AMECEA: SIGNIS Issues Call for Papers on Digital Communication Ahead of World Congress
Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA
Ahead of the first edition of the quadrennial gathering of the World Catholic Association for Communication (SIGNIS) to be held on the African continent, the organizers have issued a call for abstracts from researchers on digital communication.
The congress scheduled to take place in Kigali, Rwanda, from Monday, August 3rd to Saturday, August 8th, 2026, will be under the theme “Digital Communication for Cultural Harmony and Environmental Well-Being.”
Academics, researchers, media professionals, scholars, and experts working in the fields of digital, environmental, and religious and cultural communication are invited to submit abstracts of no more than 300 words via the Congress website at www.signiscongresskigali2026.rw. The deadline for submissions is April 30th, with accepted abstracts to be notified by June 15th.
The World Congress is a global event held every four years for Catholic media professionals and non-Catholics who share SIGNIS’s ideals. It brings together participants to connect, share experiences, and discuss the future of media, guided by a mission to transform cultures with the Gospel’s values of dignity, justice, and reconciliation.
Previous congresses have been held in Rome (2005), Chiang Mai (2009), Rome (2014), Québec (2017), and Seoul (2022).
The Kigali edition will feature plenary sessions delivered by distinguished speakers, alongside two parallel sessions in which paper presenters will engage with the congress theme through various sub-themes.
Some suggested themes for the research presenters include: ‘Digital Communication for peaceful co-existence and social development, Environmental Communication and the Care for Creation, Digital Communication for Equity, Gender Equality and Empowerment, Protecting Children and Youth in the digital space, Artificial Intelligence (AI) in contemporary media environment, Digital Media Literacy and Digital Discipleship Connected in Faith.
According to the President of SIGNIS Africa, Fr. Walter Chikwendu Ihejirika, in a message to AMECEA Online, the “Papers to be presented will be peer reviewed and later be published in an edited book or in the SIGNIS Journal for Religious, Cultural and Humanitarian Studies.”
