alvaro.diego.herrera.arango@umontreal.ca

I am currently ending my Ph. D in Communication.  I work on the role of indigenous knowledges in friction with universal discourses such as human rights and development in the Amazon. This thesis makes part of a more general interest on dialogues across difference in the construction of the global, either through media or physical interaction. How to deal with multiple differences in the contemporary global encounters? What is produced in the dialogues among differentiated worldviews and cultures? What is the role of power in such dialogues? With these questions in mind, I have participated in several research projects about international communication and development and about the construction of inclusive public spheres in the midst of diversity.

IN3 The Open University of Catalonia
Contact: larroyop@uoc.edu

Lidia Arroyo Prieto holds a Masters in Advanced Studies in Sociology (Autonomous University of Barcelona, UAB) and a degree in Sociology (UAB). She is full-time researcher assistant at Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (UOC, Open University of Catalonia) within the Research Program “Mobile Communication, Economy & Society”. Mobile communication and elderly people is currently her main research issue. Besides these activities, she has research experience with qualitative research on gender issues in the labour market and the youth field. In 2011 she was awarded with the Young Sociologist Contest Prize by the Catalan Association of Sociology, an affiliate society of the Institute of Catalan Studies.
http://in3.uoc.edu/opencms_portalin3/opencms/en/investigadors/list/arroyo_prieto_lidia

Daniel has a Bachelor’s degree in Communication and Advertising from the Universidad del Pacífico in Santiago of Chile, and a Master’s degree in Research in Sociology from the Universitat de Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain. He received a grant by the Agency of University and Research Grants Management in 2008 for postgraduate education at Catalonia. He is currently enrolled at the Open University of Catalonia as research assistant for the Mobile Communication, Economy and Society program since late 2011. His interests concern the sociology of communication, organizations and networks, political behavior, and ICTs.

Concordia University
Contact: mariam.esseghaier@gmail.com

Mariam Esseghaier is a student in the Joint PhD Program in Communication offered by Concordia University, l’Université de Montréal, and l’Université du Québec à Montréal.  She completed a Master of Arts in English literature from Wilfrid Laurier University in 2008 and a Master of Arts in Popular Culture from Brock University in 2010.  From January 2010 to May 2010, Mariam travelled to Tunisia, North Africa, where she studied Arabic and explored the country.  Mariam’s area of research focuses on the commodification of Muslim women in Western popular culture, with an emphasis on the representation of young Muslim women.