Founded in 2010, the Image Research Network emerged to examine images in their empirical, normative, and imaginative dimensions—how they reflect reality, encode perspective, and project futures—across fields from media and architecture to cognitive science, education, and religious studies. Early conferences set a template for interdisciplinary inquiry that now spans every continent, bringing together scholars, artists, curators, designers, and technologists to interrogate the roles images play in knowledge, culture, and everyday life.
The International Conference on the Image convenes a global community in partnership with leading universities and cultural institutions, renewing its Special Focus annually and linking scholarly debate with creative practice. Hosts have included the University of California, Los Angeles; Venice International University; Manchester Metropolitan University; the University of New South Wales; the Polytechnic Institute of Lisbon; The University of Texas at Austin; Universidad San Jorge; Universidad Abierta Interamericana; and Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. Proposals and presentations are welcomed in both English and Spanish.
The International Journal of the Image is a peer-reviewed, hybrid open access journal advancing interdisciplinary research on visual theory and practice. It examines representation and perception, the grammars and materials of image-making, and the social life of images in education, culture, science, and public discourse. Submissions undergo double-anonymous peer review guided by a structured rubric and constructive editorial feedback. The journal maintains clear pathways from conference presentations and Member Knowledge Community contributions to fully developed, peer-reviewed publications, and accepts work in English and Spanish.
The Image Book Imprint publishes monographs and edited volumes that extend arguments beyond article length—supporting scholarly, curatorial, and practice-based projects. Books translate research into frameworks for educators, museum and gallery professionals, media makers, architects, designers, and civic institutions engaged with visual culture, documenting how images mediate memory, identity, technology, and public space.
The Image Research Network’s Member Knowledge Community on CGScholar is a year-round hub for members—keeping profiles, projects, and conversations in motion. Built for collaboration, it offers a multimodal authoring environment with light, community-guided review to strengthen clarity, purpose, and reader context before sharing. Works in progress sit alongside programs, recordings, and calls, connecting conference presentations with our journal and book imprint, and opening structured pathways for ongoing participation and publication across visual studies, media arts, architecture, design, and image-based research. A dedicated Spanish-language Image community supports members who wish to post, review, and publish entirely in Spanish.
The Network is co-chaired by Cátia Rijo (Polytechnic Institute of Lisbon, Portugal) and Ana Maria Sedeño Valdellós (Universidad de Málaga, Spain; Spanish-language Chair)—leadership that reflects our commitment to multilingual, cross-cultural scholarship.
Founder, DesignLab4U; Assistant Professor, Education School of Lisbon, Polytechnic Institute of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
Universidad de Málaga, España (Spanish)
Partnerships extend the Network’s scholar-led mission, linking universities, research centers, festivals, and cultural organizations that share our commitment to reimagining the visual field. Collaborations have included:
Lisbon, Portugal
Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong SAR
Manchester, UK
Manchester, UK
Sydney, Australia
Zaragoza, Spain
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Paris, France
Singapore