ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

August 24-26, 2020

Helsinki, Finland

Deadline: March 20, 2020

Recent years have intensified a complex conjuncture of global challenges. Daily news explains in clear terms that we are gambling on environmental sustainability, with increasingly small odds on our side. Rapidly advancing datafication and algorithmically organized interactions affect the logics of interaction and opinion formation. Experiences of intersecting inequalities sharpen differences, polarize political debates and create clashing camps both locally and globally. These and other current trends force us to rethink questions of power, governance and authority: in what ways do governments, corporations, political parties, social movements and citizens affect the future, and what is the role of science and expertise in the current world? These and related questions will be taken up and discussed in the 8th Power Conference, which will take place at the University of Helsinki, August 24-26, 2020. The three intensive days will include keynote talks by:

• Gianpaolo Baiocchi (New York University)
• Mark Haugaard (National University of Ireland)
• Laura Centemeri (CNRS, Centre National de la Recherce, FRA)
• Mike Zapp (University of Luxembourg)
• Suvi Salmenniemi (University of Turku)
• Shakuntala Banaji (London School of Economics and Political Science)

Several streams of paper sessions will provide participants a chance to present their work and engage in intensive discussions with colleagues. We invite scholars from all fields of inquiry to propose presentations of themes such as (but not restricted to):

• political movements and new of forms of engagement
• international organizations and global consultancy
• comparative studies on policy processes
• inequalities, social classes (inside and across nations)
• politics of affect
• datafied resources and infrastructures of power
• the role of science, knowledge and expertise
• new media and communication environments and platforms
• new conceptualizations of power and elites

Deadline for abstracts (max 300 words) is March 20, 2020. (Notification of acceptance March 31st).

Submit your abstract here: https://www.lyyti.in/power2020cfp.

Registration fees: Standard €200; graduate students €100.

Power Conference 2020 is organized by University of Helsinki, University of Tampere and the Society for the Study of Power Relations. For more information, contact the organizing committee

• Risto Kunelius, University of Helsinki (risto.kunelius@helsinki.fi)
• Eeva Luhtakallio, University of Helsinki (eeva.luhtakallio@helsinki.fi)
• Pertti Alasuutari, Tampere University (pertti.alasuutari@tuni.fi)
• Risto Heiskala, Tampere University (risto.heiskala@tuni.fi)
• Anu Kantola, University of Helsinki (anu.kantola@helsinki.fi)
• Tuomas Ylä-Anttila, University of Helsinki (tuomas.yla-anttila@helsinki.fi)
• Tuomas Forsberg, University of Helsinki (tuomas.forsberg@helsinki.fi)

September 29-30, 2020

University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar

Deadline: April 30, 2020

More information:

http://www.lasics.uminho.pt/estudosdecomunicacao/?page_id=923

http://www.cecs.uminho.pt/en/chamada-de-trabalhos-conferencia-final-do-programa-doutoral-em-estudos-de-comunicacao/

Call for Papers

Democracies are under threat in many parts of the world. The emergence of authoritarian and illiberal political forces, and the rise of intolerance in political discourse can be linked to a variety of factors. These include mistrust in political institutions, which in turn has been exacerbated by rampant economic inequality and injustice. Also, populist and xenophobic forms of communication in digital spaces are fueling fear and hatred. Declining diversity and pluralism in mainstream journalism and debate also contribute to the fragile condition of both older and younger democracies. Further, decreasing interest in political news renders citizens less effective in dealing with the forces that shape their lives.

In contrast, various new modes of engagement with the res publica have emerged in an ever more complex information and communication environment. Several countries have seen a significant growth of alternative forms of journalism, which are often embedded with activism for social change. Political dissent has been sustained by exchanges in/through digital media and in some cases led to significant disruptions in the prevailing political order. Civil society organizations, groups and social movements are developing alternative modes of organization, self-governance and collective action that can stimulate wider change and political agency, as well as generate new challenges and tensions. At the same time, political engagement on the far right has also spread and intensified, and a new arsenal of anti-democratic practices have emerged on the web, at times threatening to subvert key democratic institutions such as journalism, public debate, and even elections.

While acknowledging the threats to democracy, this conference aims to go beyond them and discuss communication practices that can reinvigorate democratic politics. Against a background of systemic problems that are producing various forms of unsustainability, as well as of widespread discourses promoting progressive transformative change in current societies, important questions arise for communication scholars and other social scientists: How are digital media being used towards structural – and democratic – change? What signs can we find of significant engagement with the politics of transformation? How can our disciplines contribute to these debates and developments?

Assuming that fundamental change is imperative in current societies, radical democratic politics imply opening up the future to what is not yet given. To understand the possibilities and constraints for this symbolic shift, there is a vital need for in-depth research on cases and examples of communication that is political and radical.

The conference welcomes submissions about communication for democratic transformative change addressing (inter alia) the following themes:

• Democratizing uses of digital technologies
• Political engagement in the current communication environment
• Social movements’ communication for transformative change
• Communication practices in organizing for transformative activism
• Alternative forms of journalism and contributions for social change
• Democratic media activism
• Risks associated with the rise of ´citizenism’.

Confirmed keynote speakers:

• Natalie Fenton, Goldsmiths College, University of London
• Alice Mattoni, University of Bologna

Abstracts (400-500 words) can be submitted via the following email address: communicationfortransformation@gmail.com

Selected papers will be published in an edited book.

Important dates

• Submission deadline: 30 April 2020
• Communication of acceptance: 12 May 2020

Registration deadlines and fees: 31 May 2020 – 40 euros; 1 September 2020 – 60 euros

The conference is organized by the PhD programme in Communication Studies: Technology, Culture and Society in collaboration with the Communication and Society Research Centre, University of Minho.

Conference organisers:

• Anabela Carvalho, University of Minho
• Peter Dahlgren, Lund University

The conference will aim to minimize its environmental impact as much as possible. To that purpose, and to widen access more generally, virtual participation will be possible – with or without a presentation.

University of Bremen

The Centre for Media, Communication and Information Research (ZeMKI) at the University of Bremen is offering a 3-year PhD position (f/m/d) – under the condition of job release – which will be based in the Computational Communication and Democracy (CCD) Lab and will be co-sponsored by the Information Management and Media Technology (IMMT) Lab (Department of Mathematics and Computer Science). The PhD student will work with the lab directors, Prof. Yannis Theocharis and Prof. Andreas Breiter on the broader thematic area Computational Social Science.

Description of the position

Duration: 3 years

Starting date: as soon as possible

Remuneration is based on grade E13 TV-L (100%, full-time position) of the German federal employee scale

Tasks:

• Writing a PhD Thesis focusing on one of the research areas of the labs
• Research in the field of political communication, based on computational methods such as text-as-data, network and image analysis
• Research on new methodological approaches with focus on machine-learning and natural language processing
• Teaching assistance in computational methods for social scientists (study programs at Faculty 9) and machine learning models in informatics and educational technologies (Faculty 3)
• Description of teaching duties: The position involves 4 hours of teaching per week.

Essential qualifications

• Master’s Degree in Media and Communication, Political Science and/or Sociology with a strong focus on computational methods, or in Computer Science and Digital Media with a strong focus on social phenomena
• Skills in quantitative methods
• Skills in computational methods (a focus on text-as-data methods – especially automated text analysis and machine-learning – is a plus)Proven experience with R, Python, Ruby, Java, or equivalent object-oriented programming language
• Interest in political communication
• Experience with social media data analysis is desirable
• Strong command of English (C1), in German at least B2
• Candidates who already hold a PhD degree will not be considered.

The University of Bremen has received a number of awards for its diversity policies and offers a family-friendly working environment as well as an international atmosphere. The University of Bremen intends to increase the proportion of women in science and therefore urges women to apply. Handicapped applicants with the same professional and personal suitability are given priority. Applications from people with a migration background are encouraged.

For any questions please contact Yannis Theocharis at: yannis.theocharisuni-bremen.de

Application

The application should include the following documents:

• A 2-page letter of motivation. Page 1 should describe your research interests and explain why you believe your profile fits with the main objectives and mission of the ZeMKI Labs. Page 2 should briefly sketch the topic of the PhD project you’d like to pursue.
• CV
• A copy of your academic certificates and transcripts
• A writing sample (research paper, publication, or Master’s thesis)
• Names of two referees

Please send your application including the reference number A4/20 until 31 March 2020 to:

Universität Bremen

Zentrum für Medien-, Kommunikations- und Informationsforschung (ZeMKI)

Frau Denise Tansel

Postfach 33 04 40

28334 Bremen

Or as PDF via Email (single file) at: dtanseluni-bremen.de

The employment is fixed-term and serves the scientific qualification, governed by the Act of Academic Fixed-Term Contract, §2 (1) (Wissenschaftszeitvertragsgesetz). Therefore, candidates may only be considered for appointment if they still have the respective qualification periods available in accordance with § 2 (1) WissZeitVG.

About the Computational Communication and Democracy Lab

The Lab’s substantive research agenda is driven by the idea that the proliferation of digital media opens up new avenues for social and political interaction that have radical effects on democratic processes: participation, organisation, representation. As such, digital communication offers opportunities, but also poses enormous challenges that fundamentally affect the quality of our democracies. Relying on developments in the field of computational social science as a point of departure, the Lab’s is also interested in methods through which new types of digital information can be processed and repurposed for studying a variety of social and political phenomena enabled by digital technologies. The lab has two main goals. First, to lead research on different but interdependent substantive topics for understanding, the social and political impact of digital communication and address methodological and epistemological issues related to conceptualisation, operationalisation, measurement and inference. Second, to offer BA, Masters, and PhD students a path for specialisation in computational and data science methods, with applications to communication and media research.

About the Information Management and Media Technologies Lab

The Lab combines theoretical research on the change of organizations (particularly in the education sector and in connection with mediatisation) with application-oriented research and the development of media technologies. The lab integrates the perspectives of informatics and social sciences. The underlying assumption is that the change of organisations with and through media technologies can only be studied by an empirically substantiated understanding of the particular application context. Accordingly, a variety of qualitative and quantitative methods is used in the research projects with a focus on computational social science.

About the Centre for Media, Communication and Information Research (ZeMKI)

As an inter-faculty research institute, the Centre for Media, Communication and Information Research (ZeMKI) bundles research activities at the University of Bremen in the area of media and communicative change regarding a broad range of cultural, social, organisational and technological context fields. The research institute is committed to interdisciplinary cooperation, integrating researchers from the areas of media and communication studies, cultural studies, information management and media pedagogics. In addition to their research activities, ZeMKI members are active in the various media related study programmes at the University of Bremen. The ZeMKI oversees the profile-building research group "Communicative figurations of mediatized worlds" of the University of Bremen. The research group has been supported as a "Creative Unit" by the institutional strategy "Ambitious and Agile" of the University of Bremen funded within the frame of the Excellence Initiative by the German Federal and State Governments.

https://www.uni-bremen.de/en/university/the-university-as-an-employer/job-vacancies/details-job-vacancies/joblist/Job/show/1-x-10-doktorandin-doktorand-wmd-im-bereich-computational-social-science-6321/

July 10-20, 2020

St. Petersburg, Russia

Deadline: April 5, 2020

National Research University Higher School of Economics (St. Petersburg Campus) invites you to participate in the 1st International Summer School on CSS Methods, held 10 - 20 July, 2020 in St. Petersburg, Russia. The deadline for applications is April 5, 2020.

HSE CSS 2020 is an academic and educational event, aimed at mastering computational social science methods and developing international collaboration of scholars in the related fields.

The School includes two major tracks: Methods Track and Research Track

METHODS TRACK

Methods Track is a two-module track organized for intermediate and advanced students. Each module consists of three parallel courses, 2 ECTS each (38 contact hours) and participate in a series of the keynote lectures by invited speakers. Also students will have an opportunity to develop their own project.

Courses of the 1st Module (July 11 – 14, 2020): 1) Social Network Analysis; 2) Text Mining; 3) Machine Learning in Social Sciences

Courses of the 2nd Module (July 16 – 19, 2020): 1) Bad Data: Advanced Data Cleaning and Scrapping; 2) Advanced Data Visualization; 3) Machine Learning: Causal and Interpretable Models

RESEARCH TRACK

Research Track is a 10-day session held for the students who are already familiar with the CCS Methods and currently working on the research related to some of the CSS Methods. This track is designed as a series of workshops where students can present and discuss their projects, as well as get a valuable feedback from the professors and improve their research.

To apply for the Research Tracks, students are supposed to submit a short paper based on their current research, which are then selected by the School organization committee. These short papers are to be presented on the first day of the School. During the two weeks of the School students are supposed to advance their research and improve their paper. They will be presented at the second Poster Session.

Best posters are planned to be submitted for the publication by the international publisher.

The workshops will cover such topics as: Science Mapping, Statistical Inference, Experimental Research, Causal and Interpretable Machine Learning Models, Texts and Networks, Advanced Visualization for CSS and Poster Design.

APPLICATION AND ENROLLMENT:

The deadline for applications is April 5, 2020. Notifications about decisions will be sent to participants no later than April 10, 2020. For the Research Track students are supposed to submit a short paper with their ongoing research. Please visit our website (https://spb.hse.ru/io/sumsch/css/) to apply.

PARTICIPATION FEES

The full participation fee for the Methods Track is RUB 15,000 (approximately EUR 210). For the Research Track the full participation fee is RUB 3,500 (approximately EUR 50).

IMPORTANT DATES

• February 27, 2020 – Start of the application campaign
• April 5, 2020 – Deadline for applications
• April 10, 2020 – Notification about decision (Advanced Track)
• April 15, 2020 – Registration of participants (deadline for applications for visa invitations from non-EU and UK countries, as well as dormitory accommodation)
• July 10-20, 2020 – Summer School

CONTACTS

Yury Kabanov, HSE CSS Coordinator, ykabanov@hse.ru

Website: https://spb.hse.ru/io/sumsch/css/

LSE Department of Media and Communications

Salary from £36,647 to £44,140 pa inclusive of London allowance with potential to progress to £47,456 pa

This is a fixed term appointment for one year, starting from 1 September 2020, with a possibility of extension for two further years.

Applications are invited from outstanding candidates in the field of Media, Communication and Development. The successful candidate will join an established and successful Department which graduates 300+ MSc students a year and which was ranked first in the UK’s 2014 Research Excellence Framework.

The Department is seeking to appoint an LSE Fellow who is able to make important contributions to its teaching and research. This post presents an excellent starting point for an academic to gain teaching experience while developing their research career.

Candidates will have a completed or nearly-completed PhD in Media and Communications with a focus on communication inequalities in the global south (viva to be completed before the date of appointment). Candidates must demonstrate evidence of successful teaching at post-graduate level, an interest in contributing to teaching methods of research in Media and Communications, and experience of teaching media, communication and development histories and theories from a practical and critical perspective. Candidates will have a developing research record in the field of Media and Communications in the global south, with evidence of a commitment to postcolonial theories and empirical research. Candidates must demonstrate excellent communication and presentation skills and a demonstrable commitment to equality and diversity.

We offer an occupational pension scheme, generous annual leave and excellent training and development opportunities.

For further information about the post, please see https://jobs.lse.ac.uk/Vacancies/W/3313/0/264766/15539/lse-fellow-in-media-communication-and-development

If you have any technical queries with applying on the online system, please use the “contact us” links at the bottom of the LSE Jobs page.

Should you have any queries about the role, please email Dr Shakuntala Banaji, s.banaji@lse.ac.uk.

The closing date for receipt of applications is Sunday 05 April 2020 (23.59 UK time). Regrettably, we are unable to accept any late applications.

An LSE Fellowship is intended to be an entry route to an academic career and is deemed by the School to be a career development position. As such, applicants who have already been employed as an LSE Fellow for three years in total are not eligible to apply. If you have any queries about this please contact the HR Division. LSE is committed to building a diverse, equitable and truly inclusive university.

University of Huddersfield

The School of Music, Humanities and Media at the University of Huddersfield invites proposals from researchers seeking to apply for a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship 2020 based at the University. Fellowships are of 12-36 months duration depending on the scheme. All candidates must be in possession of a doctoral degree or have at least four years of full-time equivalent research experience Deadline for submitting an Expression of Interest to the University is Friday 3rd April by 5pm.

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships aim to enhance the creative and innovative potential of experienced researchers, wishing to diversify their individual competence through advanced training, international mobility and intersectoral mobility. Individual Fellowships provide opportunities to acquire and transfer new knowledge and to work on research and innovation in a European context or outside Europe. They develop the careers of individual researchers who show great potential and include a specific opportunity for those returning to the profession. The proposal is built around a concrete plan of training-through-research at the host organisation. In addition to research objectives, this plan comprises the researcher’s training and career needs, including training on transferable skills, planning for publications, and participation in conferences. The scheme offers a highly competitive salary, family allowance, and travel allowance, as well as research and training expenses.

The School will support up to 10 outstanding applications for Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships for research projects in any field within any area of the School including:

• Media, Journalism and Film/TV
• English
• Creative writing
• History
• Drama
• Linguistics,
• Modern languages
• Music (including popular music, performance, musicology, analysis)
• Music technology

Two schemes are available under this call:

The European Fellowships - held in EU Member States or Associated Countries and open to researchers either coming to Europe from any country in the world or moving within Europe. Applicants cannot have resided or carried out the main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the host country for more than 12 months in the last 36 months before the call deadline. Fellowships last for a duration of 12-24 months. An optional secondment period of up to 3 or 6 months in another organisation in Europe is eligible where this would boost the impact of the fellowship.

A Career Restart option and Reintegration to Europe option is available within the European Fellowships scheme. The fellowship structure is the same, though eligibility requirements for these routes differ. Please see the below link for more information on these routes.

The Global Fellowships – composed of an outgoing phase during which the researcher first undertakes mobility to a partner organisation in a Third Country (not an EU Member State or Associated Country) for an uninterrupted period of between 12 and 24 months, followed by a mandatory 12-month return period to the single beneficiary located in a Member State or Associated Country, in this case the University of Huddersfield. Applicants must be a national or long-term resident of a Member State or Associated Country (i.e. undertaken a period of full-time research activity in a MS/AC of at least 5 consecutive years). The applicants must not have resided or carried out the main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the Third Country where the initial outgoing phase takes place for more than 12 months in the last 36 months immediately before the call deadline. An optional secondment period of up to 3 or 6 months in another organisation in Europe is eligible where this would boost the impact of the fellowship.

For the Fellowships the following salary and expenses details will apply when the fellow is based at Huddersfield (during the outgoing phase of the Global Fellowship the salary rate is dependent on the particular rate applicable to the hosting Third Country – please see the Horizon 2020 Work Programme at the link below for further information}:

• Salary €6,822 per month
• Family Allowance (where applicable) €500 per month
• Mobility Allowance €600 per month
• Research, training and networking activities €800 per month

The funder’s deadline for the full application is 9th September 2020. In order to allow time for mentoring and development of full applications, expressions of interest should be sent to Professor Monty Adkins (m.adkins@hud.ac.uk) by 5pm on Friday 3rd April, consisting of two PDF documents:

1) a two-page CV including education, publications, any awards, exhibitions;

2) a draft statement of the research project to be undertaken (max 2 pages) and intended training/networking requirements (max 1 page)

A selection process internal to the School of Music, Humanities and Media will determine which proposals will go forward to a full application. A programme of mentoring and development will be offered to applicants deemed successful in this internal process.

If you are interested in submitting an application in the area of Media, Journalism and/or Film/TV please feel free to contact Professor Catherine Johnson (C.Johnson2@hud.ac.uk) in advance of the deadline for expressions of interest.

For further information on the scheme, including eligibility requirements, see the European Commission Research and Innovation website (and particularly the Guide for Applicants that can be found at Point 5 under the ‘Topic Conditions and Documents’ heading):

https://ec.europa.eu/research/mariecurieactions/actions/individual-fellowships_en

https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/opportunities/topic-details/msca-if-2020

RAE-IC Number 15 (until 11/01/2020)

Deadline: November 1, 2020

RAEIC, Revista Española de la Asociación Española de Investigación de la Comunicación, opens its call for papers inside the monograph “Investigar la Comunicación desde Perspectivas, Teorías y Métodos Periféricos” in journal’s issue 15, which will be published in Q1 2021.

Articles must be submitted through the platform revistaeic.org. The deadline for final texts delivery will be 1st November 2020.

Further information on http://www.revistaeic.eu/index.php/raeic/proxima-numeros

This dossier deals with the research that we have called "peripheral", that is, the one composed of alternative methods, theories, topics and practices from the hegemonic ones within the field of communication research. Those that usually have little space within the institutionalized circuits of communicology research.

These are some of the aspects suggested regarding the proposal of articles:

Line 1: Emerging objects, perspectives, areas and levels of analysis with less development in the Spanish or Latin American context (e.g. video games, mobile content, interpersonal and group communication, communication and health, etc.)

Line 2: Research giving voice to the “others” and/or explores alternative interaction contexts (e.g. immigrants, second generation immigrants, LGTBQ groups, older people, interfaith dialogue, racialized populations such as the Romani and Afro-descendant communities, etc.)

Line 3: Analysis of non-mainstream cultural production (journalistic, cinematographic, advertising, photographic, musical, literary, audio visual, printed, etc.

Line 4: Research attempting to overcome Western ethnocentrism by putting European and non-European traditions in dialogue.

Line 5: Participatory, observant and qualitative methodologies.

Line 6: History of communication research based on non-dominant subjects and objects.

Line 7: Research on communicative practices in national, regional or local peripheries.

Charles University in Prague

We would like to ask you to help us a bit with spreading the word about our new academic Master Programme in Media and Area Studies (MARS) at Charles University in Prague.

You will have to forgive us for being quite proud of this new project. If you find this email too intrusive, please simply delete it. We will not bother you again – this is a one-time mailing.

But in case you are interested in this project, which combines an interest in media and politics with a strong emphasis on Central and Eastern Europe and on the European Union, extending to other social spheres as well, we have produced a 25-seconds video about it, which you can find here: https://vimeo.com/383173852. We also built a MARS website, which is at http://marsmaster.cz.

(Potential) students can now apply to this Master Programme, and we would appreciate it, if you could help us with finding (some of) them. You can find a bit more information below, which can be easily forwarded/posted.

In case you want to help us more, you can also download and distribute the additional material about the MARS MA programme:

An A3 poster: https://marsmaster.fsv.cuni.cz/docs/marsmaster_poster_january2020.pdf

An A4 booklet: http://marsmaster.fsv.cuni.cz/docs/marsmaster_flyer_february2020.pdf

If you have further questions, please do not hesitate to contact the new Programme Coordinator, Jan Miessler at jan.miessler@fsv.cuni.cz.

The Master in Media and Area Studies (MARS) combines two important contemporary fields of study: Media Studies and Area Studies. This combination provides in-depth and critical knowledge about processes of mediation and signification, and how space and geography - the political and social specificities of an area - intersect with them.

The backbone of MARS is a groundedness in Prague, the Czech Republic, Central and Eastern Europe and the European Union. This enables for two particular spatial focal points, which provide the backbone of the MARS programme, namely Central and Eastern Europe and the European Union. At the same time, MARS avoids an exclusive focus on Central and Eastern Europe, and offers (mostly but not exclusively through the electives) knowledge about other European regions, or about Europe as a whole. A second extension relates to more transnational and transcultural approaches, moving away from the logics of nation-state homogeneity, with emphasis on internal conflict and exclusion. This MARS backbone is combined with and strengthened by two main components: A theoretical component, which consists out of a combination of post-colonial theory, media sociology, memory studies and political geography. Moreover, also a methodological component provides the required support. These two focal points and the theoretical and methodological components structure the MARS programme.

MARS will enable a thorough understanding of the role of context. Media (and communication) studies has a long tradition of emphasizing the importance of context, in dealing, for instance, with media production, content and interpretation/reception. And, of course, contexts are also spatial. Regions and countries, with their imagined communities, their politics, their institutional structures, their insides and outsides, are particular, and they impact in particular ways on media (infra)structures, media content and audience practices. MARS will generate a better understanding of the complexity of this context. Regions and countries are not internally homogeneous, and they cannot be studied in isolation and as structurally different from other regions and countries. MARS still takes into consideration that these regions and countries are particular socio-political and cultural entities that have characterizing but complex (and sometimes contradictory) particularities, which are extremely significant for the study of the media spheres that are embedded in these regions and countries.

MARS is a MA programme at Charles University in Prague (Czech Republic). It is organised as a collaboration between the Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism (ICSJ FSV UK) and the Institute of International Studies (IIS FSV UK). More information can be found at http://marsmaster.cz. For a short video impression of the MARS, see https://vimeo.com/383173852.

University of Bremen

The Centre for Media, Communication and Information Research (ZeMKI) at the University of Bremen is offering a 3-year PhD position (f/m/d) – under the condition of job release – which will be based in the Computational Communication and Democracy (CCD) Lab and will be co-sponsored by the Information Management and Media Technology (IMMT) Lab (Department of Mathematics and Computer Science). The PhD student will work with the lab directors, Prof. Yannis Theocharis and Prof. Andreas Breiter on the broader thematic area *Computational Social Science*.

Description of the position

Duration: 3 years

Starting date: as soon as possible

Remuneration is based on grade E13 TV-L (100%, full-time position) of

the German federal employee scale

Tasks:

• Writing a PhD Thesis focusing on one of the research areas of the labs
• Research in the field of political communication, based on computational methods such as text-as-data, network and image analysis
• Research on new methodological approaches with focus on machine-learning and natural language processing
• Teaching assistance in computational methods for social scientists (study programs at Faculty 9) and machine learning models in informatics and educational technologies (Faculty 3)

Description of teaching duties: The position involves 4 hours of teaching per week.

Essential qualifications

• Master’s Degree in Media and Communication, Political Science and/or Sociology with a strong focus on computational methods, or in Computer Science and Digital Media with a strong focus on social phenomena
• * Skills in quantitative methods
• * Skills in computational methods (a focus on text-as-data methods – especially automated text analysis and machine-learning – is a plus)Proven experience with R, Python, Ruby, Java, or equivalent object-oriented programming language
• * Interest in political communication
• * Experience with social media data analysis is desirable
• * Strong command of English (C1), in German at least B2

Candidates who already hold a PhD degree will not be considered.

The University of Bremen has received a number of awards for its diversity policies and offers a family-friendly working environment as well as an international atmosphere. The University of Bremen intends to increase the proportion of women in science and therefore urges women to apply. Handicapped applicants with the same professional and personal suitability are given priority. Applications from people with a migration background are encouraged.

For any questions please contact Yannis Theocharis at: yannis.theocharisuni-bremen.de

Application

The application should include the following documents:

• A 2-page letter of motivation. Page 1 should describe your research interests and explain why you believe your profile fits with the main objectives and mission of the ZeMKI Labs. Page 2 should briefly sketch the topic of the PhD project you’d like to pursue.
• CV
• A copy of your academic certificates and transcripts
• A writing sample (research paper, publication, or Master’s thesis)
• Names of two referees

Please send your application including the reference number A4/20 until 31 March 2020 to:

Universität Bremen

Zentrum für Medien-, Kommunikations- und Informationsforschung (ZeMKI)

Frau Denise Tansel

Postfach 33 04 40

28334 Bremen

Or as PDF via Email (single file) at: dtanseluni-bremen.de

The employment is fixed-term and serves the scientific qualification, governed by the Act of Academic Fixed-Term Contract, §2 (1) (Wissenschaftszeitvertragsgesetz). Therefore, candidates may only be considered for appointment if they still have the respective qualification periods available in accordance with § 2 (1) WissZeitVG.

About the Computational Communication and Democracy Lab

The Lab’s substantive research agenda is driven by the idea that the proliferation of digital media opens up new avenues for social and political interaction that have radical effects on democratic processes: participation, organisation, representation. As such, digital communication offers opportunities, but also poses enormous challenges that fundamentally affect the quality of our democracies. Relying on developments in the field of computational social science as a point of departure, the Lab’s is also interested in methods through which new types of digital information can be processed and repurposed for studying a variety of social and political phenomena enabled by digital technologies. The lab has two main goals. First, to lead research on different but interdependent substantive topics for understanding, the social and political impact of digital communication and address methodological and epistemological issues related to conceptualisation, operationalisation, measurement and inference. Second, to offer BA, Masters, and PhD students a path for specialisation in computational and data science methods, with applications to communication and media research.

About the Information Management and Media Technologies Lab

The Lab combines theoretical research on the change of organizations (particularly in the education sector and in connection with mediatisation) with application-oriented research and the development of media technologies. The lab integrates the perspectives of informatics and social sciences. The underlying assumption is that the change of organisations with and through media technologies can only be studied by an empirically substantiated understanding of the particular application context. Accordingly, a variety of qualitative and quantitative methods is used in the research projects with a focus on computational social science.

About the Centre for Media, Communication and Information Research (ZeMKI)

As an inter-faculty research institute, the Centre for Media, Communication and Information Research (ZeMKI) bundles research activities at the University of Bremen in the area of media and communicative change regarding a broad range of cultural, social, organisational and technological context fields. The research institute is committed to interdisciplinary cooperation, integrating researchers from the areas of media and communication studies, cultural studies, information management and media pedagogics. In addition to their research activities, ZeMKI members are active in the various media related study programmes at the University of Bremen. The ZeMKI oversees the profile-building research group "Communicative figurations of mediatized worlds" of the University of Bremen. The research group has been supported as a "Creative Unit" by the institutional strategy "Ambitious and Agile" of the University of Bremen funded within the frame of the Excellence Initiative by the German Federal and State Governments.

https://www.uni-bremen.de/en/university/the-university-as-an-employer/job-vacancies/details-job-vacancies/joblist/Job/show/1-x-10-doktorandin-doktorand-wmd-im-bereich-computational-social-science-6321/

Aarhus University

The School of Communication and Culture at the Faculty of Arts, Aarhus University invites applications for a postdoc position in Intercultural Danish-German communication.

The postdoc position is a full-time, fixed-term position, which begins on 1 August 2020 or as soon as possible thereafter and ends on 31 January 2022.

Place of employment: Department of German and Romance Languages, Aarhus University, Jens Chr. Skous Vej 4, 8000 Aarhus C Denmark.

The School of Communication and Culture is committed to diversity and encourages all qualified applicants to apply regardless of their personal background.

The position

For the position, funded by an Aarhus University Research Foundation starting grant, we are seeking an applicant who will contribute to the research in the project “Intercultural Danish-German communication”, in close cooperation with the Interreg 5A project kultKIT. The successful applicant will carry out research on Danish-German intercultural communication in close collaboration with principal investigator Erla Hallsteinsdóttir. The successful applicant must be prepared to participate in and contribute to the research activities (data collection and analysis as well as publication and dissemination activities) as they are defined in the project application.

The focus of the research will be on aspects that are fundamental to intercultural understanding in international strategic communication in a broad sense, with special focus on aspects of intercultural understanding, intercultural competences or linguistic aspects of interculturality. The project is linked to the research programme Communication in International Business and the Professions at the School of Communication and Culture.

The postdoctoral researcher is expected to have a background in intercultural communication. We are particularly interested in applicants with both research expertise and practical experience in communication in a Danish-German context.

Qualifications

Applicants must have a PhD degree or equivalent qualifications in a field of intercultural communication or strategic communication. Applicants must furthermore be able to document:

• An internationally oriented publication profile in topics of relevance to interculturality (e.g. intercultural understanding and intercultural competences, stereotypes), intercultural linguistics, strategic communication and/or Danish-German cooperation
• Experience of participation in collective research projects and excellent teamwork skills
• Experience of interdisciplinary cooperation and of cooperation with non-academic partners
• Language skills (minimum B2) in Danish and German.
• Finally, applicants are asked to provide a proposal for research to be undertaken within the stated framework of the research project (max. three pages).
• Research qualifications will be assessed in relation to the period of active research, the degree of originality and the academic output.

Work environment

Active participation in the daily life of the department is a high priority, and we emphasise the importance of good working relationships, both among colleagues and with our students. In order to maintain and develop the department’s excellent teaching and research environment, the successful applicant is expected to be present at the department on a daily basis.

We respect the balance between work and private life and strive to create a work environment in which that balance can be maintained. See Family and work-life balance for further information.

International applicant?

International applicants are encouraged to see Attractive working conditions for further information about the benefits of working at Aarhus University and in Denmark, including healthcare, paid holidays and, if relevant, maternity/paternity leave, childcare and schooling. Aarhus University offers a broad variety of services for international researchers and accompanying families, including a relocation service and career counselling for expat partners. For information about taxation, see Taxation aspects of international researchers’ employment by AU.

School of Communication and Culture

The school belongs to the Faculty of Arts. You will find relevant information about the school, its research programmes, departments, including the Department of German and Romance Languages, and diverse activities on its website.

Contact

For further information about the position, please contact Erla Hallsteinsdóttir, e-mail: ehall@cc.au.dk.

Interviews will be held in May 2020 in person or via Skype.

Qualification requirements

Applicants should hold a PhD or equivalent academic qualifications.

Formalities

Faculty of Arts refers to the Ministerial Order on the Appointment of Academic Staff at Danish Universities (the Appointment Order).

Appointment shall be in accordance with the collective labour agreement between the Danish Ministry of Finance and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations.

Further information on qualification requirements and job content may be found in the Memorandum on Job Structure for Academic Staff at Danish Universities .

Further information on the application and supplementary materials may be found in Application Guidelines.

The application must outline the applicant's motivation for applying for the position, attaching a curriculum vitae, a teaching portfolio, a complete list of published works, copies of degree certificates and examples of academic production (mandatory, but no more than five examples). Please upload this material electronically along with your application.

All interested candidates are encouraged to apply, regardless of their personal background.

Aarhus University also offers a Junior Researcher Development Programme targeted at career development for postdocs at AU. You can read more about it here: http://talent.au.dk/junior-researchers-at-aarhus-university/the-junior-researcher-development-programme/

Faculty of Arts

The Faculty of Arts is one of four main academic areas at Aarhus University.

The faculty contributes to Aarhus University's research, talent development, knowledge exchange and degree programmes.

With its 500 academic staff members, 260 PhD students, 10,500 BA and MA students, and 1,500 students following continuing/further education programmes, the faculty constitutes a strong and diverse research and teaching environment.

The Faculty of Arts consists of the School of Communication and Culture, the School of Culture and Society, the Danish School of Education, and the Centre for Teaching Development and Digital Media. Each of these units has strong academic environments and forms the basis for interdisciplinary research and education.

The faculty's academic environments and degree programmes engage in international collaboration and share the common goal of contributing to the development of knowledge, welfare and culture in interaction with society.

Read more at arts.au.dk/en

The application must be submitted via Aarhus University’s recruitment system, which can be accessed under the job advertisement on Aarhus University's website.

Aarhus University

Aarhus University is an academically diverse and research-intensive university with a strong commitment to high-quality research and education and the development of society nationally and globally. The university offers an inspiring research and teaching environment to its 38,000 students (FTEs) and 8,000 employees, and has an annual revenues of EUR 885 million. Learn more at www.international.au.dk/