[Commlist] PhD positions at the Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism at Charles University (Prague)

CALL FOR CANDIDATES FOR THE PHD PROJECTS 2025
https://iksz.fsv.cuni.cz/en/admissions/phd-programme-media-and-communication-studies/call-candidates-phd-projects-2025


The Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism at the Faculty of 
Social Sciences of the Charles University in Prague calls for candidates 
for the following PhD projects (each supported by a scholarship), for 
its English-language PhD programme in Media and Communication Studies:

1. Post-structuralist Communication Studies

Post-structuralism has slowly entered the field of Communication and 
Media Studies, offering a series of relevant theoretical frameworks for 
the theoretical and empirical study of communication. This PhD position 
is for PhD students who focus on one of the many post-structuralist 
frameworks, e.g., Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory or Foucauldian 
discourse theory, to support the research into a particular 
communication assemblage or into particular representational practices. 
While in this PhD position the theoretical framework needs to be 
post-structuralism, the object of study can be freely chosen.

Proposed supervisor: Nico Carpentier, (nico.carpentier /at/ fsv.cuni.cz)

2. Analyzing the Impact of Strategic Communication on Public Health in 
the Czech Republic: A Mixed-Methods Approach

This PhD position aims to investigate the effectiveness of strategic 
communication in influencing public health behavior in the Czech 
Republic. Utilizing both quantitative and qualitative methods, the 
research will examine contemporary communication strategies used in 
public health campaigns. The project will include a comprehensive survey 
to quantify public awareness and behavioral changes in response to these 
campaigns. In-depth interviews and focus groups will qualitatively 
explore individual perceptions and attitudes towards these 
communications. Special attention will be given to the role of digital 
media in disseminating health information. This project, requiring prior 
consultation with the proposed PhD supervisor, seeks to provide valuable 
insights into how strategic communication can be optimized for public 
health promotion in the Czech context. Proficient knowledge of both 
Czech and English language is a condition for this research project due 
to the study of local language materials.

Proposed supervisor: Denisa Hejlová, (denisa.hejlova /at/ fsv.cuni.cz)

3. Marketing communication and tobacco control

The Department of Marketing Communication and Public Relations welcomes 
Czech or international scholars focusing on primary research in tobacco 
control from the standpoint of marketing and strategic communication 
(e.g. research of new strategies and tactics employed by tobacco 
companies, targeting customers, online and social media marketing, 
stealth marketing, lobbying, public affairs, influencer marketing, 
etc.). Our goal is to analyze and present marketing and communication 
strategies and tactics by the tobacco industry which prevent consumers 
from tobacco or nicotine cessation and undermine public health. We 
especially focus on campaigns or tools aimed at adolescents and youth, 
incl. new forms of tobacco or nicotine products (HTP, pouches, vapes, 
etc.). Close cooperation with the Addictology Dept. of 1st Medical 
Faculty, Charles University, is needed.

Proposed supervisor: Denisa Hejlová, (denisa.hejlova /at/ fsv.cuni.cz)

4. The Para-Social Relationships and Experiences of Youth with the 
Online Engagement in these: Post-Humanist Perspective

Traditional human relationships in the experiences of children and young 
people experienced during their childhoods, such as youth-adult 
relationships, have been also complemented by the 'Para-Social 
Relationships with the media figures. Traditionally, public figures from 
the media environment (TV, Film, Newspapers) or imaginary figures from 
books, cartoons and films provided developmental functions for children 
and young people, such as role-modelling. Recently, the rise of new 
technologies (ChatGPT) and social media that allow active participation 
of media users, created a space for a new form of relationships - 
digital relationships in the online environment, mediated e.g. via the 
'digital empathy' (Unay-Gerhard et al., 2022).  Participation in the 
digital interactions, dynamics and functions of digital relationships 
and types of these being formed with humans as well as with machines 
(e.g. chatbots = ChatGPT, social robots) with a focus on current young 
people (11-18 years) will be the subject of exploration of the PhD. the 
study, contributing to the emergent line of the research in media the 
post-humanist perspective.

Proposed supervisor: Tereza Javornícky Brumovská, (93330901 /at/ fsv.cuni.cz)

5. Constructing history on social media

The aim of this PhD position is to explore how history is constructed by 
communication on social media. Examples could be narratives about 
historical facts or events (also anniversaries of historical events), 
how they are constructed by different social groups and for which 
purpose different imaginaries of history are constructed. The research 
should focus on critical inquiry of online communication from an 
interdisciplinary perspective. Connected topics, such as how historical 
places that might have turned to museums or places of remembrance use 
social media to promote their messages, will also be considered.

Proposed supervisor: Christine Trültzsch-Wijnen, 
(christine.trultzsch-wijnen /at/ fsv.cuni.cz)

6. Domestication of artificial intelligence (AI)

The aim of this PhD position is to explore how people integrate 
artificial intelligence services in their daily lives. The focus of the 
research can be on social entities as for example families or on 
specific age groups like children, adolescents, young adults, elderly 
people etc. Besides the question of how artificial intelligence is 
domesticated, this project should also look into whether and how 
artificial intelligence services are recognised as such and how people 
understand and address them (e.g. algorithms, issues of privacy etc.). 
Research should be interdisciplinary in nature and might be grounded in 
domestication theory, theories of (media) socialization, cultural 
studies, and beyond.

Proposed supervisor: Christine Trültzsch-Wijnen, 
(christine.trultzsch-wijnen /at/ fsv.cuni.cz)

7. Media genres in the late modern media environment

The evolution of the different genres of actualities in electronic 
media, since the first radio news broadcast to a contemporary online 
documentary on a streaming platform, reflects the dynamic adaptation to 
the continuously changing media environment. In the analogue context, 
genres were interpreted and categorized “within the boundaries of a 
single medium” (McQuail, 2014, 374) but because of the recent changes in 
the media environment, the boundaries of genres are merging and genres 
may be recognized as multi-platform genres, transcending the boundaries 
of a single medium. This topic is focused on changes of genres in the 
converged media environment and its impact on genres in online video 
journalism and the field of documentary media. We invite applications 
from candidates interested in researching the evaluation of collective 
identity of genres in the late modern media environment, examining the 
boundaries between genres of actualities at film, television and online 
platforms. The study will deploy methodologies of media content analysis.

Proposed supervisor: Györgyi Rétfalvi, (gyorgyi.retfalvi /at/ fsv.cuni.cz)

++++

Interested candidates should submit their applications, using the online 
application system, which will be open from 1st January to 30th April 
2025. Interest in a particular PhD project should be mentioned in the 
motivation letter, together with a more developed proposal on the PhD 
project.

All relevant information, including the link to the online application 
system, can be found at here: 
https://fsv.cuni.cz/en/admissions/phd-programmes/media-and-communication-studies

Please download the form for filling your dissertation project proposal: 
https://iksz.fsv.cuni.cz/en/admissions/phd-programme-media-and-communication-studies/how-apply

For general questions, please contact the Centre of PhD Studies, at 
(cds.iksz /at/ fsv.cuni.cz).

For questions about particular projects, please contact the proposed 
supervisors.

The Open Doors Day for PhD Study in Media and Communication Studies 
Studies will take place on 26 February 2025 at 12:30 PM CET. It will be 
organised online. If you wish to participate, please email the Centre of 
PhD Studies, at (cds.iksz /at/ fsv.cuni.cz), asap.




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