About FSMK

The Swedish Association for Media and Communication Research (FSMK) is the national association for those who do research on media and communication in some capacity or other, and for those who have a general interest in this field of research. The majority of our member are associated with university departments (as researchers, teachers, or students) but we also welcome members doing industry research, teachers of non-university courses on media and communications, media practitioners and anyone with a general interest in the field of media and communication research. We have about 200 active members. FSMK is a multidisciplinary forum where researchers from different disciplines can meet and exchange information and experiences. The overall goal of FSMK is to promote better conditions and increased resources for research on media and communication, and to strengthen training in the field. FSMK also seeks to stimulate interest in research and contribute to cooperation both between researchers and between researchers and practitioners. The association also works to encourage and stimulate debate on theoretical and methodological issues.

Activities

• FSMK organizes the annual FSMK Symposium where topical issues of media and communication research are addressed by invited speakers and panelists, and debated and discussed by the attending members.
• FSMK awards a biannual Dissertation Award to the best PhD dissertation in the field of media and communication studies in Sweden. This award is handed out at the FSMK symposium.
• FSMK, together with NORDICOM and sister organizations in Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland, plays an important part in organizing the biannual Nordic media and communication conference. The first conference took place in 1973 and FSMK hosted it for the first time in 1979 in Umeå, Sweden.
• FSMK supports PhD students nationally and internationally, e.g. through travel grants and sponsorship of the ICA Young Scholars Network.

Benefits for members

• All members of FSMK members receive a subscription to Nordicom’s journals NORDICOM-Information and NORDICOM-Review.
• All members of FSMK can attend the FSMK Symposium and the following dinner for free.
• FSMK maintains an email list that sends information about new job openings, grant opportunities, conferences, new books/journal issues, new publication venues, etc. to all subscribing members.
• FSMK offers travel grants to Swedish PhD students for attending the biannual Nordic media and communication conference.

History

FSMK was founded in 1977 under the name of FSM (Swedish Association of Mass Communication Researchers). In its first decade, the Association worked to build media and communication studies up as a distinct research area. The Association’s first chairman was Professor Kjell Nowak at the Stockholm School of Economics, a pioneer of Swedish media and communication research. During this time, the Association also played a very active part in strengthening the Nordic cooperation between media researchers and creating links between academic and industry research.