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[Commlist] PhD positions at the Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism at Charles University (Prague) for 2026
Fri Dec 19 14:18:53 GMT 2025
CALL FOR CANDIDATES FOR THE PHD PROJECTS 2026
https://iksz.fsv.cuni.cz/en/admissions/phd-programme-media-and-communication-studies/call-candidates-2026-phd-positions
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.
Proposed supervisor: Denisa Hejlová, (denisa.hejlova /at/ fsv.cuni.cz)
3. Marketing communication and tobacco control
This PhD position focuses 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.). This project’s
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. The project will
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. Politainment as a part of strategic communication
This PhD position welcomes Czech or international scholars focusing on
primary research in politainment from the standpoint of marketing and
strategic communication (e.g., personalization of political messages,
image building through entertainment formats, hybrid media strategies,
(emotional) branding in politics, viral political content, influencer
involvement in political campaigns, etc.). The goal is to analyze and
present how political actors and institutions use entertainment-based
communication strategies to attract attention, shape public opinion, and
influence political behavior. The project will especially focus on the
implications of politainment for democratic discourse, political
engagement, and the polarization of society, including its impact on
young audiences and first-time voters. Close cooperation with media
studies or political science departments is encouraged, as is the use of
interdisciplinary methods combining communication and media analysis,
and political marketing analytical approaches.
Proposed supervisor: Marcela Konrádová, (marcela.konradova /at/ fsv.cuni.cz)
5. Concepts of National Identity in Europe and the World
Interest in national issues has increased noticeably in recent years. It
seems that the numerous crises in Europe and the world are causing many
people to focus more on their own nation, national culture and
collective identity. This call is aimed at doctoral students who want to
analyze and describe concepts of national identity in a specific country
or region of their choice – also from a cultural-historical or
comparative perspective. The theoretical framework of the thesis should
be based on the paradigm of new realism. With regard to the topic of
national identity as a culture-specific concept it should draw on
comparative cultural theory. The research should be based on text
material from the media, literature,education, etc. Possible methods of
text analysis: content analysis, linguistic discourse analysis, semiotic
text analysis. Students are welcome to write their dissertation in
English or German.
Proposed supervisor: Ulrike Notarp, (ulrike.notarp /at/ fsv.cuni.cz)
6. Sustainability in Intercultural Communication
Today's working environment is international and globalized. So-called
soft skills, such as intercultural competence, are therefore
increasingly important. Especially for young professionals,
intercultural communication skills are taken for granted. The call is
aimed at doctoral students who would like to deal with the content,
mediation, practical implementation, and measurement of intercultural
communication skills. The topic covers the following key areas: (1)
Review of the international state of research on sustainability in
intercultural communication, in relation to (a) the central concepts and
theories of sustainable communication, interculturality and
communication, and (b) the practice of teaching intercultural
communication skills; (2) Development and implementation of a training
program to acquire intercultural communication skills; (3) Development,
application and evaluation of methods for measuring intercultural
competencies. Students can write their dissertation in English or German.
Proposed supervisor: Ulrike Notarp, (ulrike.notarp /at/ fsv.cuni.cz)
7. Experience of a Marginalised Group with a Contemporary Media Phenomenon
The proposed project should focus on the lived and holistic media
experience of a selected marginalised group (e.g. children, ethnic
minorities, people with obesity, parents or other socially disadvantaged
groups) in a particular domain of contemporary media culture. For
example, it may investigate questions such as; “How do children or
adolescents perceive and experience artificial-intelligence
technologies?” or “How do they perceive and experience so-called
‘brain-rot’ / online ‘junk’ content?”. The aim is to gain a deep
understanding of the role that the chosen media phenomenon plays in the
everyday life of someone facing marginalisation; how they perceive it;
how they experience and live through it; and how they interpret and
evaluate it in relation to their identity, social relationships, and
position in society.
Potential supervisor: Markéta Supa, (marketa.supa /at/ fsv.cuni.cz)
8. AI Experience of University Students
The proposed project aims to explore the lived and holistic media
experience of university students in relation to contemporary AI
technologies. The project questions how university students experience
and make sense of AI tools, systems, and environments in their everyday
and academic lives. The goal is to gain a deep understanding of how and
why students engage with, perceive, and evaluate AI; how AI becomes
entangled with their identity as students, their study and research
practices, social relations, sense of autonomy or dependence, and
existential questions in a rapidly changing educational and digital
environment.
Potential supervisor: Markéta Supa, (marketa.supa /at/ fsv.cuni.cz)
9. 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 during their childhoods, such as youth-adult relationships, have
been complemented by Para-Social Relationships with media figures.
Traditionally, public figures from the media environment (TV, film,
newspapers, …) or imaginary figures from books, cartoons and films
fulfilled developmental functions for children and young people, such as
role-modelling. Recently, the rise of new technologies (AI, with, e.g.,
ChatGPT) and social media that allow for the active participation of
media users, created a space for a new form of relationships, namely
digital relationships in the online environment, mediated, e.g., via
'digital empathy' (Unay-Gerhard et al., 2022). Participation in digital
interactions, dynamics and functions of digital relationships and types
of these being formed with humans as well as with machines (e.g.,
AI-driven chatbots) with a focus on current young people (11-18 years)
will be the subject of this PhD study, contributing to the emergent line
of media research deploying a post-humanist perspective.
Proposed supervisor: Tereza Javornícky Brumovská,
(tereza.javornicky.brumovska /at/ fsv.cuni.cz)
10. Communication, democracy and struggle
This PhD position involves research that explores how democracy is
socially constructed, through its representations, contestations and
reconfigurations, and how the struggles pertaining to democracy may
intersect with claims to freedom, equality and social justice, but also
with conflict, violence and war. Projects in this thematic area are
expected to be grounded in social constructionist/poststructuralist
paradigmatic approaches; embedded in the broad fields of discourse
studies, cultural studies or related fields; and, supported by feminist,
intersectional, postcolonial, or other relevant, theories. The research
can be located in a variety of societal fields, such as media, culture
and politics, but the proposals should clearly demarcate the area of
research.
Proposed supervisor: Vaia Doudaki, (vaia.doudaki /at/ fsv.cuni.cz)
++++
Application
Interested candidates should submit their applications using the online
application system, which will be open from 1st January to 30th April
2026. 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:
https://fsv.cuni.cz/en/admissions/phd-programmes/media-and-communication-studies
&
https://is.cuni.cz/studium/eng/prijimacky/index.php
Please download the form to fill out your dissertation project proposal
from this webpage:
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 the PhD in Media and Communication Studies will
take place on February 18, 2026 at 12:30 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) without delay.
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Nico Carpentier
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Web: http://nicocarpentier.net/
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Book:
Democracy and Media in Europe: A Discursive-Material Approach
by Nico Carpentier & Jeffrey Wimmer
https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003485438
----------------------------
Film essay:
AGON: Constructions of Democracy
by Ali Minanto, Nico Carpentier & Jhon Sany Purwanto
http://www.constructionsofdemocracy.eu/
----------------------------
Recent articles:
* Discursive constructions of the home after homelessness: A case study
of the Turkish YouTube channel Kadir's Eye, with Muhammet Ali Dokumacı,
Housing Studies, https://doi.org/10.1080/02673037.2025.2557284
* The Grounds of the European Democracy- Media Nexus: Four Conditions of
Possibility, with Vaia Doudaki and Kirill Filimonov, Media Watch,
https://doi.org/10.1177/09760911251374242
* The Construction of Palestinian Identity in Bashar Alhroub's Video
Art: Moving Beyond the Hegemonic Palestinian Identity Discourse, with
Kristýna Kop ivová, Critical Arts,
https://doi.org/10.1080/02560046.2025.2540531
* Articulations of the institutional and the popular in the construction
of Europe: A discourse-theoretical analysis of Czech social media
content, with Vaia Doudaki, Miloš Hroch, Klára Odstrčilová and Sandra
Abdulhaková, Studies in Communication Sciences,
https://www.hope.uzh.ch/scoms/article/view/5786
* Data, Information, Knowledge, and Wisdom: Toward a Recalibration of
Human -Technology Relations, Emerging Media,
https://doi.org/10.1177/27523543251365161
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Culture and Communication Research Centre (CULCORC)
Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism
Charles University
Smetanovo nábřeží 6, 110 01 Praha 1, Czech Republic
----------------------------
Tallinn University
Baltic Film, Media and Arts School
https://www.tlu.ee/en/bfm
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SQRIDGE ngo
An intersection of academia and arts
http://www.sqridge.org/
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The Commlist
http://commlist.org/
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International Association for Media and Communication Research
http://iamcr.org/
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Culture and Communication Research Centre (CULCORC)
https://culcorc.fsv.cuni.cz/
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Web: http://nicocarpentier.net/
E-mail (CharlesU): (nico.carpentier /at/ fsv.cuni.cz)
Bluesky: @nicocarpentier.bsky.social
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Room (CharlesU): Hollar building Room 016a
Phone (CharlesU): +420 222 112 231
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