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[Commlist] 2 PhD vacancies University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Tue Feb 06 21:24:56 GMT 2024
We are looking for talented students who wish to design their own PhD
research project on an interdisciplinary topic within the scope of the
research expertise of Young Academy Groningen members (please visit
www.rug.nl/research/young-academy
<http://www.rug.nl/research/young-academy>). Two PhD positions are
available to conduct research within the project theme of:
Project 1: "Academia in abind: Data surveillance practices in scholarly
publishing"
Project 2: "Imagining the North. Media-related heritage and place-making
practices in the Northern Netherlands"
As a PhD student, you will develop your own research project in
consultation with the associated supervisor(s). You will conduct
independent and original academic research and report results via
peer-reviewed publications, conference presentations, and ultimately a
PhD thesis.
The PhD thesis has to be completed within four years. Being part of a
cutting-edge research programme, you will receive research training as
well as a varied educational training program including transferable
skills and future (academic or non-academic) career training for after
the PhD trajectory, in the context of our Career Perspective Series.
Prospective applicants are strongly encouraged to contact the
supervisors of the project for further details and clarifications on the
research project and on the application process.
PROJECT 1. ACADEMIA IN A BIND: DATA SURVEILLANCE PRACTICES IN SCHOLARLY
PUBLISHING
Supervisors:
Dr. David Cheruiyot (YAG, Faculty of Arts, Assistant Professor in
Media/Journalism Studies)
Dr. Maeve McKeown (YAG, Campus Fryslân, Assistant Professor in Political
Theory)
Dr. Lukas Linsi (YAG, Faculty of Arts, Assistant Professor in
International Political Economy)
Prof. dr. Lisa Herzog (YAG, Faculty of Philosophy, Professor of
Political Philosophy)
Project description:
This project examines the political economy of academic publishing and
its implications to science and global knowledge production. Scholars
have recently raised concerns over the research publishing duopoly,
consisting of Thomson Reuters and RELX (Reed Elsevier/LexisNexis). These
global conglomerates, which amass substantial profits from the global
publishing market every year, increasingly expand their dominance from
academic publishing towards data analytics. Scientists’ growing
dependence on data management infrastructures controlled by these
companies have stoked fears over opaque activities in processing,
storing, and distributing of private/public research data.
Academics warn that the data analytics approaches pursued by these
publishing conglomerates could be detrimental to universities and
researchers through the threat of vendor lock-in, hampering public
access to information, and also intensifying fears over the sale and/or
misuse of personal data. Philosophers have argued that we are entering a
new era of surveillance capitalism, in which data is used as a form of
social control. However, there is still limited research and
understanding in scholarly research as to the extent and impact of
surveillance publishing on academic institutions and researchers, as
well as the possible risks to data ownership and autonomy.
Data surveillance in the publishing industry risks exacerbating existing
challenges in current academic publishing and knowledge production and
thus requires urgent attention in research. For instance, scholars argue
that the dominance of Elsevier/RELX in the publishing industry limits
society’s access to critical scientific works, and, at the same time,
also perpetuates a metric-based system in academia. These practices, in
turn, may contribute to reinforcing academic exclusivism and widening
the gap between marginalised groups and the elite, or the Global South
and North in relation to knowledge production.
Against this backdrop, the project seeks to investigate the historical
evolution of the academic publishing industry and the financial flows
sustaining it, map its current state (including the shift to data
analytics) and underlying ethical dilemmas, explore the risks (e.g.
privacy and data loss/colonisation of public/private data, and its
implications for academic freedom) weighed against the opportunities
that publishing corporates provide, and contribute to envisioning viable
alternatives in how we organize science as a collective enterprise and
public good.
Interdisciplinary Focus
This project takes an interdisciplinary approach in re-examining the
political economy of academic publishing, but specifically within the
context of today’s growing data surveillance. The project relates not
only to knowledge production but also to academic labour exploitation,
personal safety/privacy, and institutional autonomy. It further
interrogates the desirability and (in)justice of these practices. The
areas of research that are essential to this project include: data
handling and management, information science and knowledge production,
political economy of publishing, critical accounting, policy work and
regulation, and, the values underlying these processes and practices.
Qualifications project 1:
The ideal candidate would need to have several if not all of the
following qualities:
* a Master’s degree (MA/MSc) in one of the areas that form the
backbone of the project (i.e., library science and information
management, political economy, critical business studies, political
theory, publishing and media industries, data science, media
management, science and technology studies, ethics of science, etc),
or with a keen interest in key related fields
* intrinsic motivation to conduct research in the topic of the project
* is willing to develop interdisciplinary research skills that combine
normative (surveillance capitalism, political epistemology,
structural injustice) and empirical research (data science,
political economy, media studies)
* is committed to working autonomously in an interdisciplinary team
setting
* a demonstrably excellent written and spoken command of English.
PROJECT 2. IMAGINING THE NORTH. MEDIA-RELATED HERITAGE AND PLACE-MAKING
PRACTICES IN THE NORTHERN NETHERLANDS
Supervisors:
Dr. Leonieke Bolderman (YAG, Faculty of Spatial Sciences, Assistant
Professor in Cultural Geography)
Dr. Deborah Castro (Faculty of Arts, Assistant Professor Media Studies)
Prof. Dr. Tialda Haartsen (Faculty of Spatial Sciences, Professor of
Rural Geography)
Project description:
Books, films, and music have all put the Northern Netherlands on the
map. Ralf Poelman’s ‘Het Gras van het Noorderplantsoen’ is an iconic
song for stadjers, while Friesland is represented in ‘de Kameleon’ books
and movies. Drenthe was recently promoted through its link with Van
Gogh, while the festival Oerol has put Terschelling firmly on the map
for many people living in the Netherlands and beyond. Media-related
heritage, where narratives from media such as film, literature and music
become entwined with tangible and intangible cultural heritage, has the
potential to attract tourists, while also constructing place identities
and shaping local communities’ senses of place.
Yet, tensions can arise between the different actors involved. For
instance, in recent years several festivals have been cancelled after
local inhabitants expressed their concerns about the environmental
impacts, while a recent documentary revealed the protest and local
unrest surrounding the twelve Frysian fountains created for the European
Capital of Culture program. What these examples show is that in spite of
a growing attention for the role of media in place-making, little is
known about the mechanisms through which media narratives contribute to
local identities and sense of place, and what processes cause friction.
That is why this PhD project centers around the question: how is the
Northern Netherlands imagined in media-related heritage, and how does
this heritage contribute to local place making practices?
With this question, this PhD project seeks to meet the following three
key objectives: (1) to map the media-related heritage currently present
in the Northern Netherlands and the images of the North that this
heritage puts forward, (2) to analyze the way this heritage is embedded
in local structures of governance and promotion and (3) to examine how
this type of heritage contributes to, shapes and challenges local
place-based identities and senses of place.
Qualifications project 2:
The ideal candidate would need to have several if not all of the
following qualities:
* a Master’s degree (MA/MSc) in one of the disciplines that form the
backbone of the project (i.e. either in cultural/human geography,
media studies, cultural studies, or other relevant social science),
with a keen interest in the key disciplines
* a clear research interest in the topic of the project (i.e. is
intrinsically motivated). Having experience with and/or intimate
knowledge of the cultural field in the Northern Netherlands is an asset
* is experienced in using various methods of qualitative research,
such as interviewing and participant observation
* has a demonstrable interest in and experience with interdisciplinary
research, and is capable of navigating their own project within an
interdisciplinary team setting
* a demonstrably excellent written and spoken command of English
(written and spoken command of Dutch is a definite asset).
Qualifications
The ideal candidate is ambitious, highly motivated and wishes to make a
career in research. He or she has a thorough training in research
skills, speaks and writes English fluently, and has considerable
experience in the project area being proposed (ideally at Masters level.)
Organisation.Conditions of employment
As an employee PhD candidate, you fall under the Collective Labor
Agreement of Dutch Universities. A separate salary scale with four steps
applies to PhD candidates: P0 to P3. The current level of the
corresponding salary and more information about the collective
employment conditions can be found on the VSNU Cao Dutch Universities
external link page. The 2022-2023 CLA version is accessible via this
link: http://www.labouragreementuniversities.nl/
<http://www.labouragreementuniversities.nl/>
The appointment will commence in September 2024.
Interviewswith selected candidates will be held on:
* Project 1: 28 March 2024 (first round) and 9 April 2024 (second round)
* Project 2: 20 March 2024.
Application
You may apply for this position until 10 March 11:59pm / before 11 March
2024 Dutch local time (CET) by means of the application form (click on
"Apply" below on the advertisement on the university website).
The application package consists of the following separate documents:
1. a brief letter of motivation (max. 1 page)
2. a CV, including contact details of two academic referees
3. a brief proposal (1 page), outlining the preferred disciplinary
focus, research method and data to be analysed
4. a scan of your diploma including transcripts
The documents 1-4 are compulsory and please note that incomplete
application packages or applications sent by email will not be taken
into account. If necessary – because of the limited upload options,
please combine different documents into one pdf.
More Information
For more information about the projects, it is highly recommended to
contact the supervisors of the project.
For practical information regarding the application procedure you can
contact:
(youngacademy /at/ rug.nl) <mailto:(youngacademy /at/ rug.nl)>
The University of Groningen strives to be a university in which students
and staff are respected and feel at home, regardless of differences in
background, experiences, perspectives, and identities. We believe that
working on our core values of inclusion and equality are a joint
responsibility and we are constructively working on creating a socially
safe environment. Diversity among students and staff members enriches
academic debate and contributes to the quality of our teaching and
research. We therefore invite applicants from underrepresented groups in
particular to apply. For more information, see also our diversity policy
webpage: https://www.rug.nl/(...)rsity-and-inclusion/
<https://www.rug.nl/about-ug/policy-and-strategy/diversity-and-inclusion/>
Our selection procedure follows the guidelines of the Recruitment code
(NVP): https://www.nvp-hrnetwerk.nl/nl/sollicitatiecode
<https://www.nvp-hrnetwerk.nl/nl/sollicitatiecode> and European
Commission's European Code of Conduct for recruitment of researchers:
https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/charter/code
<https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/charter/code>
We provide career services for partners of new faculty members moving to
Groningen.
Unsolicited marketing is not appreciated.
For practical information regarding the application procedure,
(youngacademy /at/ rug.nl) <mailto:(youngacademy /at/ rug.nl)>
Please do not use the e-mail address(es) above for applications.
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