New Geographies of Digital Media Activism (Advert Reference: RDF18/GES/GLYNN)

We are currently living through a period in which centralized forms of media, such as national television and mainstream journalism, are widely perceived to be in crisis. This crisis is creating new spaces for the development of alternative ways of knowing, watching, making and using media. Along with them, media convergence has emerged as a multidimensional concept that references expanding interconnections and interactivity between media technologies, sites, users and production processes, as well as increasingly interactive relationships between politics and popular media cultures. Technological development, digitalization, and attendant transformations of everyday media production, circulation and consumption practices are giving rise to new forms and terrains of political discourse, participation, engagement and activism. This project seeks to delineate the possibilities and limitations for contemporary social transformation within these new media geographies. It will do this by exploring media spaces, sites, forms, discourses, practices and technologies whereby new kinds of cultural citizenship are being actively forged. This project aims to advance the emergent field of media geography by asking how practices within popular and activist cultures of media convergence can contribute to the construction or renovation of democratic citizenship and the pursuit of social, racial and/or spatial justice. The project will involve the exploration and analysis of practices and processes whereby media makers, activists, social movements, and/or ordinary media users/“produsers” are actively fashioning new forms of political engagement, identity production, cultural citizenship and/or geographical and political imaginaries.

Eligibility and How to Apply:
Please note eligibility requirement:
• Academic excellence of the proposed student i.e. 2:1 (or equivalent GPA from non-UK universities [preference for 1st class honours]); or a Masters (preference for Merit or above); or APEL evidence of substantial practitioner achievement.
• Appropriate IELTS score, if required.
• Applicants cannot apply for this funding if currently engaged in Doctoral study at Northumbria or elsewhere.

For further details of how to apply, entry requirements and the application form, see
https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/research/postgraduate-research-degrees/how-to-apply/

Please note: Applications that do not include a research proposal of approximately 1,000 words (not a copy of the advert), or that do not include the advert reference (e.g. RDF18/…) will not be considered.

Deadline for applications: 28 January 2018

Start Date: 1 October 2018

Northumbria University takes pride in, and values, the quality and diversity of our staff. We welcome applications from all members of the community. The University holds an Athena SWAN Bronze award in recognition of our commitment to improving employment practices for the advancement of gender equality and is a member of the Euraxess network, which delivers information and support to professional researchers.