors’ intention to enhance our comprehension of VUCA while contributing to the theoretical understanding of current public relations in both internal and external environments. To aid professionals in navigating complex and volatile situations, the paper introduces a valuable tool called the VUCA RADAR. Overall, the study stands out as an intriguing, innovative, pertinent, and ambitious contribution to the field.

 “Trend Research in Communication Management: Introducing an Interdisciplinary Approach based on Futures Research Methodology”
by Ansgar Zerfass, Daniel Ziegele, Sünje Clausen, and Stefan Stieglitz

This paper proposes an integrative approach for future research in public relations and communication management. The methodological approach integrates insights from research developments in society, management, and technology and integrates insights from professionals. There is a nice dialectical engagement between theory and practice-based experiences which positions this work as one highly commented for its practical implications and contribution in expanding our knowledge for conducting formative research. Overall, the paper suggests an innovative integrative methodological perspective, that can become an important practical toolkit for professionals and their research efforts in identifying key trends.

 

Special recognition to the best reviewer

EUPRERA Best Reviewer Award recognizes the work done by the reviewer because it is an essential contribution to the quality and success of the annual congress. This year’s winner is:

Melissa A. Johnson,
North Carolina State University

Dr. Johnson’s review stands at an exceptional level of quality. Her feedback is thorough, comprising in-depth and comprehensive comments, along with practical suggestions that effectively aid authors in enhancing their papers. Notably, her constructive and encouraging remarks prompt authors to introspect on their arguments and research decisions. Moreover, the review exhibits attentive feedback and a profound respect for diverse academic cultural traditions and perspectives, making it truly commendable.

 

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30 August 2023
EUPRERA Annual Congress 2023 – full programme

Our Annual Congress will take place in Prague this year, from September 20th to 23nd.

Under the title “Responsible Communication or Communicating Responsibility?”, a wide selection of scholars, professionals and researchers from all over Europe and beyond will support discussion around a key topic of communication for our present world.

Discover the full programme here and consider joining this unique opportunity!

See you in Prague!

More details on the dedicated webside.

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