ENCORE is dedicated to organizing and supporting unifying, international scientific events -such as conferences, symposia, and roundtables -both in person and online. These initiatives aim to foster deep academic discourse and bridge international scholarship within the field. A prime example of this mission is the milestone conference hosted at CELSA – Sorbonne Université in Paris in April 2026, which brought together over twenty scholars from fifteen countries. Moving forward, the network will continue to create these vital collaborative platforms to sustain long-term research. By uniting global perspectives, ENCORE ensures a rigorous and multidimensional exploration of the Eurovision Song Contest.
Research Activities
Paris 2026 Conference
Organizing Committee
Sébastien Appiotti is Associate Professor at CELSA – Sorbonne University.
His research focuses on photographic practices in cultural contexts, the digital transformation of cultural institutions, and the Eurovision Song Contest.
He has conducted extensive fieldwork in France and abroad, in museums and cultural institutions such as the Grand Palais, MoMA, and the Smithsonian Institution.
Author of Prendre des photos au musée? (2022), he has also co-edited several collective volumes on semiotics and communication.
He is regularly invited by media outlets (France Culture, Libération, Huffington Post, M6, among others) as an expert on contemporary cultural practices.
Lisa Bolz is an Associate Professor at CELSA Sorbonne University. Her research focuses on media history, digital and international journalism, digital media cultures, and the Eurovision Song Contest.
Johan Boittiaux is Associate Professor of Communication and Media studies at Sorbonne Paris Nord University. A member of the Labsic research center, his work explores cultures of entertainment, tourism, and leisure through multiple perspectives, including professional discourses and practices, the scenography of spaces, audience appropriation, and the mediatization of societal and environmental issues. His research particularly examines the intersections between cultural industries, societal transformations, and the reshaping of spatial environments.
Philippe Le Guern is a full professor of art theory and anthropology of contemporary worlds at the University of Rennes 2. His research focuses on the « politics of sound » and how art and culture record and reveal the changes in the contemporary world. Part of his work and publications focus on Eurovision Song Contest, and its viewers and fans.
Marie-Caroline Neuvillers has been an Associate Professor at the University of Avignon since 2021. Her research focuses on media dispositifs and forms, particularly in digital contexts, and on their appropriation by audiences, while also examining their articulation with and connections to so-called traditional media. Among her current research projects, she investigates the circulation of touristic imaginaries as well as media representations of the Eurovision Song Contest.