Observing and analysing communication professions and professional practices and how they are changing is an important aspect of the Centre's research activities. Analysing the role of practitioners and the media representation systems to which they refer in their work is particularly important in the professional field of communication, where few of them have been trained in communication. The social, economic, media and technological upheavals we are currently witnessing mean that these issues are taking on even greater importance, leading to a redefinition of the status of communicators and journalists, their practices and their positioning both in their own field and in global society.
Drawing on the mutual enrichment of epistemological positions specific to the different professional universes that cross the field of communication (such as public relations, journalism and educational communication), the Centre's research in this area focuses on themes such as the construction of professional identities and cultures, the challenges posed by digital technologies, and the legitimisation of communication professions in the fields of public relations, mediation, advertising, educational communication and journalism.
The main fields of observation include the analysis of the conditions of media production, its media and its objects, the analysis of the evolution of professions and their techniques, the study of the legitimacy and legitimation of communication professions as well as the development of knowledge and the construction of professional identities. This focus on professional practices is fuelled by the organisation of seminars and initiatives aimed at creating interface areas and regular exchanges between researchers and professionals. Field practices are also a key focus of the Research Centre's observations and studies. This interest in practices is also reflected in doctoral research (completed or in progress) and publications proposing conceptualisations based on observations of the constitution and evolution of the professional field.