Ulster University is now accepting applications for their new PhD program exploring film theory and representation in the new digital age. Applicants can propose cinema studies or practice-based research topics that explore diverse new filmmaking voices. The Diverse New Filmmaking Voices in Cinema & TV PhD provides applicants with the opportunity to study specialist topics like onscreen representation, themes and narratives; creative leadership and filmmaking project teams; industry access and opportunities; and audience development. Submissions are due by February 28, 2022 with a preferred student start date of mid-September 2022.
Interested applicants can submit research proposals in the areas of cinemas of the Global South, transnational cinema/screens, marginalized communities in pop culture; filmmaking collectives; countering hegemonic narratives; factual and fictional forms, practices and relations; filmmakers that have been diminished or misrepresented; and political oppositional cinema and TV. Applicants are invited to make contact with the educational team in advance to discuss the feasibility of their chosen topic.
The team of educators at Ulster University has over fifty years of experience in filmmaking, television production, animation, and the creative industries. They are able to offer supervision across a wide array of topics, from film history to contemporary filmmaking and emerging new technologies.
Applicants should hold an honors degree in a subject relevant to the proposed area of study. They are also expected to maintain an understanding of their chosen subject area demonstrated by a comprehensive research proposal and articulate personal statement. Research proposals must clearly define background, research questions, and aims and methodology. Applicants should also have some experience using research methods and other approaches to the subject domain.
The university offers multiple levels of scholarships. The Vice Chancellor’s Research Studentship includes full-time PhD tuition fees, a maintenance grant of £15,840 per annum for three years of study, as well as a research support grant allocation to help support the researcher. The Vice-Chancellor’s Research Bursary covers full-time PhD tuition fees as well as a £8,000 maintenance grant per annum and additional research support grant. The Vice-Chancellor’s Research Fees Bursary covers PhD fees and a maintenance support grant of £900 per annum.
Recent publications from the team at Ulster University include: Boody Women: Women Directors of Horror (2022); Alternative Media in Contemporary Turkey: Sustainability, Activism, and Resistance (2018); Make America Hate Again: Trump-Era Horror & The Politics of Fear (2020); Resist! Protest Media and Popular Culture in the Brexit-Trump Era (2020); Social Movements and their Technologies: Wiring Social Change (2016); and The Revolution will be Hacktivated (2016).