UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications will have a significant presence at the 74th International Communication Association conference in Gold Coast, Australia, later this month. Researchers from the college will showcase their expertise and scholarly work in a number of ways at the annual event.
The conference theme is “Communication and Global Human Rights” and runs from June 20-24. Thousands of experts, researchers and scholars from around the world are expected to attend. Faculty members, graduate students and alumni from the Bellisario College will participate both virtually and in-person through panels, presentations and sessions. Several will be receiving awards.
Research areas span the entirety of the communication discipline with a focus on human rights. Topics include activism, artificial intelligence, crisis communication, gaming, health, law/policy, LGBTQ issues, political communication and more.
Christopher Ali, the Pioneers Chair in the Department of Telecommunications and Media Industries, will be presenting three papers. One of the papers, co-authored with doctoral student Sydney Forde, received a top faculty paper award from ICA’s Communication Law & Policy Division. Ali will also be a respondent and chair for panel discussions. He is the immediate past chair of ICA’s Communication Law & Policy Division
LaShonda Eaddy, an assistant professor of advertising/public relations, serves as the Commission on Public Relations Education representative for ICA’s Public Relations Division (PRD). She will receive the PRD’s top crisis paper, which was sponsored by the Crisis Communication Think Tank at the University of Georgia.
Several studies by S. Shyam Sundar, the James P. Jimirro Professor of Media Effects, and his media effects lab group were chosen for presentation, including a study about curbing TikTok addition, which received a top paper award from the Communication and Technology Division. He is also a discussant on two panels, one of which is on communicating in the “age of generative AI.” Sundar serves as a member of the ICA Publications Committee. He will become chair of the committee at this year’s conference.
Two papers by visiting scholar Biying Wu-Ouyang were chosen by ICA. One study she co-authored, which examines audience engagement, will be recognized with a top paper award in the student competition.
Doctoral student Giselle Pu will receive the Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award.
Other presentations and conference participation in-person and virtually include:
- Heather Shoenberger, an associate professor advertising/public relations, will present on the use of scarcity tactics by social media influencers and will also contribute to panels discussing race and surveillance in TikTok user behavior.
- Mary Beth Oliver, the Donald P. Bellisario Professor of Media Studies, will be a discussant in a session about marginalized voices. She is a past ICA president and will also participate in welcoming and orientation sessions.
- Chris Skurka, an assistant professor of media studies, will present two papers: “How Repeated Exposure to Persuasive Messaging Shapes Message Responses Over Time: A Longitudinal Experiment” and “It Is in the Air: Seeking and Scanning for Information about Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis among Young-Adult Men who Have Sex with Men.”
Graduate student work at ICA
Graduate students from the Bellisario College will contribute significantly at the conference as well. They include:
- Jiaqi "Agnes" Bao will present her research, “Visual Modality Effects on Appraisals, Emotions, and Physical Exercise Intentions.”
- Magdalayna Drivas, Olivia Reed and Maranda Berndt-Goke will present “#WhatIEatInADay: The effects of viewing food diary TikTok videos on young adults’ body image and intent to diet.” Reed is a Bellisario College alumna now at Minot State University. Drivas, who received her master’s degree from the Bellisario College, is currently a doctoral student at the University of Southern California.
- Jingyi Guo will present a co-authored paper, “The Twisting Patriarchal Fandom Governance in China: Examining Media's Changing Representation of Fanquan Nvhai (Fangirls).”
- Peixin Hua will present her study, “How Does Online Privacy Concern Affect Online Political Expression and Offline Political Participation?” The presentation was supported by a travel grant from the Political Communication Division.
- Jiacheng Liu will present “Disposable Counterpublics: Women, Queers, and Uyghurs in the White Paper Movement” and participate in the LGBTQ Studies Interest Group with “Asia is Burning: Queer Minor Transnationalism and Ballroom Culture in China.” He also received a travel grant from the LGBTQ Studies Interest Group.
- Yansheng Liu will present “Close to You: How Locational Proximity Affects Responses to Self-disclosures on Social Media.”
- Erika Solis and Yasemin Beykont will present their paper, “Fortnite’s Commodification of Children via In-Game Advertising and Advergaming,” for the Media Industry Studies division.
The ICA is an academic association for scholars interested in the study, teaching and application of all aspects of communication. The Bellisario College has been well-represented and active in the organization for years.
ICA was founded nearly 75 years ago as a small association of U.S. researchers and is now an international association with more than 6,000 members from 80 countries. It aims to advance the scholarly study of human communication by encouraging and facilitating excellence in academic research worldwide. Since 2003, ICA has been officially associated with the United Nations as a nongovernmental association.