Postdoctoral researcher (2 years) in media and communication studies with specialisation in the affective aspects of news and journalism - Hiring in process/Finished, not possible to apply

Description

The Department of Geography, Media and Communication is seeking a postdoctoral researcher in media and communication studies. The department comprises the subjects media and communication studies, film studies, human geography and tourism studies, and offers bachelor-level courses as part of several programmes as well as master-level programmes.

Media and communication studies, which forms part of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, offers an attractive research and teaching environment. Boundary-crossing contacts and global perspectives form naturally part of our work. Most of our bachelor-level education is offered as part of two large programmes: Public Relations and Media, and Communication. The second of these is offered with two tracks: Visual Communication Design, and Digital Media and Analysis.

Research in media and communication studies is conducted in two profiled research groups at the department: the Geomedia research group (http://www.kau.se/geomedia/) and NODE (the Ander Centre for Research on News and Opinion in the Digital Era, https://www.kau.se/media/node). Geomedia has recently been designated a strong research group in an internal research excellence initiative and brings together media scholars, human geographers, tourism scholars and film scholars. Research done in Geomedia is located at the intersection between media and geography and focuses on issues such as mediatisation and space, in a broad sense. NODE focuses on developments in news reporting and the formation of opinions at a time characterised by a weakened daily press and an increasingly fragmented media landscape. Geomedia and NODE researchers regularly publish in international journals and are successful in securing external research funding.

Further information on the university is available at https://www.kau.se/en and on the subject at https://www.kau.se/en/media-and-communication-studies.

The project Emotion and the news: affect, engagement and community in the digital media landscape

The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and the Department of Geography, Media and Communication now seek a postdoctoral researcher in media and communication studies who will be connected to the NODE research project Emotion and the news: affect, engagement and community in the digital media landscape. Prof. Henrik Örnebring and Prof. Michael Karlsson head the Emotion and the news: affect, engagement and community in the digital media landscape project. The overall focus of the project is the affective aspects of the content, production and consumption of news. News has always aroused emotions in problematic and unproblematic ways. However, emotions and emotional reactions can now be spread, reinforced and distorted in the new digital media landscape, particularly on platforms that explicitly rely on users’ emotional (and ideally immediate) reactions through liking, spreading and/or commenting on the information that appears in their feeds. These affective aspects are primarily studied based on the concepts of commitment and community. The appointed postdoctoral researcher is expected to contribute to the NODE research environment and the department more generally, for instance through participation in seminars, meetings, symposia, etc.

Duties

The main duty (80%) is independent research in an area relevant to the described project. Teaching and administrative duties comprise 20% of the position. Your postdoctoral research will be conducted in collaboration with Prof. Henrik Örnebring, Prof. Michael Karlsson, and other NODE staff. You will participate in international networking and contribute to international publication related to the Emotion and the news: affect, engagement and community in the digital media landscape project and NODE activities more generally. You will also participate in the daily development work done at NODE.

Eligibility

The eligibility requirements for appointment as postdoctoral researcher is a doctorate in media and communication studies or a related area relevant to the advertised specialisation. The doctorate must have been awarded a maximum of three years prior to the application deadline. Under special circumstances, applications may still be considered if the doctorate was attained earlier, for example for reasons such as illness, parental leave or similar.

Assessment criteria

In addition to the basic qualification requirements above, applicants will be assessed on the following criteria:

Special weight is given to the proposed postdoc project’s scholarly quality, originality, feasibility and international relevance.

Special weight is further given to the proposed postdoc project’s relevance for the Emotion and the news: affect, engagement and community in the digital media landscape project and for NODE’s research more general. A detailed project description can be obtained from NODE’s coordinator, Prof. Henrik Örnebring, henrik.ornebring@kau.se.

Considerable weight is given to publications in international peer-reviewed journals relevant to research on news media and journalism.

Considerable weight is further given to a thorough and feasible publication plan for your proposed project (ideally with specified case studies, proposed journals or other publication venues, etc.).

Weight is also given to ability to cooperate and take own initiative.

Consideration is also given to

• experience of developing and leading activities,
• experience of teaching at master and bachelor levels,
• international experience and experience of teaching in both Swedish and English,
• experience of course development and online teaching,
• experience of community cooperation.

Terms of employment

This is a full-time, fixed-term postdoctoral position, usually limited to two years, with starting date on 1 August 2019, or as per agreement.

A condition of employment as postdoctoral researcher is that you have not been employed as a postdoctoral researcher under a central contract for more than a year in the same or a similar discipline at Karlstad University.

Application

Application should include well documented qualifications. Applicants are responsible for submitting a complete application in accordance with the advertisement and for ensuring that the documentation allows for objective and qualitative assessments. A complete application should be submitted no later than the application deadline.

The application should include:

• Application letter (max. 1 000 words) describing the applicant’s background, reasons for applying and view of research in the field,
• Project description (max. 3 000 words) describing the proposed postdoctoral project and how this project fits NODE’s research profile and the Emotion and the news: affect, engagement and community in the digital media landscape project, as well as how the project fits the applicant’s own research profile,
• Publication plan (max. 1 000 words) for the proposed postdoctoral project,
• CV including a list of publications,
• Copies of degree certificates, transcripts and other certificates documenting qualifications,
• Copy of doctoral thesis,
• A maximum of 2 academic publications (journal articles, book chapters, research reports, etc.),
• Account of other work experience, experience of leadership, cooperation and administration, and
• Two reference letters and the contact details of two references.

Submit your application via the university’s web based recruitment tool and attach all the documents and publications you wish to be considered to the electronic application (do not provide links to them).

More information is available in the document “Application Guidelines” on our “Vacancies” page, where you can also find the university’s regulations for the appointment and promotion of teaching staff. Three copies of each document that cannot be submitted electronically, such as books and publications, should be sent to:

Karlstads universitet
Registrator
651 88 Karlstad
Sweden

State ref.no: REK2019/95

Application deadline: 2019-06-16

We look forward to your application!

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