Workshop and Launch Event of the COST Early Stage Researchers Think Tank, 26 to 30 January, Zurich, Switzerland (Travel Grant Included)

While populist politics is a well-known feature of many European democracies the communicative aspects of this phenomenon have been underexplored or even ignored. However, the study of populist political communication has never been more important, not only against the background of the current social, political, and economic tumult, but also in light of recent populist backlashes against governments and the changing media environment.

The newly initiated COST Action on “Populist Political Communication in Europe” (http://www.cost.eu/domains_actions/isch/Actions/IS1308) includes 26 countries and brings together scholars from different countries to generate state of the art knowledge about the presence and challenge of populist political communication in different democracies. This event is part of the broader COST Action but focuses specifically on young researchers.

Aims of the Event

A core element of the Action is the Early Stage Researchers (ESR) Think Tank which gathers and connects young European scholars from various backgrounds. The launch event for this Think Tank will take place from 26 to 30 January 2015. It will be hosted by the Institute of Mass Communication and Media Research and the National Center of Competence in Research (NCCR) “Democracy” at the University of Zurich. The event will take the shape of an intensive workshop where the participants will have the opportunity to thoroughly present and discuss their ongoing projects. They will also get insights into NCCR Democracy’s Module 2, which analyzes populism in the context of globalization and mediatization.

Deadline for applications is 1 October 2014. If you are interested in participating or have any questions, please feel free to approach the organizers represented by Sven Engesser (s.engesser@ipmz.uzh.ch) and Nayla Fawzi (nayla.fawzi@ifkw.lmu.de).