PhD position Visual Gendered Disinformation
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University of Groningen
- Career category: Research/ Data analysis
- Job type: PhD
- Experience level: 0-5 years
- Organisation type: Research
- Remote option: No
- Right to work requirements: Anyone can apply
- Remuneration: €2,901 EUR-€3,707 EUR / monthly
- Work schedule: Full-time
- Length of contract: Temporary/ Fixed-term
- Deadline: 01/05/2025
- Location: Netherlands
The PhD Project
This PhD project investigates disinformation at the intersections of gender, visual communication, and political discourse. It studies how women politicians’ intersectional identities are targeted in false and misleading content. As generative AI tools are becoming more accessible and often materialize as deepfakes, disinformation campaigns’ visual and multimodal aspects pose new challenges for political representation and democratic discourse. Through an interdisciplinary approach combining political communication and media studies with a focus on gender and visual disinformation, this PhD project will examine the distinguishing features of gendered multimodal disinformation, its perception by audiences, and its impact on women in the political sphere targeted by it.
This PhD project investigates disinformation at the intersections of gender, visual communication, and political discourse. It studies how women politicians’ intersectional identities are targeted in false and misleading content. As generative AI tools are becoming more accessible and often materialize as deepfakes, disinformation campaigns’ visual and multimodal aspects pose new challenges for political representation and democratic discourse. Through an interdisciplinary approach combining political communication and media studies with a focus on gender and visual disinformation, this PhD project will examine the distinguishing features of gendered multimodal disinformation, its perception by audiences, and its impact on women in the political sphere targeted by it.
Methodologically, research in this project employs qualitative methods, incorporating a systematic literature review, multimodal discourse analysis, media diaries, focus groups, and in-depth interviews with women who have been targeted by disinformation campaigns. This comprehensive approach contributes to a better understanding of how disinformation campaigns target women in the political context, potentially discouraging them from pursuing public careers. This is a particular concern given that women are underrepresented in prominent political positions, holding head-of-state positions in only 23% of countries. When they do reach these positions of power, women politicians are often subject to backlash when they do not meet gender-stereotypical expectations.
You will be asked to
- Develop your own research project in consultation with the associated supervisors.
- Conduct independent and original academic research.
- Report results via peer-reviewed publications, conference presentations, and ultimately a PhD dissertation.
- Conduct a total of 0.4 FTE teaching spread over the second, third, and fourth years of your appointment.
- Complete the PhD in the specified timeframe, namely four years.
- Contribute to scientific and public engagement.
Note: This call does not specify the geographical scope of this PhD project; options include data collection related to Latin America, the United States/Canada, Central/Northern Europe, or the Levant. The final focus of empirical work will be decided based on the expertise and interest of the PhD candidate in consultation with the supervisory team. ”).
Qualifications
- A Research Master’s (ReMa) or Master’s degree with a research component (including thesis) in Media Studies or related areas such as Journalism Studies, Communications, or Political Science with high academic merit—an average grade of 8.0 or above on the Dutch scale (or international equivalent) is preferred.
- Demonstrable methodological and analytical skills and the capacity to develop and conduct innovative research.
- A clear and well-articulated motivation for pursuing PhD research.
- High level of spoken command of English and academic writing skills
- Knowledge of the language and culture of the proposed geographic area-of-focus for the case studies and willingness to pursue further language and cultural training if needed.
- A clear research interest in the topic of the project
- Great interpersonal skills and ability to work in a team.
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