ICA India Chapter Report by Padma Rani
The ICA-India chapter was inaugurated in April 2024. In June, with the ICA regional hub Manipal. The ICA India chapter held an Emerging Scholars Network on June 21, 2024. The event's resource persons were Vibodh Parthasarathi, Jamia Millia Islamia, India; Sundeep Muppidi, Hartford University, USA; and Jatin Srivastav, the President of SACA, Ohio University, USA. Prof B P Sanjay, President of the ICA-India Chapter, chaired the event. Research scholars and early career researchers from India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan participated in the event. The network focuses on publishing in highly reputed journals by scholars. The resource persons focused on different aspects of publishing, from choosing the topic to journal selection, basic guidelines for writing, and ways to deal with reviews. As all the participants are interested in publishing, they appreciated the tips they gathered from the resource persons.
ICA Kenya Chapter Report by Sr. Agnes Lucy Lando and Dr. Dinah Keino
On 2nd August 2024, ICA Kenya Chapter select members met at Grace House Resort in Nairobi to evaluate the #ICA 74 Nairobi Regional Hub. The team identified areas of improvement when they host the next Regional Hub in 2025. The meeting resolved that in 2025, ICA Kenya will seek to address the desire of other universities and institutions outside Nairobi. This is because some people who wish to attend still find it expensive to travel to Nairobi, and find accommodation and upkeep during the conference period. The same review meeting also resolved that the ICA Kenya Chapter will hold a physical meeting at Multi Media University (MMU) on 20th September 2024 to review ICA 2025 Global Conference materials and support each other in understanding the 2025 Annual Theme and submission process. Finally, we hope that by the end of October we will have concluded the official government registration of the ICA Kenya Chapter. This will be followed by the ICA Kenya Chapter members convening to celebrate this milestone. In the coming months, ICA Kenya Chapter will continue with a membership drive, to register more people for the Kenya Chapter and ICA Global.
ICA France Chapter Report by Angeliki Monnier
ICA France organized an ICA Regional conference on "Food and Communication" on May 23-24, 2024 in Dijon. It also organized a workshop on publishing in English-speaking scientific journals, including those by ICA, on June 7, in Nancy, France (during the National Congress of the French Society of Information and Communication Sciences, presented by Zhao Alexander Huang, member of ICA France founding committee). In September 2024, we are launching the "Les Rencontres de l'ICA France 2024-25 / ICA France Talks," a series of webinars that aim to stimulate discussions regarding research conducted in international contexts. The first webinar, to be held on September 20, 2024 from 3 to 4.30 pm Paris time, is titled "Les défis de la cotutelle de thèse / The challenges of international joint PhD supervision." Participants are welcome to register here. A second webinar (with speakers from India) is scheduled in November. A hybrid event is also in preparation, which will occur in March 2025.
ICA Nigeria Report by Ekaete George
The 6th Quarterly Seminar Series (QSS), an initiative of the ICA Nigerian chapter since its inauguration in March 2023, was held on June 20, 2024. The event took place on the sidelines of the ICA24 at the mini theatre, Mass Communication Department, University of Calabar. The theme of the QSS was Communication and Human Rights: Matters arising. Dr. Njah B. Etta, lecturer at the Department of Mass Communication, and Ms. Betty Abah, journalist, women, and child's rights activist, spoke at the Seminar. The presenters focused on the conference's theme as it concerns issues related to current issues in the socio-political landscape of Nigeria. They highlighted that any nation serious about promoting human rights needs to pay attention to the media. In addition, there is a correlation between advocacy for human rights and communication if journalists and activists are to speak truth to power and make social change happen. The ICA Nigeria 6th QSS was moderated by Ekaete George, ICA Nigeria Chair (University of Port Harcourt), and attended onsite by the ICA24 Calabar hub attendees and virtually by the entire ICA Nigeria membership from the academia and industry across Nigeria. ICA Nigeria 7th Quarterly Seminar is scheduled for Thursday, 26 September 2023.
ICA Indonesia Chapter Report by Dorien Kartikawangi
The ICA Indonesia Chapter celebrated its first anniversary on March 7, 2024, with a webinar on AI and Communication. The webinar consisted of two sessions. The first session focused on AI and Sustainability, with Dr. Nia Sarinastiti and a speaker from Amerta, an Indonesian NGO. The second session discussed AI and Regulation, with Noshir Contractor and Dr. Nyoman from the Ministry of Information and Technology as the speakers. In addition to the anniversary celebration, the ICA Indonesia Chapter led a discussion with stakeholders on AI, Ethics, and Regulation to contribute to the Ministry of Information and Communication. ICA Indonesia also hosted two hubs during the ICA annual conference 2024: Medan Hub and Jakarta-Bandung Hub. Looking ahead, the ICA Indonesia Chapter has planned several collaborations with organizations and institutions in the coming months: (1) ICA Indonesia -360Info.org-Monash Uni. Indonesia: Workshop on Research-Based Agenda Setting of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Issues in Mass Media on September 6, 2024. (2) ICA Indonesia Chapter - ICOSAPS (Sebelas Maret University): Workshop on Ushering Post-Pandemic Social Progress through Accelerating the Achievement of Sustainable Development Goals on October 17, 2024; (3) the 1st ICA Indonesia Chapter Conference: Topic on "Digitalisation, AI, and Sustainability," and ICA Indonesia support for the World Public Relations Forum (WPRF) in Bali, November 19 to 21, 2024
ICA China Chapter Report by Zhang Di
The International Communication Association (ICA) China Chapter, established in 2023, has been actively promoting academic exchange and advancing communication research in China. The chapter has made significant strides in fostering collaboration between Chinese and international scholars, organizing impactful events, and planning for future growth. On 27 May, 2024, the ICA China Chapter celebrated its first anniversary, marking a significant milestone in its development. In May 2024, the ICA China chapter initiated its lecture series. The inaugural speaker was Professor Guo Lei, from Fudan University, who presented "Network of News and News in the Network." Her talk explored innovative research paths in news communication, focusing on content and dissemination directions from a network perspective. ICA China has scheduled two lectures for September: (1) Sun Ping from the Chinese Academy of Social Science will deliver a lecture on platform economy, a topic on which she has conducted influential research in China; (2) Gong He, professor at Renmin University of China, will share her extensive experience in Chinese national-level grant applications, providing valuable insights for young scholars. These lectures are part of our ongoing effort to bridge Chinese and international academia and provide valuable benefits to our members. We plan to continue this series with both global and Chinese domestic scholars. ICA China also plans to conduct Interviews with ICA Fellows who are not widely known in the Chinese journalism and communication community. These interviews will be published in top Chinese journals. Finally, ICA China has scheduled meetings in late August with the ICA France Chapter to discuss further collaboration possibilities. These initiatives reflect the ICA China Chapter's commitment to fostering academic exchange and promoting communication research in China and internationally.