[ecrea] New Job advert: Senior Researcher and Lecturer in Media for Social Change in the Middle East

Senior Researcher and Lecturer in Media for Social Change in the Middle East

Birmingham School of Media

Fixed Purpose contract until 31st October 2014

We wish to appoint a senior member of staff to lead and ensure the 
successful delivery of the university’s contribution to a landmark 
two-year Developing Citizen Journalists in the Arab Region project. The 
post holder will also develop new research projects and help establish 
new postgraduate courses in the area of media for social change. You 
would work within the Birmingham Centre for Media & Cultural Research, 
and with our project partners Meedan, and delivery teams based in 
Tunisia, Egypt and Jordan, and with Syrian citizens in Lebanon to help 
develop the media literacy skills of citizen journalists in these 
rapidly changing countries. This new project builds upon a successfully 
completed one-year project in Egypt. You will join existing experts in 
social media, citizen journalism and media for development, who work on 
a range of associated research projects and postgraduate courses in this 
field.

You will need proven ability to design and manage research projects and 
strong leadership, mentoring and personal communication skills. 
Proficiency in Arabic is desirable. In addition you should have a broad 
knowledge of affairs in the Arab region, new social and traditional 
media, citizen journalism and the role of media in social change. An 
advanced educational qualification, preferably a doctorate, along with 
strong research skills, and some teaching experience or evidence of 
mentoring, are essential.

For an informal discussion, please contact (tim.wall /at/ bcu.ac.uk)

A job description, person specification and application process can be 
found at http://tinyurl.com/9btw2yy

Closing date: 2 November 2012.

Interview date: 27 November 2012.

The Birmingham School of Media is one of the longest established schools 
of media in the UK, and has one of the strongest reputations for 
vocationally-orientated programmes in British higher education. We are a 
Creative Skillset Media Academy, a status which recognises our high 
professional standards of our education. You can find out more about our 
courses at www.bcu.ac.uk/pme/school-of-media/courses. These programmes 
include a range of exciting postgraduate awards, including a number in 
international media and one in radio for development. We are very keen 
to expand this provision, and the new post will play a key role in 
leading this development.

The Birmingham Centre for Media & Cultural Research is a vibrant and 
expanding research centre based in the Birmingham School of Media. With 
over twenty research-active academics, and a growing community of 
research degree students, the centre has established a strong reputation 
for work in new social media, citizen journalism and media for 
development. A number of PhD students are working on subjects associated 
with media for social change, and we are very keen to expand this area 
of provision. Our current projects include an FCO/SIDA joint funded 
Developing Citizen Journalists in the Arab region initiative and the 
Hyperlocal Publishing theme within a AHRC-funded Community, Media and 
the Creative Citizen delivered jointly with Cardiff University and the 
University of Birmingham.

The Developing Citizen Journalists in the Arab Region project is a 
two-year initiative funded by the British Foreign and Commonwealth 
Office (FCO) and the Swedish International Development and Cooperation 
Agency (SIDA). BCU-based staff from the Interactive Cultures research 
group work in partnership with the US-based technology company Meedan. 
The project, which builds on our existing SIDA-funded initiative in 
Egypt, works with citizens in Tunisia, Egypt and Jordan, and with Syrian 
citizens in Lebanon, to help citizen journalists to be come trusted 
sources. This will contribute to strengthening democratic media in these 
places, so helping people to sort fact from rumour, make informed 
political choices, and hold their governments to account. Our work will 
empower citizens to use social media technology to collaboratively 
report and verify news stories, and fact-check political statements. The 
BCU project team is currently led by Prof Tim Wall, and this new 
appointment, together with a research assistant, will take a key role in 
working with partners in Arab countries. The new project will benefit 
greatly from the success of the existing citizen journalism project we 
worked on in collaboration with Meedan, in which Noha Atef was a vital 
team member, supported by Paul Bradshaw, BCU Reader in Citizen 
Journalism. You can find out more about the work of the Interactive 
Cultures research group at http://interactivecultures.org.





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