Full details are below – please pay particularly close attention to the Eligibility Requirements.

The Project

We are seeking a highly motivated candidate to participate in an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship project which draws on several ‘big data’ sources on Australian online public communication.

This PhD project provides an unprecedented opportunity to investigate the flow of information across the Australian online public sphere at large scale and in close to real time, within a world-class research environment. With an ERA ranking of 5 (well above world standing), Creative Industries at QUT is the leading institution for Media and Communication research in Australia, and ARC Future Fellow Professor Axel Bruns is an international research leader in the area of Internet studies.

The PhD researcher will be supervised by the ARC Future Fellow. This position will be located on the QUT Kelvin Grove campus, Brisbane, and will commence in mid-2015.

The researcher will carry out a range of tasks associated with project activities, including:

• using data collection and analysis methods and instruments developed for the project for a variety of purposes, including:
  • post hoc research into user activity patterns and information flows in the Australian online public sphere across a wide range of cases;
  • speedy and agile analysis of online activities in issue publics related to current events, and publication of initial analysis;
  • input into further development of online media tracking and analysis methods and instruments developed by the project.
• contributing to the development of new models of communication processes in the Australian online public sphere by:
  • tracing the trajectories of intermedia information flows across the diverse datasets available to the project;
  • developing and testing a range of preliminary models for the conceptualisation of issue publics and other formations of public discourse in online environments;
  • contributing to the integration of these models into a more comprehensive framework for understanding processes of communication across the contemporary media ecology.
• contributing to the dissemination of research findings from the project by:
  • publishing preliminary analyses and findings in relevant outlets (The Conversation, project website and other publications, etc.);
  • presenting project findings at relevant national and international conferences in media and communication and related fields;
  • publishing research outcomes from the project in sole- and collaboratively authored articles and chapters in high-profile journals and books.

This PhD project supports an ARC Future Fellowship research project investigating intermedia information flows in the Australian online public sphere. The emergence of new media forms has led to a profound transformation of the Australian media environment: mainstream, niche, and social media intersect in many ways, online and offline. Increased access to large-scale data on public communication online enables an observation of how the nation responds to the news of the day, how themes and topics unfold, and how interest publics develop and decline over time.

Eligibility Requirements

You must have:

• first class honours (H1), or equivalent, in media and communication or a closely related area;
• demonstrated expertise in research on the contemporary public sphere and on information flows in online and social media;
• demonstrated knowledge of, and entry-level experience with, qualitative and quantitative research that uses innovative methods drawing on ‘big social data’ from social media and other relevant online sources;
• demonstrated understanding of current themes and issues in Australian public debate, and of the contemporary Australian media environment;
• effective written, interpersonal and computer-mediated communication skills;
• demonstrated computing skills, including familiarity with digital research management and social media research tools.

How to Apply

You’ll need to submit:

• your CV;
• the names of two referees;
• a detailed statement addressing the eligibility criteria.

Send your application to Professor Axel Bruns (a.bruns@qut.edu.au) by the closing date.

What Happens Next

We’ll award the scholarship based on academic merit, research experience and potential.

If your profile meets the eligibility requirements you’ll be asked to submit a formal application for admission to the PhD.

Further details are available on the QUT Website.

The Creative Industries Faculty’s world class, industry-connected researchers undertake innovative applied and theoretical research in the media, creative arts and design, and QUT is home to some of the world’s best researchers in digital media, communication and culture, given the highest possible rating of 5 in both the 2010 and 2012 ERA rankings.

QUT’s Social Media Research Group is a global leader in social media research, and one of the main contributors to the University’s strength in Digital Media overall. Supported by several major research grants and strategic collaborations with industry, QUT researchers are investigating the use of social media in crisis communication, in news and politics, as a backchannel to television and other media, and in everyday life. We are leading methodological innovation by exploring the uses of ‘big data’ for studying major social media platforms, by integrating STS and software studies into our approaches to social media platforms, as well as by developing novel mixed-methods approaches that support critical and interpretative analysis.

We are seeking new PhD students to investigate topics such as:

1. The practices of sharing and engaging with mainstream media content through social media;
2. the history and political economy of social and mobile media platforms;
3. approaches to geomedia research, including locative and geosocial media;
4. the structures and effects of follower networks in Australian social media spaces, using social network analysis methods;
5. the consequences of emerging online platforms on the production and consumption of culture;
6. new methods to generate quantitative metrics that describe activity patterns in social media datasets;
7. agent-based simulation approaches for the analysis of networked co-creation of culture;
8. critical and interpretive approaches to user engagement and evaluation practices;
9. cross-platform flows of media content, data and cultural practices;
10. uses, meanings and implications of mobile relationship and dating apps;
11. the making and circulation of gender and sexuality with networked media.

Potential supervisors include:

• Prof. Axel Bruns
• Assoc. Prof. Jean Burgess
• Dr. Stephen Harrington
• Prof. Ben Light
• Dr. Peta Mitchell
• Assoc. Prof. Patrik Wikström

If you are interested in applying, please contact Axel Bruns a.bruns@qut.edu.au or Jean Burgess je.burgess@qut.edu.au, in addition to following the processes below.

How to Apply

• PhD program
• Doctor of Creative Industries program

Information on the University’s Annual Scholarship Round can be found here.

Closing date: 30th September 2014 (earlier enquiries strongly encouraged).

Further information about the Faculty’s research can be found here.

Looking for a supervisor? Please view our Academic Staff profiles here.

Any Questions?

Contact the Creative Industries Faculty HDR support team at ci.hdr@qut.edu.au or phone +617 3138 3799 or 3138 8591.

From the research presented on this site you will have a pretty good idea of the range of topics we’re interested in, but here’s a quick overview of areas which we think are especially interesting at the moment:

• Social media applications: there is a great need to explore the specific applications of social media across a wide range of fields and industries, ranging from crisis communication through entertainment to political communication and beyond. Such research might pursue qualitative as well as quantitative approaches, engaging in social media analytics, ethnographic observation, surveys, interviews, content and network analysis, and a variety of other research techniques; for example, past and current PhD students in the Social Media Research Group are conducting participant observations of community management and social media teams in major media and crisis communication organisations, tracking Twitter activity around major sporting events, developing approaches to extracting meaningful information from social media streams, studying the role of social media in political communication, and investigating the platform politics of Facebook, Twitter, and Wikipedia.

• Social media in the wider media ecology: how do social media interweave with other old and new media forms? We are interested in PhD projects which pursue innovative methodologies to examine and track the flow of information between different media forms and platforms, and which thereby manage to develop a more comprehensive picture of the overall media ecology (in Australia or elsewhere; comparative studies are also welcome). This may build in part on the data about the structure of the Australian and global Twittersphere which we have already collected, or explore entirely new avenues for research into the changing role of social media in public communication.

• Social media analytics: we’re interested in any projects exploring the use of social media from mixed-methods qualitative and quantitative perspectives. Students interested in this work should have a background in media, communication, or cultural studies and/or social sciences, computer sciences, and informatics; we particularly invite students who are able to engage in further methodological development either by building on the work we’ve already done in this field or by developing new tools and methods using different approaches and technologies. Also, while our primary focus in recent research has been on Twitter analytics, this does not mean that other social media spaces are out of bounds for your work.

Background information and a step-by-step guide to the PhD applications process at QUT is located here: https://www.qut.edu.au/research/scholarships-and-funding/research-scholarships. In the first place, though, please contact Axel (a.bruns@qut.edu.au) by email so we can match your project idea with an appropriate potential supervisor. The QUT applications deadline for PhD projects starting in 2014 is 13 October 2013; please note that you will also need to provide supporting documentation about your academic track record, English language abilities, and other background information. QUT also offers a range of scholarships for domestic and international students; while we cannot guarantee that you will be awarded a scholarship, quality PhD projects do stand a good chance of receiving funding support. For further information about PhD research at QUT, please see https://www.qut.edu.au/study/phds-and-research-degrees/phds.

As a PhD student with us, you will be based in QUT’s Creative Industries Faculty (https://www.creativeindustries.qut.edu.au/). The Faculty’s world-class, industry-connected researchers undertake innovative applied and theoretical research in a wide range of disciplines across media, creative arts and design. We are home to some of the world’s best researchers in digital media, communication and culture: these disciplines were given the highest possible ranking of 5 – well above world standard – in both the 2010 and 2012 ERA rankings, which assesses research excellence in Australia. By doing your PhD research into social media at QUT, you’ll be joining Australia’s leading research institution in the field.

PhD students whose research projects align with one the Creative Industries Faculty’s areas of research strength – including social media – are also able to apply for a further Creative Industries PhD Top-Up Scholarship, beyond the standard QUT scholarship rate. For further information, see: https://www.qut.edu.au/study/fees-and-scholarships/scholarships-and-prizes/creative-industries-phd-top-up-scholarship.