[Commlist] CfP: Symposium in Public Relations and Public Affairs 2020

Call for Papers

Symposium in Public Relations and Public Affairs 2020

TU Dublin, 27th March, 2020

Keynote speaker: Dr Lee Edwards, LSE

Deadline for abstracts: 5 January, 2020

Submissions: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=sympra2020

Conference website: http://www.prstudent.com/symposium

Theme: Public Relations, Public Affairs and Societal Engagement

A clue to the principal locus of public relations and public affairs 
(PR&A) in practice lies in their names.  Yet the concept of public has 
tended to focus on corporate matters and stakeholders, reducing the 
focus on the societies in which organisations are active, on whose 
citizens they rely, and within which their social legitimacy is 
constructed.  The concepts of communitarianism, social capital and civil 
society are relatively recent words in the PR&A lexicon, and scholars 
are beginning to explore them as phenomena within the broad 
communications canon.

Increasingly, organisations need to demonstrate their fitness to gain 
societal legitimacy, and constantly strive to retain it.  Purposeful and 
mutually advantageous engagement permits organisations to enter into 
dialogue with society at large and the specific geographic and 
demographic communities that populate it, thereby facilitating the 
anticipation and addressing of publics’ preoccupations.

The nature of engagement itself, however, is so broad as to be 
multifarious, invoking aspects of communication, psychology, and 
sociology, as well as PR&A.  The impact of engagement on participatory 
networks that address mutual matters, and foster stakeholder 
relationships, remains under-researched and under-reported.

To address this knowledge deficit, this symposium invites empirical and 
theoretical contributions from academics that interrogate and (re)define 
PR&A’s societal engagement, and practice-based contributions from PR&A 
professionals whose work demonstrates excellence in generating 
meaningful, outcome-focused engagement with various publics in society.

Topics that are particularly welcomed in this call for papers may 
include, for example:

     Is societal engagement an evolution of corporate social 
responsibility, or a revolution?

     The challenges for societal engagement

     What are the strategic and tactical processes for societal engagement?

     How can PR&A measure both engagement and the outcomes of engagement?

     Where does societal engagement sit within schools of PR&A thought 
– rhetorical, critical theory, systems theory etc?

     Inter-disciplinary approaches to engagement – inter alia, 
sociology, mass and behavioural psychology, media reporting, ethics, 
linguistics, marketing, management.

     Practitioner-led case studies that explore these topics

This list is not exhaustive and imaginative proposals from disciplines 
outside these suggestions are welcome.

Abstracts will be blind peer reviewed.

Abstract requirements:

     Abstracts should be 300-400 words, in 1.5 line spaced Times New 
Roman or similar, standard font.

     Include 4-5 keywords.

     The proposal should be communicable in a paper of approximately 
20-25 minutes, excluding questions and answers.

     Abstracts should contain no identifying detail of the proposer.  A 
short proposer biography (150 words), contact details and abstract title 
should be submitted on a separate document.

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