Call for candidates - S&WG Head elections 2021

Journalism Research and Education Section

The Journalism Research and Education Section (JRE) will be holding online elections for one Chair and three Vice-chair positions, for the term 2021 - 2025.

The elections will be held online from 16 June until 14 September using the SurveyMonkey platform. Individual members and representatives of institutional members who are also registered as members of the JRE Section are eligible to stand for a position and to vote.

Interested candidates must send their name, institutional position, a statement of no more than 500 words and a photograph to elections [at] iamcr.org with a copy to the JRE section’s current officers, Sadia Jamil (jamilsadia2017 [at] gmail.com), Abiodun Salawu (salawuabiodun [at] gmail.com) and Oliver Hahn (Oliver.Hahn [at] uni-passau.de), no later than 16 May.

All candidates must be current members of IAMCR, and of the JRE section. To verify if you are a member of the JRE section, log in to your IAMCR account and select “My Sections and Working Groups” from the menu.

You can find the election rules at: https://iamcr.org/governance/swg-rules

Read about the Journalism Research and Education Section

Candidates

For Chair

  • Sadia Jamil (Khalifa University of Science & Technology, Abu Dhabi)

For Vice-chair

  • Abiodun Salawu (North-West University, South Africa)
  • Ruhan ZHAO (Communication University of China)

Statements

Sadia JamilSadia Jamil (Khalifa University of Science & Technology, Abu Dhabi)

Journalism Research and Education Section (JRE) is IAMCR’s home for engagement with journalism, especially with a global perspective. I have been serving the Section since July 2016 as the Vice Chair of the Section along with my colleagues Professor Oliver Hahn and Professor Abiodun Salawu. The Section is growing vigorously with our mutual efforts. In the last one year, I have been serving the Section as an Interim Chair and now wish to step into the role of Chair of JRE with strong passion and commitment to serve the Section.

Among the nominated contestants, if elected, I would focus to enhance the Section’s research spectrum through collaboration with international universities, regional media representatives and associations, national-level’s governmental bodies, NGO’s and multilateral organisations such as UNESCO. I would strive to build a network of diverse research community that can contribute towards the quality journalism research, and enhance knowledge about a wide range of thematic areas within the Section. I need your support to encourage me as a young and female journalism researcher to contribute my abovementioned role in IAMCR, and to make my ambition a reality.

Trust me with your votes and I assure you, your votes will count.

I take this opportunity to introduce myself through the bio below:

Dr. Sadia Jamil is currently a postdoctoral fellow at Khalifa University of Science and Technology, Abu Dhabi. She is also serving as an international trainer and facilitator for a collaborative project of Public Media Alliance, UNESCO and Media Action Nepal on ‘Codes of Ethics for conflict Sensitive Reporting in South Asia’.

In July 2015, she has received her PhD degree in Journalism at the University of Queensland, Australia. She also holds postgraduate degrees in the disciplines of Media Management (University of Stirling, Scotland) and Mass Communication (University of Karachi).

At present, she is serving editorial boards of Routledge’s Journalism Practice and Digital Journalism, Intellect’s Journal of Applied Journalism and Media Studies, Media Watch Journal (India) and World of Media – Russian Journal of Journalism and Media Studies. Dr Jamil is also serving in the International Editorial Board of Bloomsbury-I.B. Tauris book series: “Political Communication and Media Practices in the Middle East and North Africa.”

Dr. Jamil has published and edited collections on freedom of expression, media freedom, safety of journalists, data journalism, ethnic media and digital divides. Her most recent edited books include ‘the Handbook of Research on Combating Threats to Media Freedom and Journalists’ Safety’ (IGI Global, 2019); ‘the Handbook of Research into Discrimination, Gender Equality and Safety Risks in Journalism’ (IGI Global, 2020) co-edited with Professor Baris Coban, Professor Bora Ataman and Dr Gifty Appiah-Adjei; ‘Ethnic Journalism in the Global South’ (forthcoming 2021, Palgrave MacMillan) co-edited with Dr. Anna Gladkova; and ‘Environmental Journalism in the Global South’ co-edited with Professor Ramon Tuazon and Therese Patricia S. Torres (forthcoming, Palgrave MacMillan).

Dr Jamil is the recipient of a number of international awards and scholarships including: The University of Queensland’s Centennial Award (2010), UQ’s International Postgraduate Research Support Award (2010), the Norwegian UNESCO Commissions’ and Oslo Metropolitan University’s conference scholarships (2015-2018), IAMCR’s travel grant award (2019), Union Insurance’s Cairo Air Crash Journalists Victim Memorial Gold Medal (2007) and Daily Jang’s and The News’ Sardar Ali Sabri Memorial Gold Medal (2007).

Abiodun SalawuAbiodun Salawu (North-West University, South Africa)

Abiodun Salawu is Professor of Journalism, Communication and Media Studies and Director of the research entity, Indigenous Language Media in Africa (ILMA) at the North-West University, South Africa. He has taught and researched journalism for over two decades in Nigeria and South Africa. Prior to his academic career, he practised journalism in a number of print media organisations in Nigeria. He has to his credit, scores of scholarly publications in academic journals and books. He has also edited/co-edited eight books and authored one. He is a regular presenter of papers at local and international conferences. He is a co-vice chair of the journalism section of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) and a member of editorial/advisory boards of a number of journals. He is involved in the founding of the International Association for Minority Language Media Research. He is rated by the NRF as an established researcher at the level of C1 (with international recognition) and he is a member of the Codesria’s College of Senior Academic Mentors. He has equally enjoyed a number of academic visiting fellowships in universities across continents. He has also won a number of local and international grants from organisations such as the University of Oxford, the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (Codesria) and the National Research Foundation (of South Africa), among others.

ZhaoRuhan ZHAO (Communication University of China)

It is truly a great honor to be considered for the VC position of the Journalism Research and Education (JRE) section - the world-leading academic group for journalism scholars from across the globe. I attended my first JRE event almost a decade ago. Since then, I have enjoyed many research and social events organized by the section. I have taken active participation in the IAMCR conferences held in Montreal, Oregon, Leicester and other places, and leveraged the annual occasions to exchange research ideas and insights with prominent academics all over the world and expand my professional network. Starting from Ph.D. research at Université Libre de Bruxelles (2011-2014), my academic career has benefited a lot from these valuable academic exchanges thanks to the platform provided by IAMCR.

In the past few years, while growing with IAMCR, I have accomplished the following activities to contribute to our JRE section in Asia and beyond: First, I support our section by reviewing proposals, presenting papers, chairing panels and attending the business meeting regularly. Second, I endeavor to promote academic exchanges in the international arena through a variety of initiatives. Working closely with my supervisor and mentor Professor François HEINDERYCKX, I have jointly built a number of programs within the framework of IAMCR and other international circles. These activities have effectively boosted official partnerships among international universities and academic journals, and facilitated frequent communication among academic members. Last but not least, I explored innovative journalism education by connecting universities and research institutes globally. The joint programs collaborated by my faculty and Nottingham Trent University and Missouri School of Journalism have trained versatile journalism practitioners and scholars, most of them pursuing their international careers outside China.

I am confident and wish to contribute to the JRE section in a more substantial way and I would be most honored to have your support to serve JRE in the capacity of vice chair. If elected, I will dedicate myself to further internationalize our section, promote the diversity of voices and spirits among section members, work with section leadership in solidarity. I strongly believe that my broad research interest in digital journalism and popular journalism and my experience as the editor of the Journal of Transcultural Communication, a new academic journal published by Sage, will enable me to collaborate with more academic journals to enlarge the space for section members to publish their works and support the career development of our members. As a Fellow of Higher Education Academy, I will explore more opportunities for new partnerships with universities to promote international journalism education programs. Furthermore, I will spare no efforts to support the upcoming IAMCR Beijing Conference in 2022. Based in Beijing, I stand ready to facilitate the conference and look forward to welcoming all of you there.

Please vote for me and for a brighter future of the Journalism Research and Education Section. Thank you for your support and consideration.

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