Doctoral student in Media and Communication Studies

Description

The Department of Geography, Media and Communication is accepting applications for a doctoral studentship in Media and Communication Studies. The department comprises Media and Communication Studies, Human Geography, and Tourism Studies[IS1] . The department offers undergraduate education as well as Master’s programmes.

Media and Communication Studies is part of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and boasts an inviting learning and research environment. Interdisciplinary cooperation and global perspectives are essential to our work. Undergraduate education is primarily conducted in our two major degree programmes - Public Relations and Media and Communication. The latter features the two specialisations Visual Communication and Design and Digital Media and Analysis.

Research in Media and Communication Studies is conducted in two profiled research groups at the department: the research centres Geomedia https://www.kau.se/en/geomedia and NODE (The Ander Centre for Research on News and Opinion in the Digital Era) http://www.kau.se/node/. The advertised doctoral studentship is tied to the research project Beyond Fact-Checking: Detecting Frames and Disinformation in News and Social Media Content with Computational Methods, which in turn is tied to the research centre NODE. The thesis project has an interdisciplinary specialisation and will apply advanced methods for digital (computational) text analysis to identify frames and opinions in political texts. The project also includes a comparative perspective where texts in different languages (English, Swedish, German, etc.) are analysed.

NODE’s research areas cover journalism, public opinion and media in a broad sense. We are particularly interested in studying news reporting and public opinion in a time of widespread digitalisation and the increasing influence of social media platforms in political communication. We are also interested in political discourse and audience perspectives. So-called computational methods play a crucial role within the framework of the research project in which the doctoral student will be involved. The doctoral student is therefore expected to work with these methods.

Researchers active in NODE and Geomedia regularly publish papers in international journals and are successful in securing external research funding.

You can find more information about the University at https://www.kau.se/en/ and more information about Media and Communication Studies at https://www.kau.se/en/media-and-communication-studies.

Duties

As a doctoral student, you will primarily dedicate time to your own studies. The doctoral programme comprises 240 credits for a Degree of Doctor and 120 credits for a Degree of Licentiate. The doctoral appointment is a paid position that offers a combination of studies and work, and a great opportunity for a potential career in academia. Doctoral students are expected to work independently and be prepared to contribute to the activities and development of the discipline and the department. You are given the opportunity to deepen your interests in collaboration with others. Teaching and administrative duties may also be included upon agreement, but will not constitute more than 20% of full-time. Work as a doctoral student allows for great freedom and flexibility in terms of how you structure your day. This requires commitment, drive and the ability to structure your work to successfully complete the doctoral thesis. To contribute to a positive work environment and further both the department’s activities and your own development as a researcher, we expect you to be a present and active part of the day-to-day operations and workplace community.

The doctoral studentship is tied to NODE’s research programme Beyond Fact-Checking: Detecting Frames and Disinformation in News and Social Media Content with Computational Methods funded by the Anne-Marie and Gustaf Ander Foundation for Media Research. As a doctoral student affiliated with the programme, you are expected to conduct an independent thesis project with relevance to the focus and questions of the programme.

Qualification requirements

To be eligible for a doctoral studentship, applicants must meet the general and specific entry requirements (Higher Education Ordinance, Chap. 7, Sect. 35).

To meet the general entry requirements, applicants must have been awarded a second-cycle qualification, satisfied the requirements for courses comprising at least 240 credits of which at least 60 credits were awarded in the second-cycle, or acquired substantially equivalent knowledge in some other way in Sweden or abroad (Higher Education Ordinance, Chap. 7, Sect. 39).

To meet the specific entry requirements, the applicant must have completed courses comprising at least 90 credits in Media and Communication Studies or related subjects (e.g, computer science, journalism, etc.) corresponding to the introductory, continuation and specialisation level. An applicant can also be eligible after having acquired equivalent knowledge in some other way, in the country or abroad.

Admission and assessment criteria

To be eligible for doctoral studies, the applicant must be considered to have the ability required to benefit from the programme (Higher Education Ordinance, Chap. 7, Sect. 35). Admission is based on individual assessment.

Considerable weight will be given to the applicant’s interest in issues of political communication in the digital era, as well as the applicant’s knowledge of computational methods in media and communication studies, particularly digital/computational text analysis.

Considerable weight will be given to the applicant’s previous study results with an emphasis on the quality of independent written work of a scholarly and investigatory nature, particularly at master’s level.

Considerable weight will be given to the quality and originality of the applicant’s proposed thesis project, and how well the applicant’s research orientation aligns with the research programme. Read more about the research programme at https://www.kau.se/media/node.

Considerable weight will also be given to any published research papers (e.g., articles in scientific journals, research reports, conference papers).

Weight will be given to the applicant’s experience with (or interest in learning) programming languages used in this area of research, such as R and Python.

Weight will also be given to the extent to which the applicant intends to be a physically present and active member of the subject’s research environment.

Weight will be given to the applicant’s language skills, especially proficiency in English, Swedish and/or German.

Application

Submit the application via the University’s web-based recruitment tool, Varbi.

Applicants are responsible for submitting a complete application in accordance with the advertisement, for providing translations of any documents written in a language other than Swedish, Norwegian, Danish or English, and for ensuring that the documentation allows for objective and qualitative assessments. A complete application should be submitted by the application deadline. An incomplete application may jeopardise a fair assessment of qualifications.

The application should include:

- a cover letter where the applicant details the reasons behind their interest in the position,

- a list of qualifications (CV),

- degree certificate with a complete transcript of the courses included, or a certified list of completed courses with grades and dates

- copy of Master’s thesis or equivalent

- where applicable, copies of publications or certificates for other qualifications

- a text (1,500-2,000 words) where the applicant describes their idea for the doctoral thesis and how it relates to the research project Beyond Fact Checking, and NODE’s overall research profile,
- two references, such as a teacher, supervisor, or previous or current superior.

Attach all the documents and publications you wish to be considered to the electronic application (do not just provide links). Name each uploaded document to clearly indicate its content.

Documents that cannot be submitted electronically should be sent to the following address:

Karlstads universitet

Hanna Ljungdahl

651 88 KARLSTAD

Application deadline: 18 May 2025

State the reference number: REK 2025/69

Applicants with qualifications from abroad

If you have qualifications from a university outside Sweden or if they have not been recognised by a Swedish authority before, it is important that you attach degree certificates and official transcripts to facilitate the recognition of foreign qualifications.
Provide a contact for the degree-awarding institution (phone number or email) who can verify your qualifications.

We look forward to your application!

Karlstad University has chosen advertising channels for this recruitment and firmly declines any contact with advertising or recruitment agencies.