Crisis9 invites scholars and practitioners to examine governance at the forefront of risk and crisis communication. The "CRISIS9 – ECREA Risk & Crisis Communication Section" conference will take place from Monday 4 October to Wednesday 6 October 2027 and is organised by the Department of Media and Communication of Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication (ESHCC).
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.
Abstract submission
Submit an abstract for open sessions (max. 250 words) or panels (max. 500 words, 5-6 participants) by 2 April 2027 at crisis9@eshcc.eur.nl.
Key dates
Deadline for submission of abstracts | April 2, 2027 | crisis9@eshcc.eur.nl
Deadline for submission of panels | April 2, 2027 | crisis9@eshcc.eur.nl
Kindly mention ‘Crisis 9 submission’ in the email’s subject line.
Notification of authors | May 7, 2027
Registration open: May 10, 2027
Early bird by June 30, 2027
Late registration: starting with July 1, 2027
Registration closes: September 6, 2027.
