Page/Johnson Legacy Scholar Grants - Ethics of Generative AI in Public Communication

Page/Johnson Legacy Scholar Grants - Ethics of Generative AI in Public Communication is sponsored by Arthur W. Page Center (Penn State University). This grant call targets research on the ethics of generative AI in public communication.

Accepted projects address biases in AI, transparency, engagement, misinformation, and more, within the context of generative AI's industry standards and ethical use.

Ethics of generative AI in public communication research grants announced - The Arthur W. Page Center Ethics of generative AI in public communication research grants announced Ethics of generative AI in public communication research grants announced The Page Center announced the recipients of its 2025 Page/Johnson Legacy Scholar grants.

Nine projects were chosen from a record amount of proposal submissions, with each one examining a unique area of generative artificial intelligence, its industry standards and its ethical use. Funding innovative and timely research through its Page/Johnson Legacy Scholar Grant program is a chief initiative of the Page Center.

Every year, the Center designates senior research fellows to pinpoint current topics and invite research proposals that enhance scholarly, industry and public comprehension of these subjects. In August, the Page Center announced its latest grant call, which targeted the ethics of generative AI in public communication. Nearly 90 proposals were submitted.

The accepted projects feature 22 scholars from 13 universities. Areas to be addressed in the call include biases in AI, transparency, engagement, misinformation and more. The full list of funded projects is below.

The research call is led by senior research fellows Heather Shoenberger, associate professor of advertising/public relations at Penn State, and Fuyuan Shen, the Donald P. Bellisario professor of advertising at Penn State. “With AI’s rise and the questions and concerns it creates, we knew this would be a popular call,” said Denise Bortree, Page Center director.

“Thanks to Heather and Fuyuan, we’ve identified nine projects that are set on answering those questions and addressing those concerns through a practical and ethical focus. ” Over the next year, funded scholars will complete their projects. This summer, the Page Center blog will feature weekly posts that introduce the scholars, overview the research topic and share ideas as the teams begin their research.

Projects will be presented at the Page Center’s Research Roundtable, a virtual gathering with scholars, research fellows and Page Center advisory board members. Since its founding in 2004, the Center has funded more than 300 scholars and awarded over $1 million in funding.

While research themes vary from year to year, the Center consistently supports academic exploration into the understanding of principles practiced in public communication. The 2025 Page/Johnson Legacy Scholar Grants Examining the impact of transparency and community notes on voters’ trust and perception of AI-generated political advertising Bingbing Zhang, University of Iowa Did AI write this?

Identifying and overcoming stereotypes and biases in human detection of AI-generated self-presentation Haoran Chu, Rita Linjuan Men, Yuan Sun, University of Florida; Sixiao Liu, University of Central Florida; and Shupei Yuan, Northern Illinois University AI hype machine: Understanding the news media’s role in and ethics of hyping generative AI Heidi Hatfield Edwards, Moti Mizrahi, and Theodore Petersen, Florida Institute of Technology Advancing the engagement paradigm: Examining stakeholder disengagement and the ethical implications of generative AI in public relations Jordan Morehouse, University of Colorado-Boulder, Laura Lemon, University of Alabama, Yan Qu, University of Maryland-College Park Ethical implications in PR: How do generative AI and automation impact broader corporate ethics and reputation?

Juan Meng and Anne Perera, University of Georgia Eugene Cho Snyder, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Mengqi (Maggie) Liao, Nicholas Eng, and Ruoyu Sun, University of Georgia The role of deception in the context of brand endorsement of AI-backed versus human-backed virtual influencers Nadine Walter, Pforzheim University Renita Coleman, University of Texas Combating AI-generated misinformation in public communication after large-scale crises Jie Zhuang and Liang (Lindsay) Ma, Texas Christian University Page Center Communications Manager Bellisario College Communications Strategist