Current Opportunities…
The ISR is currently seeking people to take up scholarships to undertake postgraduate research in the following areas:
Topic: Contemporary communications law and policy
Supervisors: Prof Jock Given
We are seeking postgraduate students interested in working on a number of project related to contemporary communications law and policy. These include digital TV and radio, broadband, media ownership. Work on international trade in media and communications services would also be welcome, as would research proposals related to the history of the multinational media enterprises.
Topic: Informal economies and audiovisual industries: histories, dynamics, legal and policy responses
Supervisors: Prof Julian Thomas and Dr Ramon Lobato
From streetside DVD vendors to file-sharing networks, informal distribution circuits play a major role in today’s global media environment. These circuits are poorly understood, yet they connect with mainstream industries in ways that, now more than ever before, are crucial to the future of media. Our project investigates the structural and historical connections between formal and informal audiovisual markets, and the degree to which they are increasingly interdependent. We welcome proposals from prospective students who are interested in researching particular informal, subterranean or pirate film/TV/online media circuits, especially (though not exclusively) in the Asia-Pacific region.
Topic: Youth media enterprises and social development
Supervisors: Prof Denise Meredyth, Dr Ellie Rennie, Dr Aneta Podkalicka, Dr Liza Hopkins
This project is about Australian and international enterprises, such as Youthworx, Youth Radio and One Economy, amongst others, which are experimenting with new social enterprise business models in community media. These enterprises offer alternatives to formal education for vulnerable young people, including refugee, indigenous and disdvantaged youth, enabling them to develop new skills as pro-am media creators, broadcasters, journalists, entrepreneurs and organizers, while helping local communities develop culturally relevant content. We are seeking students who would like to investigate aspects of this phenomenon, in various national contexts.
Topic: Biotechnology networks and clusters: innovation and commercialization far from the world biotechnology hubs
Supervisor: Professor Michael Gilding
There is a lot of research about networks and clusters in world high biotechnology hubs, and their role in innovation and commercialization. There is much less research about what happens in locations such as Australia, far from the world biotechnology hubs. This project investigates the distinctive structure and dynamics of biotechnology networks and clusters in Australia, through a Linkage Grant with the peak industry body AusBiotech. Proposals are welcome from students who are interested in researching particular aspects of biotechnology networks and clusters, or networks and clusters in other industries.
Topic: Settler Colonialism: A Global Phenomenon
Supervisors: Dr Lorenzo Veracini
“Settler colonialism” and “settler society” have entered public discourse and have recently been the subject of extensive debate. Unlike other migrant groups, settler collectives are founders and shapers of political orders. As a growing scholarly literature is now focusing on different aspects of this global phenomenon, this project will engage with this literature and contribute to this debate.
Topic: Social memory and historical justice
Supervisor: Prof Klaus Neumann
How is the victimisation of groups – say, on account of race or ethnicity or religion or politics – remembered in democratic societies? How do such societies work towards historical justice? How do communities actively negotiate the legacies of the past? What characterises particular memorial cultures? How do collective and individual memories interact? This project is concerned with these and other related questions across a wide range of countries, ranging from Australia to Chile, from Austria to Canada, and from Indonesia to Spain. Currently, five PhD students are working on aspects of this project (in Peru, Mexico, Argentina, Germany and Australia) at the ISR, four of them under my supervision. I am looking for students who are theoretically literate, intensely curious, hard-working, keenly interested in writing and conversant in at least two languages, and who consider themselves independent thinkers. Ideally students should have a Masters degree in a humanities or social sciences discpline such as history or anthropology. I am particularly interested in students who would like to do ethnographic research.
Topic: Mobility, memory, citizenship and identity (particularly in relation to refugees)
Supervisor: Prof Klaus Neumann
How do the life-histories and memories of immigrants feature in broader ‘national’ memories and histories? How do recent immigrants draw on or surpress their pre-migration past? How do those who do not or no longer identify as immigrants reimagine themselves and their society in response to the presence of new arrivals? I am particularly interested in finding answers to these and related questions in relation to forced migrants (refugees and asylum seekers). Currently, I am supervising three PhD students in this area. I am looking for students who are theoretically literate, intensely curious, hard-working, keenly interested in writing and conversant in at least two languages, and who consider themselves independent thinkers. Ideally students should have a Masters degree in a humanities or social sciences discpline such as history or anthropology. I am particularly interested in students who would like to do ethnographic research.
Topic: Housing and affordability
Prof Terry Burke, Assoc Prof Kathleen Hulse, Prof Peter Newton, Dr Angela Spinney
Australia is confronting severe housing problems. Affordability is a major issue for renters and purchasers and compounding this issue is that it potentially conflicts with that of another pressure, the provision of multi unit housing in our expanding cities. At the same time there is a national shortage of social housing with a whole range of social impacts ranging from homelessness to social exclusion. The ISR is looking to initiate research projects on (1) the causes and social impacts of the affordability problem for all tenure groups and the community at large (2) the opportunities for, impediments to, and implications of new forms of urban housing and (3) the need, delivery, and reform of social housing Both quantitative and qualitative research is appropriate for these broad topics but the ISR is particularly interested in thinking about these topics from new directions and within new paradigms.
Topic: Sustainable Urbanism
Supervisors: Prof Peter Newton
Description: The sustainability challenge of the 21st century will be primarily won or lost in the cities ---where over 70% of the world’s population will live by 2050 and where over 85% of global economic output will be centred. PhD research projects are being sought in a range of areas where interventions can best effect transformative change. These include:
Green industries: what is the genesis of a green economy? Does a basis exist in Australia? What sectors, industries, technologies, geographies etc are involved? What are the barriers?
Sustainable consumption: what are the drivers of contemporary consumption? And what are the prospects for more sustainable patterns of living, working and leisure activity in Australia?
Sustainable cities: why do some human settlements exhibit smaller ecological footprints than others? Greater liveability, competitiveness, social inclusiveness etc? How can we most effectively regenerate our cities in the 21st century?
Skills required: Candidates will have already achieved a first class honours degree or equivalent in a field relevant to the topics listed above (eg. urban planning, economics, human or economic geography, environmental science, behavioural science)and have a desire to undertake a leading edge PhD research project. Postgraduate qualifications or work experience in a research environment would be highly regarded, as would competence in statistical analysis.
Topic: Thrift, gift and recycling: cultural lives and social economies
Supervisors: Prof Denise Meredyth and Dr Aneta Podkalicka
The expansion of the Internet and the recent economic downturn has seen the growth of second-hand markets, both across standard second-hand retail outlets and online sites such as eBay, Amazon or freecycle. Empirical studies have recorded a change in consumption patterns, with more people than before willing to buy second-hand goods, but also to alter, mend, and DIY. At the same time, analysts have begun to explore a new economy of cultural gift and collaborative networking based on the principle of reciprocity (e.g. Murdoch, 2010; Meroni). We are looking for a student to conduct a study of the social economy of thrift, working with us to explore issues at the intersection of second-hand circulation, everyday consumption and participation in social and economic networks. Thrift and its appeal to citizens and consumers needs to be reconsidered in the context of concerns about sustainability and in connection with the expanding digital economy. The student could explore this in various contexts, possibly with reference to The Salvation Army’s charity shops in Melbourne and to some web-based thrift sites.
Study at the ISR…
The ISR offers excellent opportunities for postgraduate study under the supervision of leading research academics in each of its four research flagships.
The institute is one of the largest social science and humanities research centres in Australia, with an international reputation for independent, innovative and timely work. Staff work across disciplines including sociology, economics, political science, history, philosophy, and media studies. Along with a range of research projects operated on behalf of, and/or with government, non-government and industry partners, the ISR hosts the Public Interest Journalism Foundation and Democratic Audit of Australia. It is also a node of the ARC’s Centre of Excellence in Creative Industries and Innovation (CCI) and the Swinburne-Monash Research Centre of the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI). The institute contributes to online public policy discussion through its websites Australian Policy Online, Creative Economy and Inside Story.
The ISR boasts a range of highly qualified supervisors who are respected figures in their fields, regular contributors to Australian public policy debate and have an exceptional track record in supervising higher degree students through to completion. Staff profiles provide a list of their research interests and the research students they are currently supervising (and their topics).
The institute has a growing cohort of postgraduate students who work closely with research staff. They often take the opportunity to be involved in joint projects and the ISR’s broader research planning. Many are full-time and are supported by Australian Research Council scholarships and Linkage grants with industry, and by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute. Others come to the ISR as part-time students building on their work experiences in the public, non-government and private sectors. As well as excellent supervision, the ISR offers regular postgraduate activities. Students give papers and attend regular seminars, as well as participating in the ISR's other social and collegial activities. International exchanges are available and encouraged, as is attendance at conferences.
The Next Step…
ISR staff are happy to discuss options for scholarships and funding that might support a candidacy. Students wishing to obtain a scholarship in the mid-year round must submit an application by 28 May 2010. Students wishing to obtain a scholarship in the end of year round must submit an application by 31 October 2010
For scholarship guidelines and to make an application visit Swinburne Research.
For further information about postgraduate opportunities at the ISR, contact the Postgraduate Co-ordinator:
Professor Denise Meredyth
Telephone: +61 3 9214 5738
Email: dmeredyth@swin.edu.au
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