IAMCR Ambassador Initiative
International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) began establishing a worldwide network of IAMCR Ambassadors in 2015 to promote and represent the Association in various countries and regions.
IAMCR now has two types of ambassadors which are (1) IAMCR faculty ambassadors and (2) IAMCR PhD ambassadors. IAMCR faculty ambassadors are senior/experienced scholars, and IAMCR PhD ambassadors are PhD students or early-stage scholars without a university appointment.
IAMCR Ambassadors are a passionate community of volunteers who creatively promote the mandate and distinctiveness of IAMCR as an international association of communication and media scholars, and activate and support IAMCR members in the countries or regions where they are located.
Ambassadors explore opportunities to expand IAMCR's footprint in their country or region through publicity, events, and other strategies that will build and retain the Association's membership and reputation. These can include working with university departments, local and regional communication and media research bodies and think tanks, and NGOs involved in media advocacy and research.
IAMCR Ambassadors are chosen for their creativity, initiative and independence, as well as their connection with the academic community, their knowledge of IAMCR and the objectives that they stated in their proposed strategic plans. Ambassadors serve for 3-year periods. Ambassadors have a direct communication line to the presidential assistant but can also directly communicate with IAMCR entities (the EB, IC, C/TF/C, S/WG,…).
The first ambassadors were named in 2015 in Bangladesh, India, Portugal and Southern Africa (covering Botswana, Malawi, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe). In 2019, four new ambassadors were named in Kenya, United States East Coast and West Coast, and Russia.
An IAMCR Ambassador's Group on Facebook has been set up as a space where the Ambassadors can post information on their activities for the wider IAMCR membership.
For more information, contact mazlum [at] iamcr.org (Mazlum Kemal Dağdelen), who is the coordinator of the ambassador initiative and the assistant of Nico Carpentier, IAMCR president. If you are interested in joining the Network, see the article Become an IAMCR ambassador.
The IAMCR Executive Board extend a very warm welcome to our four newly appointed ambassadors: Gemma Lopez, based in Santa Clara California, Leah Komen at Daystar University Kenya, Rodrigo Cetina Presuel at the Harvard Law School, and Anna Gladkova at Lomonosov Moscow State University.
IAMCR is looking to expanding its Ambassador initiative. This article describes the initiative and incites expressions of interest for potential new ambassadors.
IAMCR currently has eight ambassadors. They are from Bangladesh, India, Kenya, Portugal, Russia, Southern Africa (covering Botswana, Malawi, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe), Spain and United States (covering the East Coast). Each ambassador has a page where you can see their profile and read about their plans.