Section Head Election 2019 - Call for candidates and statements

Emerging Scholars Network Section

The Emerging Scholars Network (ESN) Section will be electing an officer at its business meeting during the upcoming IAMCR's congress in Madrid. The business meeting will be held on July 11th, 14:00-15:30.  The current ESN co-chair is Dr Ksenia Ermoshina (elected until 2020), Dr Sylvia Blake, who served as ESN co-chair between 2016 and 2018 has left her position in December 2018. Since December 2018 Dr Sibo Chen is serving as the ESN interim co-chair.

The position of one Co-Chair is up for election and sought for a four-year term. Sibo Chen is seeking election for a full mandate. Nominations and self-nominations are welcome. Being an ESN Co-Chair is a demanding but highly rewarding and formative position; responsibilities include all phases of conference programming for the section as well as participation in association-wide decision-making. Candidates need to be members of IAMCR and familiar with the work of the association and the section. Other volunteer positions with ESN will eventually be available as the new co-chairs will see fit.

For further information and updates on the section please visit the ESN web site at http://iamcr.org/s-wg/section/emerging-scholars-network-section/home, and join the ESN listserv: http://iamcr.org/mailman/listinfo/esn_iamcr.org

Any IAMCR member who would like to serve as an officer of the Emerging Scholars Network Section must submit his/her name, institutional affiliation, and a candidate statement (up to 500 words) to the current officer (ksenia.ermoshina [at] cnrs.fr) by June 14 at the latest, with copy to IAMCR General Secretary Gerard Goggin <gerard.goggin [at] sydney.edu.au> and and to the IAMCR secretariat <membership [at] iamcr.org>.

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

Candidates and statements

For Co-Chair:

Statements

Sibo Chen (Ryerson University, Canada)

I have been delighted to participate in the ESN section as an active volunteer since 2015, working closely with many of like-minded scholars. Currently, I am wrapping up my PhD study at Simon Fraser University, Canada, and will soon head to Ryerson University, Canada as an Assistant Professor in the School of Professional Communication this fall. Earlier this year, I was honoured to become the interim vice-chair of ESN. Since then, I have always appreciated the unique contributions that ESN makes to the broader IAMCR community. I have decided for myself it’s time to become more heavily involved, and thus, I am seeking your support to be ratified as Co-Chair of ESN for the following 4 years.

My current research focuses on the intersection of discourse and the environment, especially how public discourses shape the contour of Canada-China energy politics. From my work I have learned a lot about the importance of being open-minded and appreciating intercultural differences, and I would like to follow these attitudes to facilitate scholarly activities at ESN. As for related experiences, I previously served as executive board members at two other Canadian scholarly societies: Canadian Communication Association (as its Anglophone Student Representative between 2015 and 2017, and then Local Coordinator of its 2019 conference) and Canadian Association for the Study of Discourse and Writing (as Co-Editor of its affiliated journal since 2018). I will utilize the lessons I have learnt from both organizations to improve ESN members’ conference experience continuously.

Specifically, my tentative priorities are: (1) exploring better technical and organizational solutions for virtual participation, (2) expanding ESN’s collaboration with other sections and working groups for more joint sessions, and (3) inviting senior scholars to host workshops that offer publication and career suggestions for ESN members. Overall, I would like to work in line with ESN’s successful history and continue to build it as a vibrant incubator that bring young-at-heart scholars together for knowledge exchange and community building.

Best Regards

Sibo Chen
Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada

Steph Hill (Ryerson University, Canada)

I would like to submit my candidacy for co-chair of the Emerging Scholars Network section of IAMCR. I am in the second year of my PhD studies in Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada. Madrid will be the third time that I attend IAMCR. In both previous years, I have presented my work as part of the ESN section, and I have benefitted greatly from the reflection of discussants, the opportunities afforded by working with senior colleagues in the field, and the connections I have made with my peers. Last year, the paper I presented at the joint session between ESN and CPT lead directly to a solo authored publication as part of a special issue of Internet Policy Review. 

The ESN has a history of success in connecting emerging scholars with professional networks and senior colleagues. As co-chair, I hope to continue that history while creating new opportunities for emerging scholars to share skills and learn from each other through encouraging diverse formats of presentation and engagement (roundtables, workshops, skill sharing events), as well as facilitating venues for socialising and informal peer mentorship. In addition, I would push for the ESN as a regular point of contact for professionalizing scholars during the year between conferences, through a regular newsletter and social media. 

During my time as a graduate student, I co-chaired our program’s graduate conference, Intersections | Cross-sections, an annual conference that attracts over a hundred applicants and which includes a curated art showcase and a blind review process. I am the president of our Graduate Student Association (GSA), which has created and maintained a weekly writing group, an ongoing speaker series for students and faculty, a peer-mentorship program for incoming students, and a series of social events to connect students in different cohorts. I have worked as a graduate writing consultant in our university’s learning support program and reprised that mentorship role in formal and informal ways, in the GSA and in everyday interactions with peers. I have lived and worked in Canada, the United States, and Vietnam and have professional experience in non-academic publishing and political activism and organisation. 

Ryerson University is located in Eastern Canada, near several major universities with communication programs, including those located in Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal, many of which are bilingual French/English. These connections put me in a strong position to find discussants, mentors, and reviewers to contribute to ESN programming.

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