Series Preface

The field of public relations has never been more vibrant. There are more scholars, more projects, more conferences, more publications and more outlets than ever before. Over the last decades, the European Public Relations Education and Research Association (EUPRERA) and its members have played a key part in this development. EUPRERA works to stimulate and promote innovative knowledge and practices of public relations education and research in Europe. The association facilitates networking among its members, runs several cross-national research projects and a PhD seminar, in addition to its annual congress. It is on the heels of the latter event that the new series Advances in public relations and communication management now is published in cooperation with Emerald. With the series, we offer some of the best papers presented at the annual congress. All contributions are peer reviewed (double blind) in order to bring you, the reader, the best of new and exciting research in our area.

Each volume in Advances in public relations and communication management will be edited by the local organiser of the recent annual congress, the Head of the Scientific Committee of EUPRERA, as well as the EUPRERA President. The editorial team reviews and selects the strongest work from the many full papers submitted. Each congress has a topic chosen by the local organiser in cooperation with the EUPRERA board, something that obviously will be reflected in each volume in the series. Previous topics have included communication ethics, public values and cultural identity, to mention a few. The topic of the 2015 congress in Oslo concerned the relationship between the disciplines of public relations and management, while the 2016 congress in Groningen/Amsterdam showcases how strategic communication shapes values and innovation in society. In 2017, we will gather in London under the heading ‘Public relations and the power of creativity – Strategic opportunities, innovation and critical challenges’.

EUPRERA traces its roots back to 1959, when the association CERP Education & Research was founded. In 2000, the name EUPRERA was adopted. The location of the annual congress speaks volumes about an association that now involves the whole of Europe. Berlin, Milan, Warsaw, Bled, Tallinn, Leipzig, Lisbon, Carlisle, Roskilde/Lund, Bucharest, Jyvaskyla, Leeds, Istanbul, Barcelona, Brussels, Oslo, Groningen/Amsterdam, and London are some of the recent host locations. As an association, we pride ourselves that we represent large parts of the academic public relations community in Europe, counting approximately 500 professors, lecturers and researchers as members. With the advent of the new series, we also hope to strengthen the congress experience of our members and to attract new members. Most importantly, however, we see the series as a crucial platform for high quality research and Pan-European cooperation.