[ecrea] PhD Scholarships on Media, Empowerment and Democracy in East Africa

PhD Scholarships on Media, Empowerment and Democracy in East Africa

The Danish-East African research project, ?People 
Speaking Back? Media, Empowerment and Democracy 
in East Africa (MEDIeA)?, funded by the Danish 
Development Agency (Danida),  offers two 
full-time PhD scholarships (36 months) starting 
on January 1st  2010, using ethnographic 
perspectives. One will be registered as a PhD 
student at University of Nairobi, the other at 
University of Dar es Salaam. Funding  follow 
provisions of  Kenya and Tanzania universities.

About MEDIeA
The overall objective of MEDIeA is to explore the 
role civil society driven media and communication 
technologies potentially can have in enhancing 
participatory governance processes in East 
Africa, more specifically in Kenya and Tanzania. 
The core inquiry of MEDIeA grows from a concern 
about how young people are secured a role in both 
the local, national and regional development 
processes.  The research project?s analytical 
challenge is to understand the ways and means in 
which youth as ordinary citizens engage with such 
civil society driven media and communication 
platforms and what socio-cultural and policy related outcomes this may have.

MEDIeA comprises of a team of 4 researchers in 
addition to the two PhD students that are about 
to be contracted. In Kenya, the team consists of 
Associate Professor Norbert Wildermuth from 
University of Southern Denmark and Associate 
Research Professor Winnie Mitullah from 
University of Nairobi. In Tanzania, the team 
consists of Professor and Principal Investigator 
of MEDIeA, Thomas Tufte and Assistant Professor Datius Rweyemanu.

In addition to empirical research, the MEDIeA 
project comprises of components of dissemination, 
capacity building and policy dialogue. The 
research program is hosted by ØRECOMM ? 
Consortium for Communication and Glocal Change at 
Department of Communication, Business and 
Information Technologies, Roskilde University, Denmark.

Objectives of the PhD
It is the general objective of the announced PhD 
scholarships to strengthen the overall research 
efforts of MEDIeA in Kenya and Tanzania. The PhD 
students are expected to provide community based 
research which uncovers the synergies and 
communication relations between everyday life, 
media use, citizen engagement in social and 
political processes. The announced PhD projects can be specified as follows:

Kenya: Communication,  e-participation and 
digital inclusion: a media ethnographic study. 
See detailed description on 
http://orecomm.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/phd-projectdescriptions-mediea-2009.pdf


Tanzania: Media use, citizenship and 
participatory governance: a media ethnographic 
study in Tanzania See detailed description on 
http://orecomm.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/phd-projectdescriptions-mediea-2009.pdf

Who can apply?
We invite applications from students with an MA 
in social sciences or humanities and with 
experience in qualitative empirical research, 
preferably in the field of qualitative reception 
studies, media ethnigraphy and/or participatory 
communication studies. Applicants should be 
prepared to work extended periods in the ?field?, 
in close and prolonged cooperation with the 
non-governmental and community-based 
organisations selected as case studies by the 
MEDIeA team of senior researchers. Applicants 
must be able to communicate in the relevant 
vernacular language, besides English, as well as 
demonstrate the necessary ?social? abilities to 
do research based on a participant observation 
approach. Finally, it would be beneficial if 
applicants also have experience with 
survey-based, quantitative research designs or equivalent qualifications.

Application procedure
Deadline: 10 August 2009.
Please submit:
   * A research proposal of up to five pages
   * A curriculum vitae including list of publications
   * A writing sample/publication of 5-10.000 words
   * Official transcripts of undergraduate degree and Master?s degree
   * Reference letters (optional)
Applications have to be based on the full 
advertisement of the specific PhD scholarship you 
are applying. As the descriptions both for the 
Kenya and Tanzania scholarship are already quite 
elaborate, the applicants are expected to provide 
their own theoretical-methodological reflection 
based on  the initial outline as well as 
suggesting and justifying a research design for the actual study.
The selection will be based on both the relevant 
experience of the applicant and quality research proposal.

Successful candidates selected for interviews 
will be announced on 20 August 2009. Interviews 
will be conducted on 24 and 25 August at the 
University of Nairobi and on 1 and 2 
September  at University of Dar-es-Salaam. Final 
selection will be announced by 10 September.
Please send your application including appendices 
in one single pdf file to Kirsten Høffding 
(<mailto:(hoffding /at/ ruc.dk)>(hoffding /at/ ruc.dk)) at 
Roskilde University. Should you have questions 
regarding the content of the proposal, please contact the following:
For the Kenya scholarship: Norbert Wildermuth 
((Wildermuth /at/ litcul.sdu.dk)) and Winnie Mitullah 
(<mailto:(wvmitullah /at/ swiftkenya.com)>(wvmitullah /at/ swiftkenya.com))
For the Tanzania scholarship: Thomas Tufte 
(<mailto:(ttufte /at/ ruc.dk)>(ttufte /at/ ruc.dk), offline 
3-26 July) and Datius Rweyemanu ((datiusr /at/ yahoo.com)).


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Nico Carpentier (Phd)
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Vrije Universiteit Brussel - Free University of Brussels
Centre for Studies on Media and Culture (CeMeSO)
Pleinlaan 2 - B-1050 Brussels - Belgium
T: ++ 32 (0)2-629.18.56
F: ++ 32 (0)2-629.36.84
Office: 5B.401a
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European Communication Research and Education Association
Web: http://www.ecrea.eu
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E-mail: (Nico.Carpentier /at/ vub.ac.be)
Web: http://homepages.vub.ac.be/~ncarpent/
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