[Commlist] Doctoral Summer School - Research on Digital, Media and Information Literacy (ReDMIL 2026)

**** CALL FOR APPLICATIONS ****
*
*
*Doctoral Summer School - Research on Digital, Media and Information 
Literacy (ReDMIL 2026) “Literacies in the middle”

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*September 1-4, 2026*
*
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*Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium) – Université catholique de Louvain*

Application deadline : March 30th, 2026
Contact : (info-redmil /at/ uclouvain.be) <mailto:(info-redmil /at/ uclouvain.be)>
Website : https://www.redmil.info/ <https://www.redmil.info/>


*CONTEXT*
**********
As our daily lives are increasingly shaped by digital, informational, 
and media environments, it has become common to understand these 
environments through the lens of the corresponding new literacies that 
people are expected to mobilize in order to navigate the social world.

In this context, literacies are increasingly under pressure.  The calls 
for populations to develop and exercise such literacies have intensified 
to the point where they are frequently presented as a universal remedy 
to the multiple crises shaking contemporary societies: post-truth 
politics, polarization of opinion, rise of populism, new oligarchies, 
weakening of democratic institutions, climate disruption, etc. 
Unrealistically high expectations are placed on literacies, as if they 
alone could solve the major challenges of the contemporary world. When 
these inflated hopes inevitably collide with reality, disappointment 
follows. Yet the policies and initiatives meant to cultivate literacies 
never seem to be given the means to achieve what they are expected to 
accomplish, as societies fail to provide them with resources that would 
be essential to deploy on a large scale, resources that they desperately 
need to educate, emancipate, critique, and propose alternatives. High 
hopes, insufficient means, growing disillusionment: literacies and the 
communities that sustain their development find themselves caught in the 
middle, suspended between ambitious societal expectations and the 
limited conditions currently available to fulfill them.

For its tenth anniversary, and in line with the long-standing philosophy 
of the summer school, ReDMIL2026 sets out to explore the idea that 
“being in the middle” does not have to be a liability; it can be a 
source of strength. From this strategic position, the actors and 
communities working to advance information, digital, and media 
literacies can engage in dialogue, join forces, and build a center of 
gravity strong enough to weigh on global issues. In this sense, new 
literacies offer a unique opportunity to build bridges.

The summer school foregrounds literacies rather than alternative 
concepts (digital skills, e-competence, …) because the concept offers 
breadth, depth, and connective capacity. First, literacies extend beyond 
instrumental skills: they attend not only to how people use digital 
technology, but to what those uses mean in relation to texts, symbols, 
and discourses, and to where they are embedded in social practices. 
Second, literacies bring theoretical and epistemological depth. They 
draw on a long tradition that integrates critical perspectives, 
questioning authorship and authority, tracing infrastructures and 
interests, and situating knowledge within cultural, historical, and 
political contexts. Finally, literacies function as a boundary object 
across disciplines and among communities and stakeholders. We identify 
three trajectories through which such dialogues can take shape.

At the disciplinary level, literacy research can drive fruitful 
alliances between fields such as communication and media studies, 
information science, law, psychology, engineering, education sciences, 
philosophy, and more, allowing for complex, multifaceted, and polyphonic 
solutions that match the scale and complexity of today’s societal problems.

At the level of stakeholders, literacy initiatives can bring together 
researchers, practitioners, industry actors, activists, and 
policy-makers around the same table, creating a space where agendas can 
be coordinated, needs and resources can be matched, and shared 
objectives can be collectively defined. Such coordination contributes to 
the broader effort of connecting educational initiatives aimed at 
fostering literacies with the development of regulatory frameworks that 
hold industry actors accountable for their content governance practices, 
thereby helping to ease the disproportionate burden placed on 
individuals to cope with the proliferation of problematic content.

Finally, at the intercultural and international level, literacies can 
provide a space for respectful encounters between diverse lived 
experiences and reflections emerging across the world in response to 
global technological platforms. They offer an opportunity to compare 
perspectives, negotiate meanings, and collectively build understandings 
that transcend local contexts. In doing so, literacies can contribute to 
fostering mutual recognition, supporting more inclusive global 
dialogues, and strengthening our capacity to respond collaboratively to 
the challenges shaped by transnational digital ecosystems.

“Literacies in the middle”, then: not attempting to catch every rebound, 
but assuming the role of a playmaker, orchestrating the flow of the game 
and helping the team stay connected.


*Scope and goal of ReDMIL 2026 Literacy Doctoral Summer School*
*****************************************************************
The ReDMIL 2026 doctoral summer school is an international training 
program that aims to contribute to the convergence between digital, 
media and information literacy research by bringing together researchers 
from all three communities, to foster the scientific debate and explore 
connections between them.

The summer school alternates between framing presentations by senior 
researchers and the in-depth discussion of emerging research by 
participating PhD students.

Five experts have confirmed their participation in the 2026 edition:

  *
    Pr. *Michael Dezuanni*, Queensland University of Technology, Australia
  *
    Pr. *Renee Hobbs*, University of Rhode Island, USA
  *
    Pr. *Maarit Jaakkola*, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
  *
    Pr. *Hyeon-Seon Jeong*, Gyeongin National University of Education,
    South Korea
  *
    Pr. *Jad Melki*, Lebanese American University, Lebanon


These five experts will act both as keynote speakers and as mentors for 
participating PhD students throughout the summer school.

The summer school is organized from September 1st-4th, 2026, by the 
Groupe de Recherche en Médiation des Savoirs 
<https://uclouvain.be/fr/instituts-recherche/ilc/grems> (Knowledge 
Mediation Research Group 
<https://uclouvain.be/en/research-institutes/ilc/grems>) at the 
Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium, in partnership with the 
Canada Research Chair in Media Education and Human Rights 
<https://chaire-emdh.teluq.ca/en/> (Université TELUQ, Canada).

The goal of this summer school is to allow PhD students researching 
digital literacy, media literacy, or information literacy:

  *
    to benefit from the expertise of renowned researchers in their
    field, through theoretical and methodological presentations;
  *
    to present their own research to an audience composed of these
    experts, as well as other PhD students and researchers;
  *
    to work collectively towards the enhancement of their research work
    with other participants;
  *
    to improve their knowledge of the research undertaken by their peers.


The Summer School will start with a poster session (Sept. 1st), followed 
by six half-day sessions (Sept. 2nd-4th) on the following topics:

  *
    theoretical frameworks in the study of digital, media, and
    information literacies;
  *
    epistemological issues in new-literacies research;
  *
    methods for observing, documenting, and assessing literacies and
    their associated educational practices and policies;
  *
    designing research with social relevance and valorizing research
    results in society.


Each half-day session will open with one plenary talk by one of our 
invited experts, followed by presentations of the participating PhD 
students’ research work, approached from the perspectives developed in 
the plenary talks.

In addition to presenting an outline of their work at the opening poster 
session, each participating PhD student will have the opportunity to 
present their work in up to two sessions, on two different topics. In 
relation to the theme of the 2026’s edition “Literacies in the middle“, 
participants will be invited to discuss how their research cuts across 
different disciplines, brings together different stakeholders, or is 
situated at the intersection of different cultural contexts.

The Summer School will also allow for numerous informal interactions 
between experts, researchers, and PhD students, including a networking 
dinner and a hands-on workshop on photography and research on 
literacies, led by Pr. Normand Landry (Université TELUQ, Canada).

Participation and presentation from PhD students at the ReDMIL Summer 
School will be rewarded by 5 ECTS (or equivalent) for their doctoral 
training.

*Submission of applications *
***************************
The summer school is targeted at PhD students who develop their research 
in the following areas:

  *
    the study of new literacies: observing, documenting and/or assessing
    new literacies;
  *
    the study of educational initiatives in media literacy, information
    literacy or digital literacy practiced by a variety of actors
    (teachers and educators, employers, associations, parents, media and
    tech companies, …);
  *
    the study of public policies in the fields of digital, media and
    information literacies at any geographical level;
  *
    or any other topic related to digital literacy, media literacy, or
    information literacy.


PhD students wishing to present and discuss their doctoral research at 
the summer school are invited to submit an application, including the 
following:

  *
    A brief *curriculum vitae* (one to two pages);
  *
    A *written presentation of their doctoral research* in a maximum of
    1500 words (references not included), including the following four
    sections:
     1.
        Problem or societal issue that their thesis intends to address;
     2.
        Research question, hypotheses (in the case of a
        hypothetico-deductive approach) and theoretical framework of
        their thesis;
     3.
        Data collection and analysis method;
     4.
        Expected results: the usefulness of their research, from an
        academic and/or societal point of view (e.g., for the world of
        education, for the political world, for the media industry).
  *
    An *abstract* of the presentation of their doctoral research in a
    maximum of 300 words.


Applications must be sent in the form of a single file (word or pdf) 
including CV, presentation and abstract to this address 
(info-redmil /at/ uclouvain.be) <mailto:(info-redmil /at/ uclouvain.be)> by March 
30th, 2026 at the latest.
Candidates will be personally notified of the acceptance of their 
participation on May 4th.


*Registration*
************
Students whose application is accepted and researchers (doctoral or not) 
wishing to attend the summer school without presenting their work will 
be asked to pay a participation fee of 120€ to partially cover the 
organizing costs of the events.

The participation fee includes lunches, coffee breaks, and the 
mid-summer school dinner.

Participants will have to cover their own travel, visa and accommodation 
costs.

For participants affiliated with institutions based in the European 
Union, this summer school should fall within the conditions required to 
obtain ERASMUS+ travel funding. Participants are invited to get in touch 
with the ERASMUS+ coordinator of their home institution for guidance.

Doctoral students for whom these costs would be an obstacle to 
participation can contact the organizers directly at 
(info-redmil /at/ uclouvain.be) <mailto:(info-redmil /at/ uclouvain.be)>. The summer 
school is able to waive the participation fee and award up to three 
fellowships of up to 800€ each to help cover participation expenses.

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