Institute of Media Studies

Images in Motion and Moving Images:

Gender, Power & Mobility

19th – 21st November 2025 

Joint conference of the DGPuK Divisions of „Media, Public Sphere, Gender“ and „Visual Communication“

From baby monitors to livestreams, from migrants crossing borders to digital navigation systems in our pockets; from Black Lives Matter demonstrations to COVID-19 tracking apps, and from Woman, Life, Freedom to influencers staging their journeys through social media – these examples demonstrate how people get and are set in motion with and through "their" media.

But who or what is actually mobile? How do people on the move become visible through mobile, networked media technologies, and who or what remains invisible? What role do gender and power relations play in this? How do mobilities and visualities shape each other? To what extent do different social categories and inequalities shape regimes of mobility and visibility from an intersectional perspective? In addition, the discussion of methodological challenges will be given space: How can mobile media use be analysed when both people and media are constantly moving? How can research methods be flexibilised to adequately capture the ephemerality of visual content and the processuality of media practices? This conference invites to engage with the topic of mobility from a media and communication studies perspective, both theoretically and methodologically.

Link to extensive Call for Papers (English) / Call for Papers (German)

Submission (Deadline: 30th June 2025)

Submissions are welcome in the following formats:

  1. Individual presentation (15 min) – Extended Abstract (800 words)
  2. Panel (90 min with 4 to max. 5 presentations on the same main topic, discussed from different perspectives)
  3. Interactive format – please contact the organizers if you are interested in this option.
  • Submission in German and English are welcome.
  • You will find the link to the conference tool here shortly.
  • You will find the details on submission modalities in the Call for Papers (English) / Call for Papers (German)

Please submit your contributions anonymously via ConfTool!

Conference Dates and Contact

The conference will take place at the Institute of Media Studies (Chair for Digitalization and Social Responsibility; Prof. Dr. Martina Thiele) at the University of Tübingen.

The event will begin on 19 November 2025 with a get-together to provide an opportunity for initial exchange. The conference itself will last two days and will end in the early afternoon of 21 November 2025.

Local Organization Team:
Dr. Helena Atteneder, Prof. Dr. Martina Thiele, Julia Fischer
Contact: mobilityspam prevention@mewi.uni-tuebingen.de

Division Speakers DGPuK 
Dr. Helena Atteneder, Dr. Yener Bayramoglu 
(Media, Public Sphere and Gender)
Dr. Seraina Tarnutzer, Dr. Maria Schreiber 
(Visual Communication)

Workshop for Early-Career Researchers

As part of the conference, there will be workshops for early career researchers. These are aimed at doctoral and master’s students whose projects touch on issues of media, publicity and gender, and/or visual communication and who would like to discuss their work with experts. Participation is explicitly open to all doctoral and master's students, regardless of their affiliation with the departments. A thematic connection to the conference theme is not required. The workshop will be organized by the pre-doc speakers of the two research groups.

Call for Papers

For the Division “Visual Communication”:
Lisa Plumeier (lisa.plumeierspam prevention@filmuniversitaet.de
Friederike Jage-D’Aprile (f.jage-daprilespam prevention@filmuniversitaet.de

For the Division “Media, Public Sphere and Gender”:
Victoria Kratel (victoria.kratelspam prevention@kristiania.no)
Miriam Siemon (miriam.siemonspam prevention@fu-berlin.de)

Agenda

The event will begin on 19 November 2025 with a get-together and will end in the early afternoon of 21 November 2025.

A detailed agenda will be published in September.

Information on Application

Details will be published shortly

Recommendations on Accommodation

We recommend booking accommodation as early as possible, as Tübingen is a small university town and accommodation is often booked up quickly. A list of possible accommodation options can be found here.