The #PRethics Community
April 8, 2026 CONCLAVE, Lisbon, Portugal
(Award term/year summer 2026 - summer 2027)

Call for Proposals (up to $10,000)

We are pleased to announce the call for research awards focusing on the intersection of ethics with deceptive practices in the public relations industry. In public relations and strategic communication globally as well as in society at-large, credible data from Pew Research, Gallup, and other major polling organizations document a record lack of public trust in institutions, government, business, news media, and  the credibility of our own field. In today's rapidly evolving media and technological landscape, it is essential to explore the ethical implications of deceptive communication strategies and create ethical guidelines and standards  to prevent, counter, and resolve these practices, for the betterment of our field, to ensure responsible and effective practices for the sake of civil society in the future. Gaslighting, disinformation, manipulation, and other deceptive practices are becoming rampant, and we need serious ethical examination of key culprits in human behavior / policy / practice and ways to counter these unethical activities and motives.

This award will fund research seeking to improve the ethical efficacy of our field in countering these unethical practices.

Focus Areas:

• Ethical considerations of gaslighting in strategic communication practices
• Anticipating gaslighting through AI and technological problems of deception  (misinformation, disinformation, information warfare)
• Case studies of gaslighting and ethical challenges they pose for communication strategy
• Innovative approaches to ethical decision-making in leadership contexts and how to counter unethical activities
• Implications of emerging technologies for public relations ethics (AI, data use, etc.) through a futurist lens
• Implications for the public relations / strategic communication field, relative to the increased normalization versus industrywide rejection of deceptive practices (gaslighting, disinformation, information warfare)
• Theoretical applications of moral philosophy and other theory building approaches for ethics
• Power, influence, lobbying and deception and ethical means of countering unethical public relations strategies and tactics

Eligibility Criteria:
Methods are open and all areas of exploration are welcome.

Applicants (all named on the proposal as investigators) must be members of the Global Strategic Communication Consortium in good standing as of the end of the last calendar year.
(Planned graduate assistant and post doctoral support does not need to meet the GSCC membership requirement). At least one author must present the winning project at Conclave 2027 as detailed below. If a team, all member-authors are encouraged to attend.

Projects should demonstrate a clear focus on both ethics and deception (or gaslighting) within the realm of strategic communication.

Submission Guidelines:
Submissions should be a maximum of 4 pages in APA style, including brief conceptualization (full literature review is not needed), research questions, methods, a budget specifying funds, and all personnel with their roles listed (e.g., “doctoral student for data analysis”) (with references not included in page limit).  Open access fees for journals are eligible to be included in the project budget. Other than graduate students and contract workers, teams must be only GSCC members as of the last calendar year. 

Proposals should include a clear research question, methodology, budget, and expected outcomes and potential outlets of publication.

Applicants must also submit a timeline for their proposed research.

The deadline for submission is midnight eastern US time, June 30, 2026.

Please submit proposals by email of MS Word file to Shannon Bowen, sbowen@sc.edu, and Elina Erzikova, erzik1e@cmich.edu.

Award Details:
This is an annual award of any amount up to $10,000 USD. We encourage researchers to use funds for data collection. Authors are eligible to apply only once per year.

As this is an award, not a grant, so budgets should not include overhead, percent of effort, or course buy out.

Budget terms should specify research activities during the year July, 2026 – July, 2027. 

The winner is required to attend and present results (at least one author) at the GSCC Conclave, May 2027, Dubrovnik. The award does not cover travel expenses to Croatia but may be used to cover Conclave registration fees, planned closer to the date, but estimated to be €225/person.

Successful applicants will receive funding to support their research project. Projects supported by this award must bear the acknowledgement in all future papers, chapters, presentations, PowerPoints, training materials, webinars, or any kind of publications: “Study supported by The #PRethics Community Public Relations Ethics Award of the Global Strategic Communication Consortium, University of South Carolina.”

Proposals will be competitively judged based on the quality, originality, and relevance of the proposed research. They do not need to be prepared for blind review as they are considered for GSCC members only.

Award winners will also be given preference in future publications of the GSCC (special issues, Handbooks, etc.) or opportunities to publish with our institutional affiliates.

Award winners are required to submit an abstract to present at the next GSCC Conclave (completed research or research in progress categories for the Conclave). Upon submission of the full, final research paper to the GSCC, the final monies due in the award will be released to winners. Budgets can include 70% upfront payment and 30% upon delivery of the final paper (can be timed a bit later than the Conclave to allow for revisions based on the presentation and questions).

Contact Information:
For inquiries or further information, please contact Drs. Bowen or Erzikova, sbowen@sc.edu, erzik1e@cmich.edu.

We look forward to receiving your innovative research proposals exploring the ethical implications of deception in public relations and strategic communication.