IAMCR's Participatory Communication Research Section, in cooperation with Jinan University, is offering a PhD Winter School on Participation & Communication at Jinan University in Guangzhou, China from 5-9 December 2016. PhD students in the middle phase of their studies, from all regions of the world are invited to apply. No registration fee is required but participants are expected to cover their own travel and living expenses (including accommodation).
New: A limited number of travel grants, covering the cost of return travel to attend the PhD Winter School on Participation & Communication in Guangzhou, China are available by Jinan University. Read more >>
The PhD Winter School on Participation & Communication has opened its call for applications for participation in the PhD Winter School, which will take place at Jinan University, in Guangzhou (China) from 5 to 9 December 2016.
The PhD Winter School combines two objectives. The School’s first objective is to provide participating PhD students with state-of-the-art academic knowledge about participation and communication, by organising a series of lectures and workshops given by senior and experienced scholars on participatory theory and methods. With its focus on participation, the PhD Winter School engages with one of the key issues of contemporary Media and Communication Studies. Participation, with its variety of meanings and practices these meanings refer to, is an academic concept that allows for a better understanding of socio-political configurations, all over the world, in both micro- and macro-settings. In (and beyond) communicative contexts, this notion also produces opportunities for a better understanding of issues related to power and empowerment, ideology, collaboration, creation, agency and citizenship. Moreover, the concept affects different types of media organisations and different communicative-technological environments, which makes it relevant to study the different participatory affordances that they incorporate, sometimes maximalising participation, while in other cases featuring more minimalist versions of participation. In addition, the PhD Winter School will also use the concept of participation to reflect upon academic practices, and pay attention to the participatory potentials of research methods and science communication.
The second objective of the PhD Winter School is to offer participants high-quality feedback on their individual PhD projects. To serve this purpose, a series of master classes will be organised during the PhD Winter School. During these master classes, each participating PhD student will receive detailed and constructive feedback on their PhD project, from one of the PhD Winter School lecturers. In order to optimise the quality of the feedback, all participants are required to submit a 5-page PhD paper, outlining 1/the research questions, 2/the theoretical framework, 3/the methodology, 4/the research design and corpus and 5/the time schedule of their PhD project.
Convenor of the PhD Winter School is Professor Nico Carpentier (Uppsala University – Sweden; Vrije Universiteit Brussel – Belgium and Charles University in Prague – Czech Republic). PhD Winter School lecturers are Vaia Doudaki (Uppsala University – Sweden), Arne Hintz (Cardiff University – UK), Rico Lie (Wageningen University – the Netherlands), Loes Witteveen (Van Hall Larenstein University of Applied Sciences and Wageningen University – the Netherlands) and Nico Carpentier. The local organiser is Professor Tingrong Zhi (Dean of the College of Journalism & Communication, Jinan University, Guangzhou).
The target group are PhD students in the middle phase of the PhD studies, from all regions of the world. Although the PhD projects of participants do not have to be explicitly and entirely focussed on the PhD Winter School theme of participation and communication, a research interest in, and affinity with, the PhD Winter School theme is advisable. Sufficient knowledge of the English language is a requirement.
In order to apply for participation in the PhD Winter School, please send the following documents to Yiming Chen at jnwinterschool2016@126.com, before the deadline of 10 October 2016:
-A letter motivating the application for the PhD Winter School
-A 500-word abstract of the individual PhD project
-A brief CV
PhD Winter School deadlines:
-Deadline for application to the PhD Winter School: 10 October 2016
-Acknowledgement of acceptance by the PhD Winter School: 24 October 2016
-Deadline for submitting 5-page PhD paper to the PhD Winter School: 14 November 2016
-Start PhD Winter School: 5 December 2016
Please note that these deadlines will not be extended.
No registration fee is required. Participants are expected to cover their own travel and living expenses (including accommodation). Assistance with visa applications and local travel will be provided to non-Chinese participants (if necessary).
Queries are to be sent to jnwinterschool2016@126.com.
The PhD Winter School on Participation & Communication is supported by the College of Journalism and Communication (Jinan University) and the Participatory Communication Research Section of the International Association of Media and Communication Research (IAMCR).