Belfast conference

On Friday 14th June 2013 the Conor Lecture Theatre, University of Ulster, Belfast, hosted a conference on the theme Public relations and strategic communication in divided societies. Forty delegates from politics, business, civil society and academia registered to attend the conference and participate in debates initiated by the keynote and conference panels. Conference papers were presented by communication scholars from five continents who examined the role of public relations and strategic communication in countries and regions divided by deep societal cleavages along racial, ethnic, religious or linguistic lines. In addition to the conference papers a YECREA workshop session was presented by OSC young scholar representative Laura Olkkonen (University of Jyvaskyla).

This Organisational and Strategic Communication (OSC) Section conference was organised by University of Ulster, School of Communication ECREA members, Dr Ian Somerville, Charis Rice, Prof Owen Hargie and Dr Pauline Irving. The conference was sponsored by the Institute for Research in the Social Sciences (IRiSS) and the HE Connected Fund of the University of Ulster.

The keynote speakers were:

Professor Maureen Taylor, Chair of Strategic Communication, University of Oklahoma, USA whose address was entitled;

‘Nation building in the Former Yugoslavia: How can public relations rebuild relationships?’

and Dr Margalit Toledano, Waikato Management School, University of Waikato, New Zealand whose address was entitled;

‘Dialogue with the enemy: Lessons for public relations from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.’