IAMCR Webinar Series
Join the Inclusive Communication and People with Disabilities (ICO) Working Group in an Early Career Symposium on Disability Studies and Inclusive Communication: A Collaborative Forum. This online interactive symposium is designed to move beyond traditional presentations and foster deep collaboration, dialogue, and networking among emerging scholars.
Call for papers
We invite applications from PhD candidates, postdoctoral researchers, and early career scholars (within 5 years of completing their PhD) from around the world whose research engages with themes in Disability and Communication Studies. A total of 20 participants will be selected.
Interested applicants should submit:
- A current CV.
- A 300-word abstract outlining your current research project, key questions, and methodological approach.
The submission deadline is 30 March 2026
Download the full call for papers
About the symposium
The symposium will start with a plenary talk giving an overview of current issues in the field by Professor Katie Ellis, from Curtin University, Australia. Participants will then be led into 5 break-out rooms (4 participants in each group), where they will briefly talk about their PhD or other ongoing/current research to their group peers. The break-out groups will be chaired by the ICO Head members, who will moderate the discussion in each group and provide short feedback if any when needed. Each break-out room will select one participant who will, together with the group, synthesize the group’s discussion in terms of:
- Common themes across individual projects
- Originality of individual research projects
- Pressing questions identified in individual research projects
The symposium will close with a concluding discussion where the ICO core team will reflect on the main break-out group remarks and will engage in an open-floor discussion with all participants. The objective of the webinar is to offer an alternative and more accessible format than the annual IAMCR conference for ECRs to share their research, as well as to foster knowledge exchange and build community and scholarly connections, granted that ECRs may not have many peers working in the same area at their respective institutions.
When: Monday 20 April @09h00 UTC / 10h00 London / 11h00 Paris / 12h00 Nairobi / 14h30 Kolkata / 17h00 Beijing / 19h00 Brisbane. The event will last 2 hours.
Organised by: Inclusive Communication and People with Disabilities (ICO) Working Group
The ICO Head members are (in alphabetical order): Shahla Adnan, Fatima Jinnah Women University, Pakistan; Ying Lai, Peking Normal University, China; Prof Paula Saukko, Loughborough University, UK, Prof Panayiota Tsatsou, Birmingham City University, UK and Yan Yuqiao, Tsinghua University, China
Registration
Pre-registration will be required. The form will be available here soon.
Location: The meeting will take place on Zoom. Pre-registered participants will receive personal invitations 24 hours before the webinar begins.
Who can participate: The webinar is open to all IAMCR members but space is restricted. A limited number of guest invitations for non-members may be available.
Not sure if you're a member? Check the membership directory.
If you are not a member of IAMCR, you can join here.
About the series
The IAMCR Webinar Series aims to open-up channels for engagement and participation in addition to the annual conference, while echoing the great work that is done by Sections, Working Groups and IAMCR members. The series includes presentations, debates, book and project launches. The format is flexible, the connection is what matters. Join us!