The Programme for Comparative Media Law and Policy at the University of Oxford and the Center for Global Communication Studies at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania are pleased to host the 14th annual Annenberg-Oxford Media Policy Summer Institute, to be held from Monday, June 18 to Friday, June 29, 2012 at the University of Oxford.

The annual summer institute brings together young scholars and regulators to discuss important recent trends in technology, international politics and development and its influence on media policy. Participants come from around the world; countries represented at previous summer institute include Thailand, Kenya, China, Brazil, Egypt, Nigeria, Jordan, Italy and Bosnia, among others.

This year the summer institute seeks, as part of the cohort, researchers and academics (PhD candidates and early career academics, for example), who will come with a research project related to the general subject of the seminar. Research generally related to the work of the Center for Global Communication Studies and the Programme for Comparative Media Law and Policy is especially welcome, and some participants will be asked to present their research.

The seminars this year will focus on several key areas, including media governance in India and China and strategic communication in conflict and post-conflict and transitional environments, particularly in the Middle East and Africa. At the same time, the successful curriculum that has been the foundation of the program over the years will continue, with sessions covering global media policy issues such as media and economic/social development, freedom of information, internet regulation and convergence. Part of the course will be devoted to new developments in comparative approaches to regulation, looking at Ofcom in the UK and other agencies, including examples from the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

The seminar brings together a wide range of participants from around the globe and provides them with an environment in which significant policy issues are seriously discussed. The richness of the experience comes from exposure to a variety of speakers and from the discussions among participants themselves.