Craig Willis
Craig is a Researcher at the ECMI, primarily focusing on minority language media across Europe as well as on the role of national minorities in socio-economic participation and regional development. His other research foci and past publications have covered topics such as universal basic income, the Minority SafePack Initiative, ethnic data collection. Currently he is writing his PhD on the topic of minority language media and social attitudes towards minority languages, within which he was previously also a Visiting Researcher at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, for the autumn semester 2021. Craig is also a member of the steering committee in the International Association for Minority Language Media Research and a member of the Scientific Committee for the XIX International Conference on Minority Languages to be held in Carmarthen, Wales in June 2023.
Alongside his research, Craig has been the Assistant Editor of the Journal on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe (JEMIE) since early 2021. Other organisational responsibilities have included several conference and workshops, most notably "Multi-platform and Connecting Communities: Contemporary Challenges for Minority Language Media" in March 2022. Additional organisational roles have included: the conference “Minorities and Self-Determination - 100th Anniversary of the Post-World War I Plebiscites, and previous editions of the ECMI Spring School and ECMI Summer School.
Craig is also enrolled as a PhD candidate at the Europa Universität Flensburg under the supervision of Prof. Monika Eigmüller and second supervisor Prof. Elin Haf Gruffydd Jones from the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. His previous studies include the double award MA / MSc European Studies at Europa Universität Flensburg and the University of Southern Denmark, plus also the BA Business Management from the University of Brighton, UK.
Bober, S. & Willis, C. (forthcoming) ‘The digitalization of minority language newspapers: between long-term trend and pandemic-induced adaptation’, European Yearbook of Minority Issues, Vol. 20 (2021). Brill, pp. 66-92. https://brill.com/edcollbook/title/62139
Bober, S. & Willis, C. (2023) ‘The purpose of minority language media and the digital shift: the case of Der Nordschleswiger’. In Mpofu et al. (eds.) African Language Media. London: Routledge. pp. 98-111. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003350194
Jacob-Owens, T. & Willis, C. (2023) ‘Case T-158/21 Minority SafePack: No hope for minority rights in EU law?’, European Law Blog, 30 January. https://europeanlawblog.eu/2023/01/30/case-t-158-21-minority-safepack-no-hope-for-minority-rights-in-eu-law/
Willis, C. (2022) ‘Roma and the First Wave of the Covid-19 Pandemic: Income Loss and Its Effects Across Roma Communities in Seven Non-EU Countries’, Journal on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe, 21(2), pp. 10-34. DOI: https://doi.org/10.53779/AQQL3201
Willis, C. (2022) ‘Could a new level of digitalisation offer minority language media outlets a strategy to attract a wider audience?’, ECMI Minorities Blog, 6 October (Online). https://doi.org/10.53779/SMPX1996
Bober, S. & Willis, C. (2021) ‘The Covid-19 pandemic and minority language media in Europe: the effects of spring 2020 lockdowns’, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01434632.2021.2005074
Willis, C. (2021) ‘Book Review: The Palgrave Handbook of Minority Languages and Communities’, Journal on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe, 20(2), pp. 143-147.
Willis, C. (2021) ‘Ethnic Data Collection in the United Kingdom: The Outlying Case of Northern Ireland’. In. Ventura et al. (eds.), Boosting European Security Law and Policy. Napoli: Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane. pp. 235-256.
Herault, R. & Willis, C. (2021) 'European Union Structural and Investment Funds and Celtic language: An analysis of the 2007-2020 funding period in relation to Breton, Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Welsh', MPRA Paper No. 107324. Munich: Munich University Library. Available at: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/107324/1/MPRA_paper_107324.pdf
Willis, C. (2021) ‘The Minority SafePack Initiative and Universal Basic Income: a combination to address minority issues in the European Union’, International Journal on Minority and Group Rights, 28(4), pp. 575-604. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/15718115-BJA10012
Willis, C. (2020) 'An overview of the UK’s approach to ethnic data collection in the context of the Framework Convention on the Protection of National Minorities', Journal on Ethnopolitical and Minority Issues in Europe, 19(2), pp. 47-75.
Willis, C. (2020) ‘Economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on Roma communities in Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Ukraine’, ECMI Research Paper #122. Flensburg, Germany: European Centre for Minority Issues.
Willis, C. (2020) 'Regional development performance in council areas of Scotland with the highest percentage of Gaelic speakers', ECMI Research Paper #121. Flensburg, Germany: European Centre for Minority Issues.
Willis, C. (2019) 'National minorities and regional development: A comparative overview of the Baltic States', ECMI Working Paper #117. Flensburg, Germany: European Centre for Minority Issues.
Wolf, S. & Willis, C. (2018) 'Universal basic income as a tool of empowerment for minorities', ECMI Working Paper #109. Flensburg, Germany: European Centre for Minority Issues.
30 March 2023: 10th Celtic Students Conference, University of Glasgow. Title of contribution: The role of non-Welsh and non-Scottish Gaelic Speakers in the Audience Strategies of S4C and BBC Alba.
27 March 2023: Television in Minority Languages: Scottish Gaelic and Welsh in Comparison to Galician. Guest Lecture – EOI Santiago de Compostela.
12 December 2022: The Role of Non-Speakers in the Strategies of Welsh and Scottish Gaelic Language Television: Reflections for Other Minority Language Broadcasters. Guest Lecture – Instituto da Lingua Galega, University of Santiago de Compostela.
13-16 September 2022: III International Conference on Revitalisation of Indigenous and Minoritized Languages, University of Girona. Title of contribution: The Impact of Media on the Revitalization and Use of Minority Languages: Towards Consensus Through an International Delphi Study (with Miren Manias-Muñoz and Sergiusz Bober).
25 May 2022: Non-Territorial Autonomy: Reflections for Sápmi - Cultural Autonomy and effective political and socio-economic participation for national minorities and Indigenous peoples (with David Smith). Research Seminar at Várdduo – Centre för Sámi Research, Umeå University.
11 March 2022: Political Polarisation and the Role of Media, Queen’s University Belfast. Title of contribution: Attitudes towards Basque, Catalan and Galician public broadcasters from the non-speaking audience: The influence of regional politics.
16 February 2022: Gaelic and Sámi: Sharing Knowledge on Promotion of Indigenous Languages, University of Glasgow and Umeå University. Panellist.
13 January 2022: ICES Research Colloquium HeSe 21/22, Europa Universität Flensburg. Title of contribution: Minority Language Media: Stigma, Acceptance, Linguistic Capital?
10 December 2021: Guest Lecture, NOR Research Group – University of the Basque Country. Title of contribution: The Covid-19 pandemic and minority language media in Europe: the effects of spring 2020 lockdowns.
30 November 2021: Department of Social Sciences PhD research seminar, UC3M, Madrid. Title of contribution: Minority language media and the non-native speaking audience – a comparison of six spheres.
18 August 2021: ILMA 2021 Research Seminar - North-West University, South Africa. Title of Contribution: Minority Language Media in Europe and the Covid-19 pandemic: A study of 10 linguistic spheres (with Sergiusz Bober).
21-25 June 2021: 27th International Conference of Europeanists, Council for European Studies (Online). Title of contribution: The Minority SafePack Initiative and an EU-wide Basic Income: A combination to address minority issues? (panel #148).
14-16 April 2021: Minority Experiences and European Narratives: Contemporary and Historical Perspectives, Annual Minority Seminar - Åbo Akademi University, Turku, Finland
Title of contribution: Identifying contemporary aims of minority communities at the European Union level through the lens of the Minority SafePack Initiative
24-26 March 2021: XVIII International Conference on Minority Languages
Titles of contributions: 1) The Impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on Minority Language Media in Europe: A comparative analysis. 2) Impact of the European Structural and Investment Funds in the traditional minority language speaking areas of Celtic nations.
26 November 2020: The 4th European Conference dedicated to minority and local media, Novi Sad.
Title of contribution: Minority media in Europe and the Covid-19 pandemic
19 November 2020: Annual Seminar of FUEN’s Working Group of Slavic Minorities
Keynote lecture: "The Minority SafePack Initiative and an EU-wide Basic Income: a combination for solving minority problems?"
9 September 2020: UACES Virtual Conference
Title of contribution: Universal Basic Income as a tool against minority marginalisation
