On 30-31 May, 2023, Elena Rodina and Olga Dovbysh took part in the workshop “Reimagining Incarceration and Immobility in the Nordic Countries” in Helsingborg, Sweden (the workshop was funded by the ReNEW research hub, NordForsk). Dr Rodina presented a paper «Russian exiled journalists in Nordic countries: modes of isolation and immobility», that focused on the interdisciplinarity of theoretical approach to examining today’s exiled journalistic communities. Dr Dovbysh presented the «Russian independent journalism in exile: in search of relevance and resilience» and discussed the project’s current outline, hypothesis, and plans for the upcoming research period. Other participants included Anastasia Burakova, founder of the «Ark» project, Dr Daria Krivonos (Centre of Excellence in Law, Identity and the European Narratives, University of Helsinki), Dr Sherzod Eraliev (Sociology of Law Department, Lund University) and others. The organisation and facilitation of the workshop were led by Dr Larisa Kangaspuro from the Center for Nordic Studies at the University of Helsinki. The discussion that ensued uncovered the interesting overlap between migration, migrant labor and precarity, and journalism studies when it comes to research on contemporary media in exile.
In November, Roman Horbyk from Örebro University in Sweden will present his research “Towards the Mobile Phone Doctrine(s): Hybridization of Civilian and Military Uses of Mobile Communication in the Russo-Ukrainian War”. In this talk Horbyk will present the final results of a two-year research project on the major trends highlighting how a mobile phone—an ordinary civilian device—has become weaponized and turned into a hybrid tool that integrates a number of peaceful and combat functions.
In October, Svetlana Pasti from Tampere University will present her co-authored research “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine through the prism of TV news around the world”, where she studied the coverage of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in news broadcasts of the main television news bulletins in Russia, China and Finland. The project was later expanded to include the respective TV news broadcasts in the rest of the BRICS countries – Brazil, India and South Africa – as well as in the UK and the USA.