About CDK
The Social Communication Research Center (Center za raziskovanje družbenega komuniciranja - CDK) is part of the Social Sciences Research Institute which operates under the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana.
Our research explores the economic, political, social and cultural determinants and consequences of social communication in mass and especially digital media, in national and international contexts. The research program includes the study of phenomena of publicness and the public sphere, political communication, journalism, journalistic professionalism and ethics, lifestyles and media consumption, and history of (Slovenian) media.
The Centre's origins date back to the 1970s, when in 1973 Tomo Martelanc acquired the UNESCO research project External Radio Communication and International Communication: broadcasts for Yugoslavia. In September 1971, UNESCO adopted an international media research programme, under which one of the most important themes was "research on international communication structures", and the first project under this programme was carried out in Slovenia.
The group of younger researchers formed to carry out the project concluded three years of research with the publication of the monograph External Radio Broadcasting and International Understanding: Broadcasting to Yugoslavia (Reports and papers on mass communication, no. 81; Paris: UNESCO 1977). The report presented the results of an analysis of the reports of 15 foreign radio stations from 14 countries broadcasting in Yugoslav languages to the population of the then socialist Yugoslavia: The basic characteristics of the reports of the individual radio stations, the common features of the radio propaganda, the differences between the radio stations of capitalist (USA, Great Britain, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Vatican, Turkey, Greece) and socialist countries (Soviet Union, China, Albania, Bulgaria, Romania), and the possible consequences of the foreign radio propaganda on the Yugoslav listeners and on international communication.
This publication was the first of its kind in UNESCO's "Reports and Documents on Mass Media" collection in terms of its content and purpose: it was intended, on the one hand, "for policy-makers who might wish to benefit from a scientific analysis of the relationship between outside broadcasting and international understanding, and, on the other hand, for researchers who would like to investigate the scientific techniques developed and research groups in Ljubljana in order to carry out their task as objectively as possible", as the editors wrote in the preface. The successful implementation of this internationally acclaimed project contributed significantly to the worldwide recognition of Ljubljana's communication studies, and was also the trigger for the establishment of the CRDK, which was first headed by France Vreg and, after his departure, by Slavko Splichal.
To date, the CRDK has carried out a number of national and international projects, runs research programmes funded by the ARRS, has trained a number of young researchers, is associated with colleagues from the Universities of Brussels and Uppsala in the DESIRE Centre (Centre for the Study of Democracy, Signification and Resistance, http://researchcentredesire.eu/), and is a leading partner in the organisation of the Euricom International Colloquia on Communication and Culture (http://euricom.si/colloquia).
The high quality of much of the research carried out at the Centre for Social Communication Research is reflected in the many accolades bestowed on its staff. For example, in 1981 the Boris Kidrič Fund Prize was awarded to France Vreg, the founder of communication studies in Slovenia, for his work Public Opinion and Self-Governing Democracy, and in 1986 to Slavko Splichal for his study Mass Communication between Freedom and Alienation. In 2000, Splichal was awarded the Zois Prize for outstanding scientific achievements in the field of communication studies, and in 2015 he received the Golden Plaque of the University of Ljubljana. Splichal has been a full member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SAZU) since 2009, and in 2018 he was elected a member of the Academia Europaea-The Academy of Europe (London). In 2016, Igor Vobič received the University of Ljubljana's Honorary Charter, and in 2018 Jernej Amon Prodnik received the Honorary Charter of the University of Ljubljana. In 2020, Ilija Tomanić Trivundža received a special award from the Faculty of Social Sciences for international cooperation.