CRISIS9 – ECREA Risk & Crisis Communication Section

In a context marked by polycrisis, platformized information environments, algorithmic mediation, geopolitical instability, and declining institutional trust, crisis communication can no longer be approached solely as a response management. Instead, it needs to be better understood as a question of governance: of authority, coordination, legitimacy, accountability, and the communicative conditions under which trust is built, challenged, or repaired.

At the same time, these developments raise urgent questions about societal readiness. As risks become increasingly transboundary, datafied, and politically contested, societies are asked to anticipate and adapt to them. Readiness, in this context, concerns more than institutional preparedness. It also involves the capacities of publics, communities, and organizations to recognize emerging risks, engage with uncertainty, and sustain collective action under pressure. Risk and crisis communication are central to these processes, shaping, for instance, how threats are made intelligible, how responsibilities are distributed, and how resilience is organized across institutional and societal levels.

Crisis9 explores how communication structures the governance of crises and how risk and crises, in turn, expose the limits and possibilities of contemporary governance arrangements. We welcome contributions that address emerging theories, methods, and practices in risk and crisis communication, with particular attention to the role of governance in shaping public trust, societal readiness, resilience, responsibility, and democratic legitimacy.

PhD Best Paper Award

The Organizing Committee will select the best PhD paper, which will receive a monetary award of USD 500,00 from the Crisis Communication Think Tank.

Special Issue in Business Horizons

Papers accepted for presentation at Crisis9 will be invited to submit to a special issue of Business Horizons titled “Managing for Tomorrow: How Organizational Culture, Values, and Character Impact Crisis Management and Crisis Communication.” The special issue is guest-edited by Dr. Yan Jin, Dr. Timothy Coombs, and Dr. Yijing Wang.

Key dates

Abstract submission

Submit an abstract for standard open sessions (max. 250 words) or panels (max. 500 words, 4-5 participants) by 2 April 2027.