Section Head Election 2018 - Call for candidates and statements

Crisis, Security and Conflict Communication Working Group

The IAMCR Crisis, Security and Conflict Communication Working Group will be holding elections during the business meeting at the upcoming conference in Eugene, Oregon. The date and time of the business meeting will be included in the final programme of the IAMCR 2018 conference. One chair position and one vice-chair position are open. The terms run for four years. Responsibilities include all phases of conference programming for the Working Group.

The current officers of the Working Group are Rikke Bjerg Jensen (chair) and Eva-Karin Olsson (vice-chair). Following a four-year mandate, Rikke Bjerg Jensen will be standing for re-election in the position of chair. Eva-Karin Olsson will be stepping down as vice-chair.

Any IAMCR member who would like to serve as an officer of the Crisis, Security and Conflict Communication Working Group must submit their name and institutional position, a statement of no more than 400 words (with e.g. bio and motivation for being a candidate), to the current officers (see contact details below) with a copy to IAMCR General Secretary Gerard Goggin gerard.goggin (at) sydney.edu.au and to the IAMCR secretariat membership (at) iamc.org, by 8th May 2018.

Working Group officers must be IAMCR members, either directly, or through an IAMCR institutional member who has listed them among its IAMCR representatives.

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

  • Rikke Bjerg Jensen (chair): rikke.jensen (at) rhul.ac.uk
  • Eva-Karin Olsson (vice-chair): eva-karin.olsson (at) fhs.se

Candidates and statements

For Chair:

Statements

Rikke Bjerg Jensen, Information Security Group, Royal Holloway University of London

I was elected Chair of the Crisis, Security and Conflict Communication Working Group (CRI WG) in Hyderabad in 2014, and it has been a privilege to have been able to contribute to the IAMCR through this Chairmanship. In particular, it has been a great pleasure to meet great people from all over the world. Together with the CRI WG Vice-Chair, Eva-Karin Olsson, I have witnessed and chaired some fantastic panels over the last four years. Whilst Eva-Karin has decided to step down, I would like to continue to develop the Working Group in the coming years, in collaboration with a new vice-chair. Given the growing role of communication during crises and conflicts, the work of the CRI WG continues to be of great importance. To this end, the WG serves a critical function in the IAMCR framework as it brings together a diverse range of people and perspectives, beyond disciplinary boundaries, to explore communication in relation to crisis, security and conflict.

On a personal note, the CRI WG has been my ‘IAMCR home’ since my first presentation at the conference in 2011. I have found the inclusive approach to crisis, security and conflict communication and the use of discussants particularly rewarding, as this has enabled conversations between a broad spectrum of theoretical positions, methodological frameworks, and contextual settings. It is this work that I would like to continue and further develop if I am re-elected as Chair.

My research interests orbit around everyday security practices enabled through digital technologies and mobile devices. More specifically, my work focuses on how technology, and the information flows that it enables challenge our understanding of proximity and presence during crisis and conflict – and I am particularly interested in how the human-technology entanglement facilitates and/or hinders different security visions amongst people living and working ‘on the edge’ of our society. I have undertaken extensive fieldwork as part of several distinct research projects in the UK and overseas, with the British military, NATO, refugee and migrant communities, and seafarers.

Rikke Bjerg Jensen, Information Security Group, Royal Holloway University of London
rikke.jensen (at) rhul.ac.uk

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