19th Biennial Conference on Communication and Environment (COCE)
Welcome to COCE 2027 in Salt Lake City, Utah
The International Environmental Communication Association (IECA), in collaboration with the University of Utah, Utah Valley University, and Utah State University, invites scholars, artists, practitioners, and activists to the 19th Biennial Conference on Communication and Environment (COCE). Taking place 21-25 June 2027 in Salt Lake City, Utah, COCE 2027 will bring together participants from around the world through a hybrid format that supports both in-person and virtual presentation, participation, and exchange.
Since 1991, COCE has provided a forum for critical and creative collaboration across disciplines and sectors working in environmental communication. At a time when ecological and social conditions are rapidly changing, COCE 2027 asks a fundamental question: what holds us together? Guided by the theme Seeking Refuge: Communicating Care in an Age of Adaptation, Migration, and Changing Ecologies, the conference will explore how people, communities, institutions, and more-than-human worlds seek, create, communicate, and sustain refuge in times of uncertainty and transformation.
Reflecting this spirit of collaboration, COCE 2027 is hosted through a partnership among three universities—University of Utah, Utah Valley University, and Utah State University—bringing together diverse perspectives, expertise, and resources from across the region. Set within Utah's distinctive high-desert landscapes and connected through a robust virtual platform, the conference will create opportunities for dialogue, creativity, learning, and community-building across disciplines, sectors, geographies, and ways of knowing.
Important Dates
• Submissions open: 1 July 2026
• Submissions close: 30 September 2026, 11:59 PM MST
• Notification of acceptance: 15 December 2026
• Conference registration opens for both presenting and non-presenting attendees: 15 December 2026
• Visa letters issued: Starting 15 December 2026
• Presentation mode change deadline: 1 March 2027
• Submission of full papers for accepted proposals to qualify for awards: 30 April 2027
• COCE 2027 in-person graduate student and early career scholar pre-conference: 21 June 2027
• COCE 2027 in Utah and online: 21-25 June 2027
• COCE 2027 in-person post-conference at the Utah Valley University Capitol Reef Field Station, Capitol Reef National Park: 25-28 June 2027
For general information and any inquiries, please contact IECA Association Manager, Valentina Martinez at admin@theieca.org.
Learning, Reflection, and Community at COCE 2027
COCE 2027 excursions and special activities will extend conference conversations beyond meeting rooms and into the landscapes, communities, and stories that shape Utah. Reflecting the conference theme, Seeking Refuge: Communicating Care in an Age of Adaptation, Migration, and Changing Ecologies, these optional in-person and virtual experiences will invite participants to explore questions of refuge, movement, adaptation, and care through place-based learning and dialogue. Planned activities may include opportunities to engage with local ecosystems, community organizations, cultural institutions, environmental histories, and creative practices, offering participants a deeper understanding of the relationships between people, place, and environmental change in the Intermountain West. Stay tuned!
Conference Planning Committee
Danielle Endres (Conference Chair, The University of Utah), Chris Ingraham (Conference Co-Chair, The University of Utah)
COCE Program Committee: Melissa Parks (Chair, The University of Utah), Chris Ingraham, Kundai Chirindo, Mariko Thomas
Virtual Conference Committee: Katie Hunt (Chair, North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality), Chris Ingraham, Valentina Martinez
Venue & Logistics Committee: Danielle Endres (Chair), Meaghan McKasy, Maria Blevins
Excursions & Post-Conference Committee: Maria Blevins (Chair, Utah Valley University), Jennifer Peeples
Graduate Student & Early Career Pre-Conference Committee: Jessica Chaplain (Chair, The University of Georgia), Meaghan McKasy
Awards Committee: Jessica Chaplain (Chair), Melissa Parks, Ella Muncie
Budget & Fundraising Committee: Emily Diamond (Chair, The University of Rhode Island), Danielle Endres, Maria Blevins
Travel Advisory Committee: Jennifer Peeples (Co-Chair, Utah State University), Dara Wald (Co-Chair, Virginia Tech), Abdulsalam Suleiman, Maria Advenita Gita Elmada, Samantha Senda-Cook, Leonor Solis, Lucy Richardson, Emily Diamond, Bruno Takahashi, Geo Takach
Organizers
Location
Hybrid event:
University of Utah & Online
Salt Lake City, Utah
USA
Dates
Submission period:
July 1, 2026 - 1:00 AM AEST - October 1, 2026 - 3:00 AM AEST
Contact us
If you have any questions, please contact admin@theieca.org