[Commlist] cfp ‘Fresh Global Media Players: Disrupting the Digital Ecosystem?’, Northwestern University in Qatar

Fresh Global Media Players: Disrupting the Digital Ecosystem?
Northwestern University in Qatar
April 10–11, 2026

Submission Deadline: September 15, 2025 Notification: December 20, 2025

Overview
The second edition of the global media symposium—Fresh Global Media 
Players: Disrupting the Digital Ecosystem?—invites proposals for papers 
that explore the disjunctures and conjunctures defining the global media 
landscape today. Hosted at Northwestern University in Qatar, this 
two-day, in-person conference offers a platform for interdisciplinary 
engagement with emerging players, platforms, practices, and policies 
that are reshaping media flows and power structures across the Global 
South and beyond.

This event builds on the 2015 symposium 
(www.qatar.northwestern.edu/research/projects/fresh-global.html) that 
culminated in a special issue of the International Journal of 
Communication (ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/4807/0) and 
continues a commitment to rethinking global media transformations 
through inclusive, comparative, and critical perspectives.

Key Themes
We welcome submissions that interrogate global media transformations 
through one or more of the following thematic axes:
•	Infrastructure & Industry: Emerging media hubs, streaming ecosystems, 
platform logics, regulatory responses, and industry restructuring.
•	Practices & Creativities: Shifting modes of authorship, production, 
distribution, and exhibition within digital and hybrid environments.
•	Identities & Audiences: Representation, audience formation, and 
cultural politics within diasporic, transnational, and platform-mediated 
circuits.
We especially encourage research grounded in underrepresented 
geographies, critical approaches to technology, and innovative 
methodological frameworks.

Format
The symposium will feature:
•	Roundtable discussions with leading scholars
•	Paper presentation panels selected through a competitive review process
•	Workshops led by invited scholars for advanced graduate students
•	A lunchtime fireside chat with a speaker from the regional media sector.
This symposium format is designed to foster deep dialogue across 
disciplinary, geographic, and professional boundaries.

Travel Support: Travel and accommodation support will be available to 
accepted presenters. More details will be provided upon notification of 
acceptance.

Publication Opportunity: Select conference papers will be considered for 
inclusion in a peer-reviewed academic journal special issue. In order to 
facilitate timely editorial review and feedback, full drafts must be 
submitted by January 31, 2026. Authors will receive input from both 
editors and conference co-presenters, allowing time to revise before 
formal submission.

Submission Guidelines: Please submit your proposal via this form 
(forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=YdN2fXeCCEekd2ToNmzRvGCiePI3nu9Ll8yhtS439YJUQ0hIRlkxU0NLOVNRM1ZZUDY1Mk5RMjM1TC4u&route=shorturl) 
by August 31, 2025. Submissions should include:
•	Title and abstract (max 300 words)
•	Short bio (100 words)
•	Indication of interest in participating in the graduate workshop (if 
applicable)

Notification of acceptance: October 25, 2025
Full paper submission deadline: January 31, 2026
Final program release: February 20, 2026
Symposium dates: April 10–11, 2026
Location: Northwestern University|Qatar, Education City, Doha
Language: English
Contact: For questions, please contact the organizing committee at: 
(globalmedia2026 /at/ qatar.northwestern.edu)

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