VUAmsPhD2025
VUAmsPhD2025 | |
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Type | Job |
Categories (tags) | Jobs |
Dates | 2025/01/28 - 2025/03/02 |
Link | https://workingat.vu.nl/vacancies/phd-position-recording-in-social-interaction-amsterdam-1140657 |
Address | |
Geolocation | |
Abstract due | |
Submission deadline | 2025/03/01 |
Final version due | |
Notification date | |
Tweet | Fully-funded 4-year PhD at VU Amsterdam with dr. Elliott Hoey on 'Recording in social interactions'. Deadline 1-Mar-2025 |
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VUAmsPhD2025:
Details:
Modern societies since the turn of the century have been increasingly suffused with video recording devices. This change has come along with the amplification of observability, blurring the boundaries between local and external situations, and between private and public spheres. Body-worn cameras and bystander video, for instance, have transformed policing into a ‘high visibility’ occupation; unmanned drones and AI facial recognition are rapidly becoming embedded in the surveillance state; and, of course, smartphone cameras have created en masse a population of amateur videographers. This PhD project trains its focus on the ad hoc everyday usage of personal recording devices in actual social interactions.
Consider how wielding a smartphone constitutes a meaningful action, one which was not possible before the commercial availability of such portable technologies. To aim your smartphone camera on some scene suggests to observers that the scene is worth recording and invites them to inspect it for whatever interest is to be found there. This act of recording takes on heightened significance when brought into social interaction. Consider an on-duty police officer who decides to activate his body-worn camera, or a customer who begins recording while making a complaint at a restaurant. In these situations, the camera and the act of recording become foregrounded as integral components of the participants’ interaction.
Despite its mundane recognizability and its key place in debates about ‘cancel culture’, ‘Karens’, and our censorious mediatized age, this phenomenon—the action of recording others in social interaction—has received insufficient attention. The aim of this PhD project is therefore to arrive at an empirically-grounded account of how participants in different everyday settings use the camera as an object for action in interaction.
This project will be supervised by Dr. Elliott Hoey, Prof. Dr. Hedwig te Molder and Prof. Don Weenink.
Requirements
- You have (or will soon complete) a Master’s degree in a relevant field (linguistics, communication and information studies, communication science, social psychology, sociology)
- Demonstrated training and experience in using Conversation Analytic methods
- Excellent writing and communication skills in spoken/written English (C1-C2); Dutch fluency is a plus
- Outstanding research skills as evidence by strong BA/MA transcripts
- Based in the Netherlands or, if not, willing to relocate for the duration of your PhD
- Willing to travel abroad for scientific meetings during the PhD
Your duties
- Conduct research in line with the topic of the project, resulting in a PhD dissertation and scientific publications
- Participate in the research activities of the Department of Language, Literature and Communication, the Language and Communication chair group, and in (inter)national scientific meetings
- Contribute to the educational operations of the Language and Communication chair group (maximum 10% of your time)
- Participate in the VU PhD training program and the training program of a relevant national research school (e.g., LOT School)
Your application should include the following:
- Your updated CV, which should include your educational background, relevant work or research experience, language proficiency, full contact details, and any grants/honors, presentations, or publications
- Letter of motivation (maximum 1000 words) detailing your reasons for applying and how you fit the PhD profile and project description
- BA and MA transcripts
- Writing sample
- Names and contact information of two references who are familiar with your academic work (thesis supervisor, for example).
- Interviews are planned for 2 April 2025. The PhD candidate must be available to start the position no later than September 1, 2025.
Questions about the position and application can be sent to dr. Elliott Hoey (e.m.hoey@vu.nl).