CECS researchers lead four SOPCOM’s Working Groups

Several CECS researchers will continue to lead Working Groups (WG) of the Portuguese Association of Communication Sciences (SOPCOM). From the elections for the various WGs, held in the framework of the X Congress of the Association, from November 27 to 29, in Viseu, four researchers were elected to coordinate working groups, and two others took on the responsibilities of assistant coordinators. Maria da Luz Correia (University of the Azores/CECS), will coordinate the Visual Culture WG; Elsa Costa e Silva, the Economy and Communication WGPolicies; Silvana Mota-Ribeiro, the Gender and Sexuality WG; and Helena Pires, the Advertising GT. Ana Oliveira (Emerging Scholars WG) and Fábio Ribeiro (Radio and Sound Media WG) will be assistant coordinators.

Sopcom’s Board of Directors was re-elected at the General Assembly on November 27 at the Polytechnic Institute of Viseu. Chaired by Joaquim Paulo Serra, integrates Madalena Oliveira (CECS) and José Gomes Pinto as vice presidents, Gisela Gonçalves as secretary general, Nuno Moutinho as treasurer, and Carlos Camponês and Filipa Subtil as vowels. Tito Cardoso e Cunha remains president of the General Assembly and Jorge Pedro Sousa of the Fiscal Council.

The X Congress of SOPCOM celebrated the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Portuguese Association. Its theme was “Communication Sciences: Twenty Years of Research in Portugal”, which proposed a reflection in the different domains of the communication, counting for the effect with the presence of three hundred participants.

One of the first actions of the Congress was to honor Professor Paquete de Oliveira, who was president of SOPCOM and belonged to the External Commission for Scientific Accompaniment of CECS, having died in June 2016. During the congress, the prizes for the National Excellence Award for PhD theses in Portuguese Universities were awarded. Francine Oliveira, a CECS researcher, was honored with an “Honorable mention”, for her doctoral thesis entitled “Perspectives on Cultural Diversity: Experiences, Discourses and Representations of Interculturality”.

SOPCOM’s ha two main conferences: by Sonia Livingstone, a professor in the Department of Media and Communication at the London School of Economics and Political Science; and by Nico Carpentier, professor of Media and Communication Studies at the Department of Media and Information Technology at Upsala University.

CECS researchers participated in the X Congress of SOPCOM’2017 with more than twenty communications. In addition, in the work of the congress, in tribute to Professor Paquete de Oliveira, in the panel of interventions were the researchers Aníbal Alves and Moisés de Lemos Martins (current director of CECS). Rresearcher Helena Sousa (CECS) has integrated the Roundtable “Internationalization of Portuguese research”, and several researchers from the CECS ensured the moderation of tables in the parallel sessions (Complete information, here).

The book “Plural Voices. The Communication of Civil Society Organizations”, was presented during the congress. Organized by Sonia Lamy and Carla Cerqueira (CECS), the publication is an important contribution for its relevance and thematic relevance, with a focus on Public Relations and Organizational Communication, which counts on the collaboration of CECS researchers.

The next SOPCOM congress will be held in Madeira in 2019.

Text and photo: Vítor de Sousa