Iscte – University Institute of Lisbon will host the IPSA RC04 Workshop: Visual Politics of Protest, a three-day international workshop dedicated to analysing the visual politics of contemporary protests, which will take place between 14 and 16 July 2026, in Lisbon.
Organised by the Research Committee on Visual Politics (RC04) of the International Political Science Association (IPSA), and hosted locally by CEI-Iscte, the event will bring together researchers and professionals from different fields to discuss the role of images, symbols and visual practices in protests, as well as their political, social and cognitive impact.
The workshop will be coordinated by Sima Baidya (Jawaharlal Nehru University, India), Chair of RC04, and Martín Plot (UNSAM-CONICET, Argentina), Vice-Chair, and proposes a theoretical, empirical and interdisciplinary approach to the visual politics of protest. Over three days, issues such as the performativity of protests, the power relations inscribed in political visuality, the role of the media and social networks, and the construction of counter-publics and civil society will be explored.
The programme includes seven thematic panels, including an inaugural panel and a closing round table, covering different dimensions of the visual politics of protest. RC04 invites submissions from researchers, teachers, cultural journalists, art critics, artists, activists and professionals in the creative fields.
Proposals may focus on the following topics, among others: protest sites (visual and non-visual), theories of visual politics, visual narratives, political communication, the affective impact of the visuality of protests, media framing, and relations with counter-publics and civil society.
The working language of the workshop will be English. Abstracts should be up to 500 words long and accompanied by a brief biographical note of 100 words.
Important dates:
- Call for Papers launch: 1 February 2026
- Deadline for abstract submission: 31 March 2026
- Acceptance notification: 30 April 2026
- Full text submission: 30 June 2026
- Registration opens: 1 May 2026
- Registration closes: 30 June 2026
Up-to-date information about the event can be found here.