The International Public and Political Communication (IPPC) conference, organised by the School of Journalism, Media and Communication at the University of Sheffield, takes place between Tuesday 19 and Wednesday 20 March 2024.

The theme of this year’s conference is ‘Truth, Spin and Authoritarianism in the Year of Democracy’.

With more than half the world’s population heading to the polls, many are labelling 2024 the year of democracy.

More than two billion citizens will take part in elections across 50 countries, including Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Russia, Mexico, Taiwan, South Africa, the United States and Britain. This celebration of mass suffrage, however, is taking place against a backdrop of rising authoritarianism and nativism, alongside declining levels of trust in democratic institutions and a wider, more pervasive concern over public and political truth claims.

Indeed, as citizens prepare to engage in the biggest electoral year in history, a host of actors (from traditional campaign managers, press secretaries and spin doctors, to social media influencers, troll armies, and generative AI systems) are themselves lining up to shape and influence perceptions.

Within this context, charities, NGOs and grassroots activists also have to find new, innovative ways of reaching out to distracted or overwhelmed audiences in an attempt to convince them that their “truth” is different to the many alternative truths that exist out there.

The annual IPPC conference brings together some of the most influential voices within the field of public and political communication to discuss and address these contemporary challenges.

Beginning with twin keynote addresses by Lee Cain, former Director of Communications for 10 Downing Street, and Sergei Guriev, former chief economist at the European Bank and currently the provost of Sciences Po (Paris), the conference includes a series of guest lectures, workshops and documentary screenings linked around the themes of truth, spin, authoritarianism and democracy.

We will discuss topics such as humanitarian crisis campaigning, photojournalism during elections, NGO communications during the Israel-Palestine conflict, and the use of visual images to create online diasporic communities. Students will also take part in an immersive crisis simulation exercise.

The conference also features special screenings of the documentaries Shooting the Messenger (2022), which exposes crimes against journalists reporting on the conflict in the Gaza Strip, and While We Watched (2023), which centres around the rise of disinformation in India.

As a key event in the MA International Public and Political Communication (MA IPPC) teaching calendar, the conference is principally organised for those studying on this degree. However, students from across the University are welcome to attend select talks.