The Irish Audience Studies Network invites proposals for its inaugural symposium

Wednesday 5 December 2018 

Maynooth University

The Irish Audience Studies Network is a multidisciplinary research group that aims to bring together scholars working on historical and contemporary audience research across a range of media including, cinema, television, radio and online content.

The network is for anyone who is interested in the dynamics of media exhibition, distribution and consumption in Ireland from the beginning of the twentieth century up to current day. Encompassing diverse theoretical and methodological approaches (including, but not limited to surveys, interviews, demographic analysis, archival research, oral history, statistical analysis, GIS mapping and analysis of online audiences as producers of new media), the network will address questions related to national, gender, sexual, ethnic, political, and class identities of Irish audiences.    

The Irish Audience Studies Network will provide a forum that allows researchers, practitioners and postgraduate students from across the country to:

-Share new research

-Exchange knowledge and methodologies

-Make connections and establish interdisciplinary collaborations 

The network will be launched with an inaugural symposium, which will be held at Maynooth University on Wednesday 5 December 2018.  This event will provide all who are interested in joining the network with the opportunity to give a brief presentation about their work in an informal setting, while also meeting colleagues engaged in different areas of audience studies research.

The programme will include a screening of the documentary ‘Movie Memories’, which was produced as part of the Cork Movie Memories project. Led by Dr Gwenda Young and Dan O’Connell (UCC), Cork Movie Memories is a Creative Ireland/ UCC funded project that records the cinema-going memories of people living in small towns, villages and rural areas of Cork County from the 1940s to the present.

If you would like to participate in this event, please send the title of your research project and a brief description (max 200 words), along with a short bio to irishaudiences@gmail.com. Presentations should be no longer than 10 minutes. The deadline for submissions is 2 November 2018.

A limited number of travel bursaries will be available for postgraduate students. If you wish to apply for a travel bursary, please contact us by email for further details.

Thank you.

Dr Denis Condon

Dr Sarah Culhane

Media Studies, Maynooth University