CICANT was represented at ECREA 2026 by 21 researchers and PhD students from the centre, who took part in the event through individual presentations and by chairing academic sessions.
The contributions addressed different dimensions of communication, culture and technology. In the areas of youth, education, participation and wellbeing, Marisa Mourão presented research on the integration of film education in Portuguese public schools; Ana Oliveira explored arts-based approaches and knowledge co-production with young people from vulnerable communities; Conceição Costa addressed young people’s perceptions of empowerment through cultural game jams; James Dennis focused on political communication for marginalised young people; while Maria José Brites and Teresa Sofia Castro presented research on young people’s engagement with news and digital wellbeing, and on how young people in residential care make sense of information, respectively.
Questions related to digital media, journalism and participation were addressed by Ilo Alexandre, through a comparative analysis of Brazilian and Portuguese news media on TikTok; Fábio Ribeiro, on participation levels between citizens and journalism; Margarida Maneta, on media repertoires among older people; and Ana Jorge, on the construction of the ideal victim of smartphone fraud. Maria José Brites also contributed to discussions on audience needs and media repertoires across generations, as well as media literacy in deeply mediatized societies.
In the field of culture, art and emerging technologies, José Gomes Pinto presented research on history, dialogue and communication, while Rui Antunes explored embodied historiographies of absence in postcolonial Lisbon. Joana Bicacro examined the relationship between visual media theory and Generative AI, Manuel Bogalheiro discussed the operativity and cultural techniques of large language models, and João Carrilho addressed counterfactual cognition, games and meaning-making.
Issues of gender, feminism, inequalities and political communication were also explored by Célia Taborda, through an analysis of the #EleNão movement in Portugal; Carla Cerqueira, with research on the coverage of #MeToo in Portuguese digital newspapers; and Tatiana Chervyakova, on freedom of speech and censorship in the context of Russia. Filipa Neto also presented research on spirituality, disconnection and wellbeing discourses.
CICANT’s participation also included contributions addressing history, narrative and communication, with Jacinto Godinho exploring fate, image and narrative and the critique of historical inevitability.
In addition to presenting their research, CICANT researchers chaired sessions for various sections and working groups. During the conference elections for management teams of sections and working groups took place. Several CICANT researchers were elected for management teams positions and will actively contribute to ECREA’s dynamics during the next two years. See those names and respective roles below:
- Maria José Brites — Chair, Audience and Reception Studies
- Ana Filipa Oliveira — Chair, Children, Youth and Media
- Marisa Mourão — Vice-Chair, Children, Youth and Media
- Sofia P. Caldeira — Vice-Chair, Digital Culture and Communication
- José Gomes-Pinto — Vice-Chair, Philosophy of Communication
- Margarida Maneta — YECREA Representative, Aging and Communication
Consultation link is available here: https://ecrea.eu/page-18283.