A two-day international conference titled “The Nation and Its Imaginations,” organized by the Department of Media and Communication under the School of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (SLASS) at Independent University, Bangladesh (IUB), concluded on Thursday at the university’s campus in Dhaka.
The conference brought together academics, researchers, students, and practitioners from Bangladesh and abroad to examine the intersections of media, culture, and creative industries, and their role in shaping contemporary notions of the nation.
The inaugural session on April 9 was attended by IUB Vice-Chancellor Prof. Dr. M. Tamim, Pro Vice-Chancellor Prof. Dr. Daniel W. Lund, and SLASS Dean Prof. Dr. Bokhtiar Ahmed, among others. The opening keynote was delivered by Prof. Craig Batty, Pro Vice-Chancellor of the College of Creative Arts, Design and Humanities at the University of Adelaide, Australia, focusing on creative practice and research innovation.
The second day began with a keynote by Prof. Lund, who addressed the relationship between media, audience perception, and cognitive dissonance.
Across the two days, four parallel sessions featured a total of 36 research paper presentations by scholars from various universities and institutions. The sessions covered a wide range of themes, including the digital economy and platform labor, media globalization and cultural production, gender and representation, youth identity and social media, folk culture and heritage, film and visual media, urban subcultures, and political iconography.
The conference featured three panel discussions. The first, “Pixels, Platforms, and Creativity: Technology Reshaping the Creative Industries,” examined the impact of technological change on creative practices. The second, “Diversity Dynamics: Creative and Cultural Industries in Flux,” focused on evolving structures within the sector. The final panel, “From Ecosystem to Screen: Sustaining Bangladeshi Cinema,” brought together practitioners and academics to discuss the challenges and future of the national film industry.
A workshop titled “Creative Practice Research: Practical Workshop of Imagination in Action” was held on the second day, offering participants insights into research methodologies in media and cultural studies. The conference also included a screening of the film Delupi (2025).
On the evening of the first day, a conference dinner was held, during which the Bangladesh Cultural and Creative Industries Research Group was formally launched, marking the country’s first scholarly network dedicated to the study of culture and creative industries.
Participants included academics from institutions such as the University of Dhaka, University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh, United International University, American International University-Bangladesh, Daffodil International University, Stamford University Bangladesh, and BGMEA University of Fashion & Technology, among others.
Organisers said the conference aimed to provide a platform for interdisciplinary dialogue and to contribute to ongoing discussions on the development of Bangladesh’s creative industries, while encouraging collaboration between academia and industry.
