This special event will be brought to you by a unique partnership of the UNESCO Chair for Sport, Development, Peace and Olympic Education at UWC and the International Association for Communication and Sport ( IACS). IACS is an organization focused on the advancement of knowledge in the academic disciplines of communication and sport.
In the midst of local, continental and global political challenges and leadership changes the focus on uniting our efforts for Peace and Development and the importance of Sport and the Media has become paramount.
Recent scholarship in sport and media has highlighted a range of ways that mediated sport has been appropriated for the exercise of soft power: a set of tactics for securing consent for various aims using persuasion rather than force. Sport for development and peace examines efforts undertaken by the United Nations and NGOs to leverage sport as means to foster humanitarian concerns. Others have studied how nations use sport to advance diplomatic efforts and foster international cooperation. Others have focused on the use of sporting events to redirect of attention from unsavory and unpopular aspects of a regime, a process that Amnesty International has recently termed “sportswashing.”
This symposium focuses attention on these various attempts to use sport as a means of persuasion in pursuit of political objectives. Sport communication research cuts across a wide range of disciplines. This symposium will provide a common ground to host interdisciplinary discussions around key issues related to sport media’s role in the pursuit of political aims, and how they might be reimagined.
Possible contributions might address questions such as:
- How should international governance bodies address the use of sport for political ends?
- How is freedom of expression and freedom of the press interpreted in different cultural contexts, and how do these interpretations impact sport?
- What role can sports communication play as an agent for social transformation and inclusion?
- How is the mediatization of society and sports changing due to the influence of digital technologies?
- How can the United Nations and other NGOs play a mediating role?
- What role can sports communication play in achieving the SDGs and for development and peace?
The symposium seeks especially to attract interest from scholars in the Global South, and Africa in particular. Journalists, government representatives, NGOs, academia and other stakeholders are invited to participate in the conversation. We are planning an edited collection from some of the outstanding contributions to the symposium.
Submissions are limited to extended abstracts only. Submissions may not exceed 500 words in length (excluding cover and reference pages) and should be prepared for anonymous peer review (clear of any identifying information about the author(s)).
Submission Deadline: January 15, 2026. All submissions will be evaluated through an anonymous peer review process. Authors will receive a decision on their submission by February 17, 2026.
Registration Fees: The symposium will be free of charge. Attendance will include the full day of sessions, a light breakfast, lunch, and non-alcoholic beverages.
For questions about the symposium, or to submit an abstract, please contact: iacscapetownsymposium@gmail.com.
