"Research Communities (RC)" in the Department of Communication and Media refer to collaborative communities in which faculty and students with shared research interests gather to share and "bounce off" ideas and to get feedback on participants' ongoing research. There are currently four RC’s, Global Media Studies Initiatives (GMSI), Media Psychology Working Group (MPWG), Media Studies Research Workshop (MSRW), and Political Communication Working Group (PCWG). Each RC organizes regular meetings, graduate mentoring sessions, and workshops, lectures, and symposia on topics pertinent to the research community.
The Global Media Studies Initiative (GMSI) is an innovative cross-disciplinary research center at the U-M. It serves as a global hub for academics, students, media practitioners, and others to explore and discuss media and communication technologies, cultures, and industries in an international, comparative, and historical fashion.
The Media Psychology Working Group is an interdisciplinary meeting of social science scholars who study media exposure and how media impact people’s thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. We aim to provide a space for faculty and students to workshop current research projects, network with scholars in the field, and collaborate with one another.
Media Studies Research Workshop (MSRW) is a bi-monthly meeting open to all, but primarily an opportunity for those working in critical media studies traditions to experience an environment of collaboration and mentoring similar to the role played by labs in the social science tradition.
The Political Communication Working Group (PCWG) brings together an inter-disciplinary group of students and faculty working in political communication at the University of Michigan. We include scholars in both political communication and media psychology in the Department of Communication and Media, and students from both Communication and Media and Political Science.
