In preparation for the 2016 IAMCR conference in Leicester, CIMA and CAMRI, University of Westminster, invite interested scholars to take part in a one-day workshop to explore the empirical foundations of the media development field, examine current trends in media systems, and identify how scholars can work together with media development practitioners. Our aim is to identify gaps in knowledge and produce new lines of research and data. Panels will include: 1) Assessing the Media Development Canon: New Perspectives on Classic Approaches to Building Media Systems, 2) Geographies of Media: The Global Crisis of Local Media, and 3) Navigating the Digital: The Internet’s Impact on Information Flows in Developing Countries.

The workshop it will include representatives from academic and professional research institutions as well as representatives from international media development NGOs. We are not requesting papers for this panel but rather we are asking interested speakers to submit a statement of no more than 500 words that indicates your research interests and reason for participating in one of the sessions. This is intended to be an inaugural meeting of international media development researchers, and we hope to use this occasion to gauge interest in an annual gathering of researchers working in this space.

The workshop is open to 30-40 members of the public and IAMCR participants. Advance registration is required. More information will be posted as it becomes available.