[ecrea] PhD opportunity (ESRC funding): Social Media Images and Fake News

*One fully funded ESRC PhD studentship, open to UK and EU applicants. 
Start date 1^st October 2017. Studentship includes funding for 4 years 
(1+3) and additional financial support from the project partner. Closing 
date for applications is _5pm UK time on Friday 31 March_. *

*Project title: *The Role of Social Media Images in Fake News

*Funding: *UK/EU fees and a tax-free maintenance stipend at standard 
Research Council rate (£14,553 in 2017-18) for up to four years.

The proposed project on the role of social media images in the 
production of fake news is both interdisciplinary (Media and 
Communication Studies and Information Science) and collaborative (Claire 
Wardle at US-based organisation First Draft News 
<http://firstdraftnews.com/> is the project partner). The rise of social 
media, combined with advances in technology and global communication, 
including how news is consumed, has brought many opportunities. Most 
notably more people are involved in news production: democratising news 
making in important ways. Simultaneously, challenges arising from these 
technological developments have also come to light, involving the spread 
of misinformation and difficulties with verification of news on social 
media platforms. Fake news, in particular, has become a worldwide 
problem, most poignantly highlighted in the election of Donald Trump, 
with many fake news stories apparently circulated to influence the 
election outcome. A growing international cross-sector community 
exploring these issues has also emerged, of which First Draft News is a 
key initiative. It wasformed as a non-profit coalition in 2015 to raise 
awareness and address challenges relating to trust and truth in the 
digital age.In September 2016 it launched the First Draft Partner 
Network, the first of its kind to bring together the largest social 
platforms with global newsrooms, human rights organizations and other 
fact-checking and verification projects around the world. This is based 
on the belief that these challenges can only be tackled via a global 
collaboration of organizations working together to find solutions. 
Social media images play a crucial role in the spread of fake news by 
helping stories appear more believable and more attractive and easy to 
share. Whilst there is a growing body of work around verification and 
fake news, the complex role of images has to date been neglected. This 
PhD project addresses this through an innovative collaboration between 
the Visual Social Media Lab (the VSML is directed by the principal 
supervisor) and First Draft News. This project will specifically focus 
on the role of social media images in the production, circulation and 
reception of fake news, paying particular attention to understanding how 
users assess stories and why they choose to share them. There will be 
access to bespoke training from VSML analytics partner Pulsar and 
internship and research opportunities within First Draft News throughout 
the project.

The ideal candidate will have a good undergraduate degree (upper second, 
or above) in a relevant subject and ideally (but not essential) a good 
Master’s degree (merit or above). Experience of social media research is 
desirable but not essential. Experience of visual, qualitative and/or 
case study methodologies is desirable. A working knowledge of 
contemporary journalism is desirable but not essential. To apply, please 
send a CV and a two-page proposal, explaining how you would approach 
this project. Please send you application to: Dr Farida Vis – 
(f.vis /at/ sheffield.ac.uk) <mailto:(f.vis /at/ sheffield.ac.uk)>

For further information, or any queries, please contact one of the 
supervisors:

  * Dr Farida Vis – (f.vis /at/ sheffield.ac.uk) <mailto:(f.vis /at/ sheffield.ac.uk)>
  * Professor Paul Clough - (p.d.clough /at/ sheffield.ac.uk)
    <mailto:(p.d.clough /at/ sheffield.ac.uk)>



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