Craig Willis
Dr. Craig Willis is a Researcher at the ECMI, focusing on minority language communities. This is primarily in the context of media within which he completed his cumulative PhD dissertation. He is also Chair of the recently launched COST Action on Language Plurality in Europe’s Changing Media Sphere (PLURILINGMEDIA), CA23105. This will run for 4 years, until October 2028, with the ECMI as the Grant Holder Institution. 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 International Conference on Minority Languages XX to be held in Bogota in June 2025.
Craig defended his PhD in October 2024 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. Within this, he was completed a Visiting Researcher stay at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid in the autumn semester of 2021. 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. 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.
Willis, C. (2025) ‘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, 31(1), pp. 82-97. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10286632.2024.2321256
Willis, C. (2024) ‘Minority language media and TikTok: exploring usage by broadcasters and news outlets in Basque, Catalan and Galician’, Media@LSE Working Paper Series, #75, 2024. https://www.lse.ac.uk/media-and-communications/assets/documents/research/working-paper-series/WP75.pdf
Willis, C. & Uribe-Jongbloed, E. (2024) 'Evaluating the introduction of Scottish Gaelic broadcaster, BBC Alba', Treatises and Documents, Journal of Ethnic Studies, 93, pp. 81-104. https://doi.org/10.2478/tdjes-2024-0013.
Willis, C. (2024) ‘How do nonspeakers view minority language media? A comparison of Basque, Catalan, Galician, Scottish Gaelic and Welsh public broadcasters’, International Journal of Communication, 18, pp. 3752-3771. https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/21200/4721
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) ‘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.
11 December 2024: KURS Kolloquium Herbst 2024, Europa Universität Flensburg. Title of Contribution: Basque Media Outlets' Use of TikTok to Reach Different Audience Segments (w/ Maddi Dorronsorro).
7 November 2024: Shaping Policy for Minority Languages and Multilingualism, Mercator Research – Leeuwarden. Title of Contribution: Minority language media in language promotion: evaluating the policies of BBC Alba and S4C towards non-speakers.
7 November 2024: Shaping Policy for Minority Languages and Multilingualism, Mercator Research – Leeuwarden. Title of Contribution: Current policy challenges of minority language media in the context of international law (w/ Noémi Nagy).
18 October 2024: International Symposium on Language Ideologies and Attitudes, University of the Balearic Islands, Palma de Mallorca. Title of Contribution: Non-Speakers’ attitudes towards minority language broadcasting: a five case comparison.
2 September 2024: 54th UACES Annual Conference – University of Trento. Title of contribution: Linguistic Diversity in Europe’s media: minority language media and their audiences (Panel Convenor and Discussant).
12 August 2024: ECPR General Conference – University College Dublin. Title of Contribution: Minority language broadcasting: an institution between bridge-builder and imagined community?
9 July 2024: International Association of Minority Language Media Research – 3rd Biennual Conference, North-West University – Mahikeng, South Africa. Title of Contribution: The targeting of non-speakers in the contemporary strategies of minority language broadcasters.
24 May 2024: Contested Languages in the Old World (CLOW), Conference #4, Institute for Slavic Studies – Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw. Title of Contribution: The contested usage of Sardinian at Cagliari Calcio football club.
16 May 2024: 5th PROFEEDBACK Conference, National University of Political Studies and Public Administration, Bucharest. Title of Contribution: Evaluating the introduction of Scottish Gaelic public broadcasting.
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.
