PhD Scholarship - Uncertain Archives
The Department of Arts and Cultural Studies, Faculty of Humanities, University of Copenhagen (UCPH), Denmark, invites applications for one to two PhDs affiliated with the project Uncertain Archives. The position is for a three-year period to be filled by 1 September 2017.
Data production, capture, and dissemination constitute key global themes and challenges today. We are surrounded by immense data archives that constantly accumulate from a wide array of activities organized on all levels of society: from global search engines to local smart cities; from public health monitoring to personal self-tracking. While borne out of a desire to innovate, securitize, and escape human error, it is becoming increasingly clear that big data archives also bring with them new uncertainties in the form of new bias dynamics, new forms of systemic errors, and new ethical dilemmas. Grounded in the humanities, but part of the emerging field of Critical Data Studies, it is the contention of this research group that there are significant insights to be gained from the application of cultural theories of the archive. Poststructuralist archive theory has long grappled with uncertainty in relation to archives, but remains surprisingly marginally represented in the general big data discourse. The significant contribution of this research group consists in developing a novel approach for understanding the pertinent ethical and epistemological questions that have arisen alongside data-intensive environments. The project draws on liaison with computer technologists, sociologists, contemporary art practitioners and policy makers to forge a theoretically-informed approach both to the technical and to the ethico-political implications of archival uncertainty for the organization of knowledge today.
We now seek to extend the group with two PhDs who wish to work on these issues on a scale that may go from intimate self-tracking devices to the infrastructural scale of the smart city. In particular we encourage applications that build bridges between computer science, health, urban studies, the arts and cultural theory.
For further information please see the application procedure and be advised that the Faculty reserves the right to administratively dismiss applications which do not adhere to the formal requirements. Please note that the project proposal including the study plan, figures etc. must not exceed 12,000 characters.
Application deadline: August 1, 2017 at 23.59 (CET)
Start date: September 1, 2017
Application procedure
Applicants need to hold a two-year Master's degree (120 ECTS) or the equivalent. Applicants shall have submitted their thesis at the time of application, to the extent the thesis forms part of their Master program. In case you have not obtained your diploma by the application deadline, you must include a statement (pre-approval) from your university that declares that you have been awarded the master degree.
Applications must be submitted via the electronic application system. A link to an electronic application form will be available at the bottom of this webpage by June 1, 2017.
The following enclosures to the application must be submitted:
• A copy of the applicant's Master's degree diploma and transcript of records
• Bachelor degree diploma and transcript of records
• If the MA diploma and/or examination records are in another language than English, German, French, Spanish, Danish, Norwegian or Swedish, please include a translation into either of these languages in your application.
• Curriculum Vitae
• Project proposal
Do not upload ZIP files and do not submit any publications, recommendations or your Master thesis.
The Faculty will dismiss applications, which do not adhere to the formal requirements.
Diploma and transcript of records
The translation of diplomas/certificates and transcripts may be made by or approved by either:
• a state-authorized translator and interpreter
• the embassy or consulate of the country where the original document was issued or where the translation was made
• a Danish consulate/embassy
The PhD administration encourages applicants from within the EU to enclose a Diploma Supplement. The Diploma Supplement is part of a common European framework for transparency of competencies and qualifications – the EuroPass framework.
Applicants with a non-Danish Master's degree will have their degree assessed by The Danish Agency for Universities and Internationalisation in order to establish, if the Master's degree is equivalent to a Danish Master's degree.
Chinese applicants is reguired to enclose a CADGEEC (The China Academic degrees and Graduate Education Evaluation Committee) certificate.
Project proposal requirements
Please note that the research proposal must not exceed 12,000 characters in Microsoft Word (including spacing, punctuation, footnotes and references, title, study plan, figures etc., but excluding bibliography). Please specify the amount of characters used at the top (left/right) of your research proposal. Also please send the research proposal in an editable format.
Proficiency in English
Excellent communication skills in English is considered essential and applicants should speak and write academic English fluently. The PhD Administration may ask applicants to document their proficiency in English at any time during the recruitment process if this is considered necessary.
Further information
Employment as a PhD scholar occurs pursuant to the applicable rules of the Faculty of Humanities, as well as between the Ministry of Finance and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations (AC). Under this agreement, the PhD student is obliged - without further remuneration - to carry out allotted work to an extent corresponding to a total of 840 working hours in the course of a three-year contract.
Please note that it is normally a precondition for employment that the applicant in question does not already have a PhD degree. Applicants who have already obtained a PhD degree will, as a main rule, be dismissed.
Application deadline: August 1, 2017 at 23.59 (11.59 pm) (CET).
No supplementary documents will be taken into consideration after this deadline.
As an equal opportunity employer, the Faculty of Humanities invites applications from all interested candidates regardless of gender, age, ethnic origin or religion.
For further information about the position, please contact Head of the Project Associate professor Kristin Veel kristinv@hum.ku.dk or the PhD administration by e-mail (phdadmission@hum.ku.dk).
For more information please click "Further Official Information" below.
This opportunity has expired. It was originally published here:
http://jobportal.ku.dk/phd/?show=898935