The Lisbon Winter School Delves into Media Complexity

For the past five years, Barbie Zelizer, director of Annenberg’s Center for Media at Risk, has collaborated with the Universidade Católica Portuguesa to hold the Lisbon Winter School for the Study of Communication.

“The Lisbon Winter School is designed to give junior and senior scholars a chance to wrestle together with an idea that is porous, contestable and in evolution,” said Zelizer. “UVP’s Nelson Ribeiro and I try to keep the Winter School small enough to foster ongoing conversation across participants but broad enough to accommodate multiple disciplinary perspectives on an idea.”

This week-long workshop allows doctoral students and early-career researchers from around the world to explore pressing topics in media and communication with senior scholars. Previous themes have included “Media and Populism,” “Media and Uncertainty,” and “Media and Propaganda.”

In January 2024, attendees gathered in Portugal’s capital for the fourth edition of the school, dedicated to exploring a comparative and global approach to studying media and ambivalence. Scholars discussed a range of topics from political ambivalence on social media to journalists’ ambivalence toward their increasingly precarious profession.

Dean Sarah Banet-Weiser was one of the school’s convenors, and Professor Guobin Yang delivered a keynote address: “(Ambivalently) Feeling for the World: A Simmelian Approach to Mediated Pandemic Suffering.”

Six Annenberg doctoral students gave presentations: Liz Hallgren, Louisa Lincoln, Thandi Lyew, Valentina Proust, Sara Reinis, and Ran Wang.

Wang said she attended the Winter School because the theme resonated with her research interests. “I gained so much from the Winter School,” she said. “Ambivalence as a method is now a core theoretical framework for my research, and all the amazing keynotes opened up new analytical lenses for me.”

Hallgren appreciated the school’s welcoming environment. “As a junior scholar, I’m often intimidated by large conference settings where it can be hard to make your voice heard,” she said. “At Lisbon Winter School, scholars at every stage in their careers are all there for the same reason: to have meaningful conversations about the most pressing media and communication issues of our time. This common ground allowed me to build my confidence in connecting with other scholars.”

Proust agreed. “What appealed to me about the Lisbon Winter School is that, unlike ICA or other big conferences, it provides a smaller, more focused setting to share our work and receive feedback from peers and senior scholars,” she said. “Big conferences can feel intense and overwhelming at times. The Winter School lets graduate students build confidence in those kinds of environments while also fostering meaningful interactions with other attendees.”

The 5th annual Lisbon Winter School is scheduled for January 2025 and will explore the study of media and fear, diving into climate anxiety, reporting on war and crisis, artificial intelligence concerns, and more.