Call for Papers

Sustainable development is one of the most significant “wicked” problems we must deal with. In 2015, all members of the United Nations approved the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Complex problems require complex solutions, and communication is an intrinsic part of making sense of and identifying problems and constructing various solutions. Integrating knowledge from research and practice will enable us to expand our understanding of problems and increase the palette of resolutions. We encourage submissions focusing how cooperation between academia and public and private organisations can contribute to solving some of all sustainable development challenges.

Despite emerging as applied disciplines with a solid footing in the public relations and strategic communication professions, impactful collaboration between academia and practice is rare nowadays. This lack of collaboration is surprising given that both parties ponder several similar questions, such as how to increase the communication departments and practitioners’ contributions to organizational success, how AI will impact public relations and strategic communication practices, what ethical public relations and strategic communication is and how it can be cultivated. In neighbouring fields such as business administration, academia’s dwindling relevance to practice has been acknowledged and discussed for quite some time (e.g., Bennis & O’Toole, 2005). Several public relations and strategic communication academics and practitioners have also raised similar concerns, and occasional calls for more collaboration initiatives between academia and practice to produce knowledge with pragmatic use-value have been made. However, various hindrances may need to be overcome before collaboration is possible. For example, how can we co-produce new knowledge in collaboration with practitioners? What methodology can guide us? What obstacles may hinder such collaboration? How can the co-production of knowledge be facilitated? 

Critical theory has advanced in organisation theory since the beginning of the 1990s and has led to development of new sub-fields, such as critical management studies. Though critical theory has yet to have a more significant impact on strategic communication and public relations. Consequently, there is a considerable need for a more critical approach to public relations and strategic communication phenomena, which also opens new research possibilities. Critical performativity is especially interesting in this context, i.e., the art of putting critical ideas into practice. How can critical theory be used to deepen our understanding of public relations and strategic communication practices? How can critical theory and studies inform and advance practice?

Although artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are still in their infancy.There is no doubt that AI will profoundly impact the profession and practices of strategic communication and public relations. Individuals and organisations increasingly use AI to, for example, increase efficiency and output, protect themselves, and save costs. There is both a need for pragmatic knowledge about how organisations might implement and use AI technologies in their public relations and strategic communication activities ethically, as well as research that critiques and challenges current and potential use. Additionally, it becomes increasingly clear that AI technologies also pose significant risks to individuals, organisations, and nation-states as they can be used successfully in, for example, cybercrime and election interference. How can research contribute significant knowledge, enabling us to understand current AI-driven developments in strategic communication and public relations and their implications for individuals, organisations, and society?

EUPRERA 2025 also welcomes insightful and thought-provoking theoretical, empirical, and applied research that sheds new light on other topics and challenges in strategic communication, public relations, and related disciplines. We encourage original contributions, using innovative methods and interdisciplinary approaches, that contribute to our fields’ body of knowledge and theory-building.

The Education track welcomes papers focused on the challenges public relations and strategic communication educators face in the current online and offline landscape. As some of the realities of the pandemic remain behind us, returning to class brings new transformations to the forefront, whether technological or human, imposed or desired, organisational or individual, systemic or in search of a (desirable?) pattern. The Education track is closely related to the activities of the EUPRERA Education Network and the Education Café, which proposes pedagogy-focused discussion topics that can represent a starting point for the submissions to this track, developed from a research-focused perspective. Previous editions of the Education Café addressed areas of interest (education and sustainability, education and GenZ, well-being, course development) and pedagogical challenges closely related to the integration of technology into public relations and strategic communication education.