Tag: Leicester

CFP IAMCR (Leicester, UK)

Call for Proposals
2016 conference of the International Association for Media and Communications
27 -31 July 2016
Leicester, UK
The deadline to submit abstracts is midnight GMT on 15 February 2016.

Conference theme:
Memory, Commemoration and Communication: Looking Back, Looking Forward

This year’s conference theme seeks to explore the relationship between memory, commemoration and communication. This theme anticipates the 60th anniversary, in 2017, of IAMCR, which has played a strong role in the development of media and communication studies.

Although scholars have long been interested in memory and culture, advancements in technologies are providing new and innovative opportunities to think about how memory is created, preserved, passed on, and archived. Within academia, we have witnessed increased interest in cultural memory studies from media representations of the past to oral history projects – and growing interest in digitizing data leading to the history of everything. Various public bodies are also engaged in this work. In the UK, for example, the BBC launched a Public Space Project in 2011, which saw the corporation link up with various other cultural institutions including libraries, galleries, museums, archives, schools, colleges and universities to make cultural material publicly and freely available to all. The following year, BBC’s Radio 4 launched the Listening Project, which seeks to broadcast intimate conversations on topics such as living with Alzheimers and falling in love, in order to help to build a unique picture of our lives today which will be preserved for future generations. Across the globe, there are numerous examples of oral history projects, associations, and commemorative organisations and websites on topics such as the Holocaust, the Armenian and Rwandan genocides, World Wars One and Two, immigration, oral literature, and popular memory.

As a result, the growing interest in (mediations of) cultural memory provides a timely opportunity not only to look back at which memories are preserved and which forgotten, but also to look forward to how cultural memories might be archived, remembered, (re)produced, storied, erased, modified and re-told across time and space. The theme also opens up space to commemorate IAMCR’s history and contribution to the field of media and communication research.

This year’s conference welcomes paper and panel proposals that engage with the concepts of memory and commemoration, and with the ways the past is (re)mediated, historicised, documented, archived, remembered, forgotten and (re)told. It also welcomes submissions which commemorate IAMCR as an organisation as well as the contributions its members have made over the years. Looking forward, papers might also address where the field is heading. Submissions might also focus on areas such as: memory and colonialism; commemoration of historic events; the reproduction of culture through story-telling; the media’s role in (re)producing cultural narratives and commemorations. We welcome submissions from early career researchers and veteran scholars alike.

Questions asked might include: Why and how do people/cultures/organisations/families share or hide memories? What strategies are used to share memories, either collectively or individually? What role does privilege/inequality play in the creation, sharing, or preserving of memory? How do individuals, groups, or cultures learn memories? How are events remembered, retold, preserved or erased differently in different locations, historic periods, spaces and cultures? How is storytelling conceived of as a form of cultural memory? When looking to the future, what is the relationship between forms of memory and ideas about technologies moving towards the “post-human”? We welcome contributions ranging from the empirical to the theoretical and methodological in focus.

Submission of Abstracts
Each Section and Working Group of IAMCR will issue its own Call for Papers, based on the general thematic outline above. Abstracts should be submitted from 1 December 2015 – 15 February 2016. Both individual and panel submissions are welcome. Early submission is strongly encouraged.

Deadlines
The deadline for submission of abstracts is 15 February 2016. Please note that this deadline will not be extended.

Decisions on acceptance of abstracts will be communicated to applicants by their Section or Working Group Head no later than 8 April 2016.
For those whose abstracts are accepted, full conference papers are to be submitted by 30 June 2016.

Guidelines for Abstracts
Unless otherwise stated by a Section or Working Group, abstracts should be between 300 and 500 words in length.

All abstract submissions must be made via IAMCR’s Open Conference System. There are to be no email submissions of abstracts addressed to any Section or Working Group Head.

It is expected that for the most part, only one (1) abstract will be submitted per person. However, under no circumstances should there be more than two (2) abstracts bearing the name of the same author either individually or as part of any group of authors. Please note also that the same abstract or another version with minor variations in title or content must not be submitted to more than one Section or Working Group. Such submissions will be deemed to be in breach of the conference guidelines and will be rejected by the OCS system, by the relevant Head or by the Conference Programme Reviewer. Authors submitting them risk being removed entirely from the conference programme.

Technical guidelines, if any, are defined by the individual Sections and Working Groups. If you have questions, consult the Section or Working Group’s specific CfP or contact the head of the Section and Working Group that interests you.

Criteria for Evaluation
Submitted abstracts will generally be evaluated on the basis of:
1.      theoretical contribution
2.      methods
3.      quality of writing
4.      literature review
5.      relevance of the submission to the work of the Section or Working Group
6.      originality and/or significance

PHD Studentship Cinema (UK)

PhD Studentship in British Silent Cinema and the Transition to Sound: 1927-1933

Applications are invited for an AHRC-funded PhD studentship based at De Montfort University’s Cinema and Television History (CATH) Research Centre, Leicester. This full-time, three-year PhD will be fully-funded (fees and maintenance) as part of a major project to research the transition between silent and sound cinema in Britain. The overall project will consider the impact of the arrival of sound cinema looking at new technologies, business models, production practices, solutions in cinema architecture and design, and the impact on musicians, audiences and cinema going, as well as the films produced during this transitional period.

Research and supervision
The successful applicant will work as part of a project team based at De Montfort University, Leicester, in partnership with the University of Stirling (UoS). The PhD will be supervised by Laraine Porter (Project Leader) and Steve Chibnall (Professor of British Cinema), and the successful applicant will have a dedicated work station within the CATH Centre’s accommodation. The Centre is part of the Midlands 3 Cities Doctoral Training Partnership, and is one of the leaders in its field with three major funded projects and over 30 staff, research students and associate research fellows. One of its external partners is The Cinema Museum in London, which will be a vital research resource for the
project.

Other project team members include Senior Researcher, Geoff Brown  (London), Dr Sarah Neely (UoS), Professor John Izod (UoS) and a UoS PhD student ship also to be appointed. The DMU studentship will be based in the Cinema and Television History Research Centre housed within the Leicester Media School.

This PhD studentship will complement the project by considering the impact of the arrival of sound cinema on localised British cinema exhibition, distribution and reception and how new technical demands forced the industry, outside of London, to adapt. Taking account of regional variations in cinema culture and practice, market forces and audience tastes, the student will conduct empirical research on case studies including different cinema chains and associated operations; the impact on subsidiary businesses such as local equipment manufacturers and cinema service industries and the overall effect on local cinema economies, culture and programming. It is expected that the student will open up new avenues of research using resources such as local business and municipal records alongside national cinema business, trades union and associated trades archives. The research will focus on cities and market towns in the Midlands including Leicester, Nottingham, Birmingham, Derby etc.

Indicative areas of research could include:
· The influence of local political, cultural, economic and geographical factors on the speed and nature of the transition to sound cinema and the overall timescales across urban, market town and rural areas
· Local organisations and businesses that thrived or became victims of the new sound technologies and the extent to which national and international factors such as the 1927 Cinematograph Act or the economic depression compounded their fortunes
· What local solutions were deployed, including any localised inventors, manufacturers, architects and suppliers and the kinds of local business models adopted.
· The response of regional audiences to the arrival of sound looking at issues such as regional identity, cultural difference and any localised resistance.

Entry Requirements
· First class or upper second class undergraduate degree or an equivalent overseas qualification in a relevant subject.
· It is expected that applicants will also hold a Masters degree in a relevant subject, or show evidence of achieving this by October 2014
· EU applicants will be required to show proof of English language ability to the level of IELTS 6.5 with at least 5.5 in each component (or equivalent). An undergraduate or master’s degree taught in a majority English-speaking country and awarded in the last five
years would satisfy this requirement.
· Available only to applicants who are UK nationals or other EU nationals who are permanently resident in the UK.
· Available for full-time registration only
· Applicants must be able to start in October 2014

You will have a background in film studies, cultural studies, or historical studies, preferably with an interest in the business and economics of cinema. Applicants will need to demonstrate an aptitude for scholarly research.

This is an excellent opportunity to be part of a major British cinema history project and we welcome applications from interested parties.

How to apply
The following documents are required to complete your application:
– A completed Application Form for Admission to a Research Degree Programme
– A completed Annexe to Application Form for Admission to a Research Degree Programme
– Two academic references
– Copies of your highest degree certificate and transcripts
– For EU applicants, proof of your English language qualifications (described above)
– A copy of your CV
– A 2 page personal statement that
a) Demonstrates your excellent academic performance in a field related to the proposed research, with explicit reference being made to your undergraduate and postgraduate research.
b) Explains why you want to undertake this research and what approaches you might take
c) Demonstrates your experience of working with primary and secondary historical sources including archival research.
d) Demonstrates your ability to organise and work independently

Please contact Morgan Erdlenbruch to receive copies of the application, annexe, and reference forms. Completed applications should also be submitted by email to this address. Informal enquiries should be directed to Laraine Porter.

Closing date for applications 5pm Friday 18 July 2014. Interviews will be held at De Montfort University in mid-August.

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