Doctoral student in Interaction Design: ReWorlding Cultural Transformations

Doctoral student in Interaction Design: ReWorlding Cultural

Transformations

Malmö University is an innovative, urban and international institute of higher education, located in the centre of Malmö. We have around 1,800 employees and 24,000 students. Our research and education are characterised by the role we believe a university should play in an open society — to contribute to sustainability and equality in a scientifically grounded way with external partners and stakeholders. Identifying and addressing the challenges of the future are of highest priority. Our researchers and students work collaboratively to create, share and spread knowledge in order to understand, explain and develop society — both locally and globally.

Faculty of Culture and Society

The Faculty of Culture and Society is a multidisciplinary faculty that includes three departments: the School of Arts and Communication, the Department of Global Political Studies, and the Department of Urban Studies. The Faculty has doctoral education in the following subjects: Global Politics, Interaction Design, International Migration and Ethnic Relations (IMER), Media and Communication Studies and Urban Studies. The Faculty hosts two of the university's five research centres.

Read more about the Faculty of Culture and Society here.

The School of Arts and Communication

The School of Arts and Communication (K3) has around 100 employees and 1,100 students, and we offer interdisciplinary doctoral education in media, culture and design. Here, scientific and academic theory and methods are combined with artistic and practical elements. In terms of organisation, the department contains three units: Design, Humanities, Language and Cultural Production, and Media and Communication Studies.

Many of our teachers and researchers are active in research groups and networks such as Comics Research, Art-Based Research, Nordic Network for Research on Working-Class Literature, Oral History and research programmes such as the Data Society as well as the research platforms Rethinking Democracy, Medea and Collaborative Future Making and the Internet of Things and People (IoTaP). There are two research subjects at K3: Interaction Design and Media and Communication Studies.

Read more about the School of Arts and Communication here.

Work duties

We are announcing a doctoral position in the subject area of Interaction Design to be conducted within the framework of the European doctoral network “Reworlding: Repositioning Participatory Design to Tackle Socio-Environmental Challenges”, funded by a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action (see details below).

Those appointed to doctoral student positions shall devote themselves to their studies in the context of the above project. Whilst required to ensure their work fits broadly within the overall doctoral network by working closely with the project coordinator, the doctoral student will complete independent research.

Those appointed to doctoral studentships may, however, in the last year of employment, work to a limited extent with educational tasks, research, artistic research and administration, however, duties of this kind may not comprise more than 20 per cent of a full-time post (Chapter 5, Section 2 of the Higher Education Ordinance).

The doctoral programme comprises four years of full-time study and concludes with a doctoral degree (240 credits). The programme consists of a course component and a dissertation component. An important part of the doctoral programme itself is to actively participate in and contribute to the research and educational environment both at the university and across the consortium.

For more information about doctoral studies in Interaction Design please read the General Study Plan in ID.

Reworlding Doctoral Network

This doctoral student position is part of a European doctoral network funded by a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action: “Reworlding: Repositioning Participatory Design to Tackle Socio-Environmental Challenges”. The general theme links 11 students, providing them with collective learning opportunities and individual secondments (shorter and longer stays to benefit from a range of experiences working with other institutions both inside and outside academia). These take place across nations and practices. The overall theme of the network is as following:

Ecological issues are experienced differently by different actors, communities and organisations, leading to societal polarisation and inhibiting urgently needed actions around these issues. As Participatory Design (PD) researchers, we observe a need for design approaches that can bring diverse actors together to tackle these challenges in participatory ways, with particular attention to those who remain silent, both as human and non-human actors (e.g. plants, rivers and insects). REWORLDING doctoral network aims to investigate and outline such a careful and situated PD approach that can better understand and create synergies between the different worlds in which people live and work, and the more-than-human worlds they are entangled with. This is achieved through interdisciplinary methodology based on collective learning and participatory action research, embedded in inter- sectoral collaborations with non-academic partners who address socio- ecological issues from diverse perspectives. In doing so, the network identifies and articulates reworlding design capabilities that can support next-generation researchers in tackling the connections of social and ecological challenges. Design capabilities link research and training in REWORLDING. The research program explores the capabilities needed to address socio-ecological issues, and their translation to specific skills and training needs. Based on research insights, the training program iterates the proposed courses and enhances identified capabilities by exposing the researchers to non-academic socio-environmental practices.

The programme includes the Retracing lecture series, Reconnecting methods training, Reimagining summer schools, Reinstitutioning webinars and Reworlding assemblies. Through articulated pathways to gain impact, we will be connecting the project activities with various stakeholders at different scales and with relevant programmes at European and international level (such as SDGs and European Green Deal).

The doctoral student position

This position works across countries to explore participatory design and regeneration through cultural interventions, using and developing such methods as Theatre of the Oppressed and working with cultural organisations to learn how festivals can create transformations towards more liveable futures. It will draw on arts and embed a more-than-human perspective, developing the field of Participatory Design by contributing to understandings of cultural transformation and applying relational theory. During the first three years, there will be secondments outside Sweden to two organisations forming part of the Reworlding consortium: University of Trento and Landscape Choreography, Italy. The student will be expected to travel for workshops and consortium meetings and stay in Italy for periods and needs to be flexible in their commitments. There is a budget for travel. For more details of the specific position and what is expected, please see the website describing the 11 studentships and look at #8 Reworlding communities: enacting regenerative worlds across different European contexts: www. uhasselt.be/reworlding.

Qualifications

In order to be admitted to doctoral education, the applicant must meet the general and specific entry requirements of the subject in question. Moreover, the applicant must be deemed capable of undertaking the education.

The general entry requirements for doctoral education (HEO Chapter 7, Section 39) will be met by those who have:

been awarded a second-cycle degree

satisfied the requirements for courses comprising at least 240 credits, of which at least 60 credits were awarded in the second-cycle, or

acquired substantially equivalent knowledge in some other way in Sweden or abroad.

Specific entry requirements for third-cycle courses and study programmes are met by those who have:

knowledge and skills equivalent to a second-cycle degree in Interaction Design or in another subject relevant to the program, or have the equivalent knowledge acquired within or outside the country. In view of the multidisciplinary character of the field of Interaction Design subjects within the social sciences and humanities as well as within the technology and the arts may be relevant to meet the specific requirements.

Selection criteria

Selection among applicants who meet the general and specific entry requirements shall be made with regard to their capacity to complete the education (HEO Chapter 7 Section 41). This will be demonstrated by an application that addresses the theme of the research a) in general and b) the specifics of the project described above. A research plan outlining how the applicant's intended research question will address these issues must accompany the application (see below).

General selection criteria

independent analysis and approach in previous work

problem formulation and precision in previous work and research plans

methodological and scholarly maturity

communication and cooperation skills.

Specific selection criteria

The candidate's ability, in accordance with Chapter 5, Section 5 of the Higher Education Ordinance, to benefit from third-cycle courses and study programmes. To support the evaluation of the feasibility of each research proposal, students are expected to submit previous written material, a well-referenced research plan and a portfolio along with their application form (see below).

The candidate's ability to plan and implement projects within given timeframes.

The candidate's ability to express themselves in English - orally and in writing.

The degree to which the proposed research can contribute to the field of research and the collaborative research environment at K3.

Project-specific selection criteria

According to the project funder's regulations, the applicants must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in Sweden for more than 12 months in the 36 months immediately before their recruitment date.

The candidate's qualifications or equivalent work experience in performance studies, drama, art, design, cultural studies, community development, sociology, STS or other relevant fields.

Experience with community organising and co-design or participatory design.

Experience with design for sustainable transitions and/or regenerative practices

Full professional proficiency in English language (spoken and written) (essential)

Strong Merits

Proficiency in other relevant European language(s) Swedish, Italian

Knowledge of and experience with more-than-human perspectives

Work experience with theatre, performance or festival planning in community settings

Further information

For questions related to the doctoral project, contact Ann Light, project coordinator, [email protected]

For questions regarding the doctoral education, contact Tina Askanius, [email protected]

For other questions contact, Per Linde, Deputy Head of Department [email protected]

In our recruitment work, Malmö University has taken a stand regarding recruitment channels and marketing. We therefore decline all offers of advertising and recruitment assistance in connection with this advertisement.

Application

You may apply for this position via Malmö University's recruitment system by clicking on the "Apply" button. As an applicant, you are responsible for ensuring that your application is completed in accordance with the advertisement, and that it is provided to the University no later than 1 st September 2023. The applicant is responsible for ensuring that the University can read what is written in the application. If the application is not written in Swedish, English or any of the Nordic languages, the applicant is responsible for the application and its appendices being translated.

The application must include:

Completed application form for admission to Research Education https: // mau.app.box.com/s/0729inc4c3o0d70jrv4435w4vpgcwr6d

Curriculum Vitae with up to three references (including title, name, contact information and relationship to the applicant)

Scans of diplomas, transcript of records and other certificates relevant for the position

A portfolio of previous relevant projects and work related to the specific criteria of the doctoral network and position.

A brief research plan presenting the focus of research and a thesis concept, and how this relates to the specific post (max 3000 words). The research plan must contain an overall purpose, questions that the project intends to answer, an account of the methodological approach, a description of material collection and type of research material and an account of the theoretical framework. The research plan should explicitly address how the project will be relevant to the theme of the Reworlding network and the specific research project, described above.

Independent work at advanced level (including master thesis or equivalent).

Miscellaneous

Preparation of admission to postgraduate education and employment as a doctoral student take place in parallel. Only those who are or have been admitted to third-cycle courses and study programmes at a higher education may be appointed to doctoral studentships (HEO Chapter 5, Section 3).

The doctoral studentship is a fixed-term position comprising four years of full-time studies, in accordance with the HEO Chapter 5 Section 7.

Malmö University is a workplace and higher education institution that is characterised by an open and inclusive approach, where gender equality and equal terms add value to our activities.

Malmö University applies salary setting for doctoral students in accordance with a local agreement on salary setting for doctoral students.

Start date

1st February 2024

Union representatives

SACO-S, Rebecka Johansson, [email protected]

OFR, Martin Reissner, [email protected]

Doctoral Student Union representative

Anna Schröder, [email protected]

We look forward to receiving your application!