The Children, Adolescents, and the Media (CAM) division strives to be a fruitful intellectual forum for academics from all over the world who study the role of media in the lives of children and young people. It aims to facilitate the exchange of ideas among scholars of different backgrounds and disciplinary orientations, informed by a variety of theoretical and empirical approaches.

The Communication and Technology (CAT) Division focuses on original scientific research about the roles played by information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the processes of human communication. CAT seeks to enhance theory and methodology pertaining to adoption, usage, message content, communication networks, effects, and policy of ICTs.

The Communication History Division of the International Communication Association (ICA) is dedicated to exploring the history of media and communication at large and historicizing apparently “new” and contemporary phenomena in the field. Beyond media and communication historians, our Division also engages scholars working in related fields such as memory studies, media archaeology, history of technology, STS, contemporary history, media evolution, mediatization, media ecology, intellectual history, political economy of communication, business history, among others.  

The Communication Law and Policy Division is interested in research and analysis of law, regulation, and policy that deals with information, communication, and culture. Defining policy broadly, the division includes within its purview: principles that should or do underlie law and regulation, proposals for new law and regulation, and the programs and institutions through which policy is implemented

The Computational Methods Division focuses on the methods of computational social science (see, for example, Lazar et al., 2009; Watts, 2014) used in communication research. In particular, computational methods cover computerized tools and algorithms for collecting, processing, analyzing, and visualizing online data from social media (e.g., BBSs, blogs, microblogs, online social networks, photo-/video sharing sites, etc.). As such, the group distinguishes from other divisions/groups of ICA.

The Enviromental Communicaiton Division aims to advance research on the interplay of the environment with any level of communication and in any setting. Research on health, risk, and science communication issues related to the environment are especially germane. The group welcomes work from any perspective (including critical, cultural, ethnic/minority, feminist) employing any research method motivated by sound research questions about environmental communication.

The Ethnicity and Race Division is concerned with methodological approaches and research that apply, extend or develop communication theory and analysis through an examination of race and ethnicity within local, international and transnational contexts. The division also works to advocate for the improved status, representation and opportunities for underrepresented scholars in communication.

The Feminist Scholarship is interested in exploring the relationship of gender and communication, both mediated and non-mediated, within a context of feminist theories, methodologies, and practices. The Division explores issues such as feminist teaching; international commonalities and differences by race, class and gender; women's alternative media; and feminist cultural studies.

The Game Studies Division focuses on how the study of games and the game experience offers opportunities for the study of human communication that involve multidisciplinary approaches that merge the disciplines of conventional communication studies and research, arts and visual design, cognitive studies, computer sciences, cultural studies, engineering social sciences, health sciences, & information design. The group serves as fertile meeting ground for the exchange of ideas among a very broad spectrum of disciplines.

The Global Communication and Social Change Division exists to encourage and debate research on issues of production, distribution, content and reception of communications media at global, "glocal", transnational, transcultural, international and regional levels. Within this purview it encompasses work across a wide variety of theoretical and methodological approaches, concerning issues of media/mediated communication in cultural, economic, political or social contexts.

The Health Communication Division's primarily concerned with the role of communication theory, research and practice in health promotion and health care. Areas of research include provider-patient interaction, social support networks, health information systems, medical ethics, health policy and health promotion. The Division's goals are to encourage theory development, research and effective practice of health communication.

The Information Systems Division is concerned with information, language and cognitive systems. Its central goal is promoting the development of general theories of complex systems and quantitative methodologies for communication research variety of domains. This focus brings together people with a wide range of interests and specialties.

The Instructional & Developmental Communication Division's mission focuses on the importance of creating environments that are conducive for learning via the use of effective behaviors. Because instructional communication occurs in a variety of contexts, the division promotes the study of communication variables, utilizing various methodologies, and theory, from diverse paradigms, in the instructional process (e.g., teacher-student interaction, instructional technology, optimal methods of information dissemination, information literacy).

The Intercultural Communication Division is primarily concerned with theory and practice of communication between and among different cultures of the world; with comparisons of different communication systems in different cultural, national or ethnic groups; with other aspects of international communication, and with the relationship between communication and national development.

The Interpersonal Communication Division is interested in communication processes that occur between people. Such processes include (but are not limited to) mutual influence, individuals' aptations to others, people's interpretations and reactions to others' messages, and so forth. Interpersonal communication occurs in many contexts, such as close relationships, organizations, health, intercultural, intergroup, and many others. 

The Journalism Studies Division is concerned with journalism theory, journalism research, and professional education in journalism. The division invites a wide array of theoretical, epistemological and methodological approaches, all of which are united around an interest in journalism and share the aim of enhancing existing understandings of how journalism works, across temporal and geographic contexts.

The Language and Social Interaction Division is concerned with exploring details of human discourse and human interaction. The Division sponsors research in language theory, linguistics, pragmatics, semiotics, sociolinguistics, ethnography of speaking, conversation analysis and related approaches to human social interaction. The primary focus is in interpersonal and group settings, face-to-face or mediated by telephone and computer.

The Mass Communication Division is primarily concerned with the differential impact of messages transmitted by various mass media, including international exchanges through mass media. The division members promote systematic study of communication presented through the electronic, cinematic and print media. Members participate in developing theory, examination of the processes and effects of mass communication and development and evaluation of policy relevant to mass communication.

The Mobile Communication Division focuses on the phenomenon of mobility in communication – thus being placed on the intersection of mobility, technology, and culture in human communication. While including a wide array of perspectives and approaches in communication scholarship, the common ground of the division is state of the art theorizing on mobile communication as well as the discussion of adequate methodology to do so.

The Organizational Communication Division members seek to expand our understanding of the processes, prospects, and challenges of communicating and organizing in a global society. Our scholarship articulates concepts and theories to better understand these processes, develop the tools needed to investigate them, and helps to implement the social practices to improve them.

The Philosophy, Theory and Critique Division is broadly concerned with critical thinking that cuts across the various boundaries within the study of communication and its intersections with other modes of studying human interaction. The Division offers a lively forum for contemporary ideas in the study of media and communication.

The Political Communication Division is concerned with the interplay of communication and politics, including the transactions that occur among citizens, between citizens and their governments, and among officials within governments. The plurality of this substantive focus is similarly reflected in the rich variance of theoretical perspectives and methodological orientations of Division members.

The Popular Media & Culture Division is concerned with providing a forum for scholarly investigation, analysis, and dialogue among communication researchers interested in a wide variety of communication symbols, forms, phenomena and strategic systems of symbols within the context of contemporary popular culture.

The Public Relations Division focuses on the theory and practice of communication between organizations and specified publics. Members are concerned with developing a greater understanding of the theoretic basis for effective communication through both laboratory and practice of communication between organizations and specified publics. At the same time the Division is concerned with the application of theoretic advances for the solution of pragmatic public relations problems.

The Visual Communication Studies Division seeks to enhance the understanding of the visual in all its forms -- moving and still images and displays in television, video and film, art and design, and print and digital media. The Division sponsors research in creation, processing, function, meaning, and critical consequences of visual representation. The Division reaches beyond content to assure visual analyses are grounded solidly in visual theory and methodology.

The Activism Communication interest group promotes research and teaching the intersections of theree key aspecs of contemporary life as captured in its name.  It strives for diversity in the representation of its membership and embraces pluralism and boldness in theory and methodology.  It pushes the boundaries between theory and practice and between scholarship and activism by encouraging and facilitating dialogues and engagements. 

The Communication Science and Biology Interest Group promotes scientific research with relevance for the study of human communication, broadly defined, including biological perspectives such as psychophysiology, cognitive neuroscience, behavioral genetics, animal studies, and evolutionary psychology.

The Human-Machine Communication Interest Group supports and promotes scholarship regarding communication between people and technologies designed to enact the role of communicator (i.e., artificial intelligence, robots, digital assistants, smart and IOT devices). HMC encompasses research within Human-Computer Interaction, Human-Robot Interaction, and Human-Agent Interaction and related areas of study focused on how people make sense of machines as communicators; the implications of people’s interactions with communicative technology for individuals, organizations, and society; and the philosophical and critical critique of the design of these technologies and their integration into daily life.

The Intergroup Communication Interest Group provides a home for quantitative and qualitative approaches to intergroup communication phenomena. We welcome perspectives from social psychology, sociology, sociolinguistics, and political science with an aim to providing an exciting interdisciplinary niche for intergroup communication.

The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender & Queer Studies Interest Group is concerned with the analysis and critique of sexual systems, discourses and representations, particularly those which animate, inform and impinge upon the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Such systems and discourses occur in institutional, community, domestic and intimate contexts, are closely connected to other social and cultural practices, and play a critical role in the formation and communication of individual and group identity.

The Media Industry Studies Interest Group exists to promote research and teaching practice on the history, organization, structure, economics, management, production processes and cultural forms, and the societal impact of media industries from a variety of theoretical, empirical, and cultural perspectives. The Media Industry Studies Interest Group serves as a place for collaboration and scholarly engagement for academics in a range of fields.

The Public Diplomacy Interest Group provides a forum for the scholars investigating topics related to public diplomacy, nation branding, country image and reputation, public relations for and of nations, as well as political, and global and intercultural communication that influences international relations.

The Sport Communication Interest Group studies how communication processes influence sport as well as how sport influences communication processes. Work from all methodologies and epistemological views are welcomed.