[ecrea] CFP: Communication and food for health benefits

CALL FOR ARTICLES  Reminder
Communication and food for health benefits. Negotiating meanings in 
networked times
Catalan Journal of Communication & Cultural Studies - Special Issue 5.2 
(Fall 2013)

Nowadays communication has become a central issue in food health 
policies. There is growing concern among food-related institutions, at 
all levels from the local to the transnational, about how best to 
communicate the benefits of better food practices and healthy diets that 
can reduce food-related illnesses and health-care costs. Social and 
cultural influences frame food and health issues in terms of diet, 
education, and consumption decisions. Innovative interdisciplinary 
approaches are needed to better understand how new media environments 
and social networks interact in the negotiation of meanings surrounding 
food communication policies and practices.

The development of new food technologies offers huge potential to 
improve the overall health of populations, general well-being and 
consumer confidence. Agriculture and the food industry are becoming 
increasingly strategic in all national contexts and food communication 
practices can have a significant effect on both companies and consumers. 
For this issue CJCS welcomes articles from a media and communication 
studies perspective on food for health benefits exploring the links 
between institutions, companies, new and traditional media and health 
choices by consumers.

We welcome research on media discourses about food, social marketing and 
educational campaigns, labelling systems and product advertising, 
corporate and public agency strategies, construction of the meanings of 
food and health policies, the need for food-related information and 
consumer information processing, and the acceptance of both new health 
food products (functional, genetically modified products, novel food) 
and alternative food networks (local, organic, slow food).

The journal plans to include articles of around 6-7000 words, plus short 
research notes and reports of around 2-3000 words for the Viewpoint 
section. Full articles for proposed contributions should be sent to 
(catalan.journal /at/ urv.cat) <mailto:(catalan.journal /at/ urv.cat)> by 31 January 
2013. Acceptance of papers will be confirmed by 30 March 2013. All 
contributions will be subjected to anonymous peer review.

Guest Editors for the issue are Jordi Farré (Universitat Rovira i 
Virgili) and Julie Barnett (Brunel University)

Dr Jordi Farré is Senior Lecturer, Head of the Department of 
Communication Studies at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili, and Director 
of the Repsol/URV Chair for Excellence in Communication. His research 
fields are related to the study of risk communication processes and 
practices, with special emphasis on the communicative turn on risk 
governance and perception. He is the author of several books and 
articles, among them Teoría de la comunicación de riesgo (co-authored 
with Juan Luis Gonzalo). He has led several research projects and is 
currently participating in the FP7 of the European Union in a project on 
food risk/benefit and communication.

Prof Julie Barnett is a social psychologist with particular interest in 
and expertise around public appreciations of risk, risk communication, 
processes of public engagement and evidence based policy making. She is 
currently a Reader in Healthcare Research at Brunel University and is a 
co-investigator on the Multidisciplinary Assessment of Technology Centre 
for Healthcare (MATCH). Over the last five years she has been Principal 
or Co-Investigator for a range of largely interdisciplinary projects 
funded by UK Research Councils, FP7, Government, and Charities. On-going 
work is exploring the communication of food risks and benefits, the 
value of social media, and challenges for people with allergies around 
food choice, labelling and use of auto-injectors.

For more details about the journal guidelines please visit: 
http://catalanjournal.wordpress.com/

For more information on previous special issues please visit:

Volume 4 / Issue 2

_Special Issue: "Gender relations in the media. Conflicting pictures and 
new representational practices" 
<http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-issue,id=2298/>. _Guest 
Edited by Sofie Van Bauwel (Ghent University) and Iolanda Tortajada 
(Universitat Rovira i Virgili)

Volume 3 / Issue 2__

_Special Issue: 'Tourism & communication: place brands, identities and 
new trends" 
<http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-issue,id=2053/>. _Guest 
Edited by Nigel Morgan (The University of Wales Institute Cardiff) and 
Assumpció Huertas (Universitat Rovira i Virgili)

Volume 2/ Issue 2

_Special Issue: 'The communicative turn in risk communication: Theory 
and practice" 
<http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-issue,id=1890/>. _Guest 
Edited by Tom Horlick-Jones (Cardiff School of Social Sciences) and 
Jordi Farré (Universitat Rovira i Virgili)