HWS News
16 July 2026 Shafer Curates Global Media Conference
As program curator for #IFM 2026, Associate Professor Leah Shafer helped shape an international discussion on digital media, technology and culture.
This year, Associate Professor of Media and Society Leah Shafer was in charge of organizing #IFM 2026, a global media conference. A member of the Interactive Film & Media conference’s organizing committee since 2023, Shafer was responsible for curating the conference panels for the conference which was held online June 9-12.
Leah Shafer
Associate Professor of Media and Society
#IFM is a global initiative that explores digital theory, big data, social media, games, virtual reality and interactivity in film and media through a multidisciplinary lens. The theme of this year’s conference was “Yet-to-be-known.”
In addition to curating the conference program, Shafer moderated a panel that featured the work of her HWS colleague, Assistant Professor of Media and Society Iskandar Zulkarnain who presented “Hate5six and the Politics of BIPOC Punk Archivism.” The presentation focused on innovative digital archives of live punk performances.
“I look forward to this conference every year,” Shafer says, “because it creates space for genuine discussion between a global community of scholars and makers. The panel right before the one I moderated, for example, featured scholars based in Korea, India and Finland.”
Shafer has been involved with the conference for several years and has served on the organizing committee for the past three. As a committee member, Shafer helps select the conference theme, organize the program, choose panel and research creation sessions, and coordinate speakers and events. The conference is held entirely online.
The IFM Conferences feature a blend of live virtual events and online platforms. This hybrid format reaches a global audience, transcending the limitations of physical spaces and bringing together voices, questions and solutions that resonate worldwide.
The conference also maintains a dynamic year-round presence through streaming and social media, hosting workshops and speaker series – which Shafer helps produce.
Shafer’s article “The Radical Restorative Justice of The People’s CDC” was published in the #IFM journal and she is contributing a chapter on a research-creation project to a book edited by #IFM conference director Hudson Moura.
