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[ecrea] PhD Position Stockholm University

Tue Mar 17 23:14:55 GMT 2015




Doctoral Student Position in Media and Communication Studies

Doctoral Student Position in Media and Communication Studies at the Department of Media Studies, Section for Journalism, Media and Communication. Reference number SU FV-0639-15. Deadline for applications: April 15, 2015.

The Department of Media Studies (IMS) is an internationally-oriented research environment comprised of three sections: Journalism, Media and Communication (JMK), Cinema Studies, and the Centre for Fashion Studies. JMK hosts a range of externally-funded research programmes and has been awarded the status of a nationally outstanding and internationally prominent research environment by Stockholm University and an external jury.

JMK is now announcing one doctoral student position in Media and Communication Studies leading to a PhD degree. The position is connected to the research programmeExistential Terrains: Memory and Meaning in Cultures of Connectivity (et.ims.su.se/), headed by Associate Professor Amanda Lagerkvist (Wallenberg Academy Fellow), financed by the Knut och Alice Wallenberg Foundation, the Marcus och Amalia Wallenberg Foundation and Stockholm University.

Within the research programme we are exploring one of the major issues of our time: what it means to be human in the digital age. Our rapidly changing communication culture offers new spaces for exploring what is important in life, but our digitalised lives also pose new challenges that heighten the vulnerabilities of being human. Digitalisation affects our existence in a number of ways, and the overarching research question concerns how people navigate the transformations involved in the digitalisation of our lifeworlds. One pertinent area for such emergent existential issues is the desequestering of death in the digital age: in the Global North death has returned to everyday life in digital memory practices; on digital memorials, in communities of grief and remembrance, on suicide sites and in cancer blogs. We live in a world where our memories and identities emerge through socio-technological ensembles, but these rely upon storage in rapidly ageing and dying machines. Questions about the quantified and wired self, and its archiving in our era of hyper-connectivity, have been accompanied by debates about the ‘right to be forgotten’ in a world where algorithms trace and shape our movements online. The very nature of memory is simultaneously transitioning in our era of temporal instantaneity. And hyperconnectivity is also supplemented by different forms of disconnection.

Setting out from theoretical debates within the fields of media, religion and culture, digital memory studies and existence philosophy, and by employing a multimethod research design (combining online ethnography, interviews and analysis of digital form and content) the project aims to develop an existential approach within media studies. The purpose of the programme is to produce new knowledge about the the possibilities for meaning-making in relation to the profundity of our lives, existential and spiritual issues, while acknowledging the fundamental affective ambivalence, potential loss of meaning and predicaments for existential public health in the digital age.

The successful candidate will pursue independent research within the framework of these studies. Duties will involve completing 60 ETCS credits of coursework, designing and completing a doctoral dissertation within 4 years of fulltime study, and participating in conferences in Sweden and abroad. Publications will also be encouraged and supported.

The successful applicant will be an important contributor to the research group, and will participate in the broader research community within the department. The position also enables international conference participation and the project generously covers such expenses.

Eligibility
The basic eligibility requirements stipulate that successful candidates will have completed course work corresponding to 240 ECTS credits, of which at least 60 must be for second-cycle courses and study programmes, or possess a second-cycle degree, an equivalent degree from outside Sweden, or qualifications that correspond to this.

Applicants who met the basic entry requirements prior to 1 July 2007 (i.e. had completed a programme of higher education for at least 120 credits or the equivalent) are also eligible to apply.

Specific eligibility requirements – three additional requirements must be fulfilled for admission to the JMK doctoral programme.

* Candidates must have completed 150 ECTS credits or the equivalent, including studies at the advanced (Master’s) level resulting in at least 60 credits in the appropriate field. * Candidates must have completed an independent research project in the appropriate field, reported in a scholarly paper, for which they have been awarded at least a grade of ‘pass’ and 15 ECTS or the equivalent. * Candidates must have documented proficiency in English corresponding to at least 550 credits on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). (This formal requirement is waived for graduates of Swedish universities, where English proficiency is a general eligibility requirement.)

Applicants who have acquired equivalent skills may also satisfy eligibility requirements.

Admission procedure
>From the pool of eligible applicants, a successful candidate will be chosen on the basis of their ability to benefit from the doctoral training provided. Admission procedures for doctoral studies at Stockholm University can be found at:www.regelboken.su.se/pub/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=1031&a=16354.

Information regarding eligibility criteria, local admission arrangements, and other aspects of postgraduate study can be found on the IMS website:www.ims.su.se/english/education/courses-and-programmes/phd-studies/phd-studies-1.119567.

After selection and shortlisting according to the above-mentioned criteria, candidates considered especially qualified may be interviewed face-to-face or via skype in early June.

Applications will be reviewed by an admission committee appointed by the department, and the head of the Existential Terrains team. On the basis of their recommendation, a decision as to which candidate will be awarded the position will be taken by the Head of Department by the end of June. Employment will begin on September 1, 2015.

Terms of employment
Doctoral students are initially employed for a period of one year, with the position normally renewed for up to two years at a time. The total period of employment may not exceed the equivalent of four years of full-time study and research.

Doctoral students may be asked to work up to 20 % with teaching or other departmental tasks, in which case the period of employment will be extended accordingly, up to one year.

Decisions on doctoral employment (doktorandanställning) cannot be appealed.

Stockholm University strives to be a workplace free from discrimination and with equal opportunities for all.

Information
Further information about the position and research programme can be
obtained from Amanda Lagerkvist, Head of Programme, telephone:
+46 8 16 44 31, (amanda.lagerkvist /at/ ims.su.se), and at: et.ims.su.se/.

Union representatives
Anqi Lindblom-Ahlm (Saco-S) and Lisbeth Häggberg (Fackförbundet ST),
telephone: +46 8 16 20 00 (operator), and Gunnar Stenberg (SEKO),
telephone: +46 70 316 43 41.

Application
The application should include the following documents:

    * cover letter
* curriculum vitae containing information on previous studies, employment and publications * a copy of diplomas or equivalent documenting eligibility and academic qualifications * a research plan (see admission requirements) outlining the relationship of the proposed dissertation to the Existential Terrains project and the wider field, containing a clearly formulated research problem or aim, key concepts and discussion of methodological approach
    * a copy of the independent works (essays) for evaluation
    * references
    * other documents of relevance to the evaluation of the application.

Applications are to be submitted electronically, in Word (.doc/.docx) or PDF format, no later than 15 April 2015 to: (registrator /at/ su.se).

The reference number SU FV-0639-15 must be included in the application and in the subject line of the e-mail.


Amanda Lagerkvist
PhD Associate Professor
Wallenberg Academy Fellow

Dept. of Media Studies (IMS/JMK)
Stockholm University
PO. Box 27861
115 93 Stockholm

email: (amanda.lagerkvist /at/ ims.su.se)
phone: +46 (0)8 161530
mobile: +46 (0)73 6600574
http://www.su.se/
http://www.wallenbergacademyfellows.se
http://et.ims.su.se



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