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 association’s forthcoming conference Minority Language Media in Uncertain Times – to be held at North-West University in South Africa, July 2023.

Alongside his research, Craig served as the Assistant Editor of the Journal on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe (JEMIE) between February 2021 and January 2024. 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. He was also a member of the Scientific Committee for the XIX International Conference on Minority Languages held in Carmarthen, Wales in June 2023. 

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. 

Selected publications

Willis, C. (2024) 'Divergence and convergence: The implications of shifting media consumption habits on the field of minority language media studies', Catalan Journal of Communication and Cultural Studies, 16(1), pp. 117-127. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1386/cjcs_00100_1

​​​​​​​Willis, C. (2024) 'Minority language broadcasting beyond the core audience: the approach of BBC Alba and S4C to non-speakers of Scottish Gaelic and Welsh', International Journal of Cultural Policy. DOI: doi.org/10.1080/10286632.2024.2321256

Schweikard, D. P. & Willis, C. (2024) ‘Universal Basic Income as a Tool against Minority Marginalization’. In Weiss (ed) Minorities in Global History: Cultures of Integration and Patterns of Exclusion. Bloomsburg Academic, pp. 187-204.

Willis, C. & Volgger, J. (2024) 'Unity under one roof? Identity and language in the context of FC Südtirol and their fanbase', EUreka - Eurac Research Science Blog, 9 January. www.eurac.edu/en/blogs/eureka/unity-under-one-roof-identity-and-language-in-the-context-of-fc-sudtirol-and-thei

Willis, C. (2023) 'The Galician TikTok channel offering a model of success for minority language public broadcasters', Media@LSEBlog, 13 September. London School of Economics and Political Science. Available at: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/medialse/2023/09/13/the-galician-tiktok-channel-offering-a-model-of-success-for-minority-language-public-broadcasters/

Willis, C. (2023) 'Minority Language Media and TikTok: Are Broadcasters Showing They Are Still Relevant for Younger Audiences?', ECMI Minorities Blog. DOI: https://doi.org/10.53779/QLMM1477

Bober, S. & Willis, C. (2023) ‘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

Selected conferences/workshops/guest lectures

7 April 2024: British Association of Slavonic and Eastern European Studies (BASEES) Annual Conference. Title of contribution: Kin state minorities and media consumption (Roundtable Chair and Convenor).

5 April 2024: British Association of Slavonic and Eastern European Studies (BASEES) Annual Conference. Title of contribution: Football clubs and kin-state ties: the cases of Zrinjski Mostar and DAC 1904.

12 January 2024: Next Generations Literacies Network Conference, University of Hamburg. Title of contribution: Access to media and the German minority in Denmark: negotiating the digital switch of Der Nordschleswiger (with Sergiusz Bober).

13 September 2023: Catalan Media, Past and Present: Press, TV, Radio and Other News Outlets – Conference. Queen Mary University of London. Title of contribution: Media Institutions and TikTok – an overview of Catalan outlets in comparison to Basque and Galician.

23 June 2023: International Conference on Minority Languages, Carmarthen. Title of contribution: Minority languages and football clubs: a study of linguistic landscapes and language practices of clubs and their fans (with Will Hughes and Sergiusz Bober).

22 June 2023: International Conference on Minority Languages, Carmarthen. Title of contribution: The impact of media on the revitalization and use of minority languages: insights from an international Delphi study (with Miren Manias-Muñoz and Sergiusz Bober).

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

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