Section Head Election 2019 - Call for candidates and statements

Media Education Research Section

The IAMCR Media Education Section will run elections for both/ all section chairs during its business meeting during IAMCR 2019 in Madrid. The current officers of the Section, chair Manisha Pathak-Shelat and co-chair Sirkku Kotilainen have been in office since 2015. They will not continue in these positions after 2019 Madrid conference.

Any IAMCR member who would like to serve as an officer of the Media Education Section must submit their name and institutional position, a statement of no more than 500 words (e.g. a bio and motivation statement), to the current officers (see contact details below) with a copy to Valeria Zamisch membership [at] iamcr.org and gerard.goggin [at] sydney.edu.au by Friday 14 June 2019.

The section can have a position for a third co/ vice chair as well.  

Section officers must be current 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

    • Chair: Manisha Pathak-Shelat, manisha [at] micamail.in
    • Co-Chair: Sirkku Kotilainen, sirkku.kotilainen [at] tuni.fi 

•Statements are published on the website

•Elections conducted in SWG Meeting Business at IAMCR 2019 Conference

Candidates and statements

For Co-Chair:

Statements

Ruchi Kher Jaggi, Symbiosis International (Deemed University)

I am Ruchi Kher Jaggi, Associate Professor & Director, Symbiosis Institute of Media & Communication and Dean of the Faculty of Media & Communication at Symbiosis International (Deemed University), Pune, India. I am applying for the position of co-chair/vice-chair of the Media Education & Research Section. 

My research areas include - Media Representations, Media Literacy, Digital Literacies, Children and Television, Popular Culture Analysis, Gender Studies, Television Studies, Emerging Discourses of Identity on New Media among others. I am currently the recipient of the USIEF 21st Century Knowledge Initiative Grant in collaboration with Salisbury University, USA where we are working on curriculum and pedagogical interventions to design and implement a course in Interactive Documentary filmmaking integrating the concepts of civic engagement and place-based education. I am also currently engaged in the development of an online course in Critical Media Literacy at my University. I have also had the opportunity and experience to organize two successful international conferences in the area of media and communication at my university in 2016 and 2018, respectively. 

I have been associated with IAMCR since 2013 and have presented my work in the MER and Gender & Communication Sections over the years. I have also reviewed proposals for these sections and also chaired parallel sessions. I have reviewed over 12 proposals for this year’s conference as well. I will be presenting my research paper in the MER section at Madrid in the area of critical media literacy with reference to teaching concepts of gender and sexuality to graduate students. 

I wish to apply as the co-chair/vice-chair of the MER section for two primary reasons. One, media education & research is an area of high scholarly interest for me. Two, the current chairs Dr Sirkku Kotilainen and Dr Manisha Pathak-Shelat have created a very engaging and inspiring conversation which resulted in creating meaningful discussions and beneficial opportunities for all participants in the MER section. I will like to carry their vision ahead and enhance my learning through organizing this section, participating in several IAMCR activities and advancing my learning curve. I would like to work towards integrating more interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary discussions in the section. Additionally, I would endeavour to bring scholars from diverse disciplines and experience levels to explore collaborative opportunities of research and scholarship. 

I would like to state that I am very keen on working towards creating more opportunities for younger scholars to participate and present this work, because that was one of the constraints in the earlier years of my academic career. With my current professional position and institutional support, I am hopeful of attending IAMCR annual conferences every year and making valuable contribution to the MER section. 

Sara Pereira (University of Minho, Portugal)

I hereby present my motivation statement to serve as an officer of the Media Education Section. I’m Associate Professor at the Department of Communication Sciences at the University of Minho, Portugal, and researcher at the Communication and Society Research Centre at the same University. I am a member of IAMCR since 2005 and I have been an active member of MER Section since that time. I've been working on Media Education for over two decades. My experience in this field covers both teaching and research. I directed a Master Degree on Media Literacy and I have taught several curricular units related to this area in graduate and postgraduate courses at the University of Minho. I have also coordinated research projects at national and European level and participated in several other projects on Media Education. I am a co-author of the Media Education Guidance for Pre-School, Basic and Secondary Education, an official document of the Portuguese Ministry of Education. Between 2011 and 2017 I was President elected of Media Literacy Section of the Portuguese Association of Communication Sciences (SOPCOM). I am a founding member of the Informal Group of Media Literacy, a group that brings together several public entities interested in defining policies and promoting Media Literacy in Portugal. Within this group, I participated in the promotion of the initiative ‘7 Days with the Media’ that has been organized since 2011. I have also participated actively in the organizing committee and in the scientific committee of the Congress ‘Literacy, Media and Citizenship’ that last May completed its fifth edition. I am currently the Head of the Department of Communication Sciences. I co-coordinate the MILObs - Observatory on Media, Information and Literacy.

By applying to serve as an officer of the Media Education Section I expect to make a positive contribution to MER section, continuing the work that has been conducted but also making some proposals that help to further develop and promote the work of this group inside and mainly outside IAMCR, giving it greater visibility. It will be an honour to contribute to the diversity of MER Section, reinforcing the network of researchers that work in this field, from different parts of the world, and promoting better communication between them. It is also my expectation to strengthen collaborative work with other institutions and events, for example, joining the European Media Literacy Week, a new initiative initiated in 2019 by the European Commission, and also the Global Media and Information Literacy Week promoted by UNESCO.

Braga, Portugal, June 10, 2019

Sara Pereira

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