In 2011, IAMCR offered a travel grant to a student of the University of Minho -host of IAMCR's 2010 conference.
Read below Carla Cerqueira's account of the 2011 conference and how it provided her with an ideal framework for networking opportunities and cultural experiences.
2011 IAMCR Conference Report
My name is Carla Cerqueira and I am a PhD candidate at the Communication Sciences department of University of Minho, in Portugal. My research project focuses on the evolution of journalistic discourses in the International Women's Day (1975-2007) in Portuguese newspapers.
I am also a researcher for the Centre of Communication and Society Studies (CCSR), the 2010 IAMCR conference host. The association provided a scholarship to support the attendance of one of its students to IAMCR’s conference. However, our research center decided to divide the grant between myself and another doctoral student. I believe this to be a fantastic idea as it enabled two persons to participate. In my own case if it was not for this funding I would not have the economic capacity to go to Turkey this year and would surely miss out on this wonderful scientific event.
Concerning my IAMCR 2011 conference experience, it was extremely rewarding as it allowed me to divulge my own work-in-progress and receive useful feedback from various researchers. As this was not my first time at an IAMCR conference some participants were already knowledgeable of my project and at this final stage of my PhD their opinions were indispensable. I presented two papers at the conference - one at the Emerging Scholars Network (ESN) and the other in the Gender and Communication Section. To present orally to different publics was a stimulating challenge.
I would like to highlight the use of discussants in the ESN section, which enriches the panels and ‘forces’ presenters to prepare their papers and to submit them in due time.
The conference also offered me a great opportunity to interact with prestigious researchers from all over the world and to engage in networking. In an era that research is increasingly interdisciplinary and international networking is essential and I consider it to be one of the most important outcomes from this gathering.
Furthermore I had the possibility to attend meetings, such as ECREA’S Gender and Communication section and IAMCR Emerging Scholars Network and met in person many people whom I only knew through e-mail.
Last but not least, I brought rich cultural experiences back home that I will keep engraved in my mind. For all these reasons I will try to be at the next IAMCR conference in Durban, South Africa.