University of Huddersfield

£36,724 - £41,308 per annum

Fixed Term for 36 months

37 hours per week

REF R6786

The Department of Media and Performance at the University of Huddersfield invites applications for a postdoctoral research fellow as part of the project, PSM-AP: Public Service Media in the Age of Platforms, funded by CHANSE/UKRI Digital Transformations: Social and Cultural Dynamics in the Digital Age programme: https://chanse.org/call-results/

This is an exciting opportunity for a postdoctoral researcher to join an international team on a highly ambitious collaborative project.

This is a three-year (36 month) fixed-term post that begins on 1 November 2022 or as soon as possible thereafter.

The University of Huddersfield is committed to diversity and encourages all qualified applicants to apply, regardless of their background. International applicants that meet the selection criteria are welcome to apply.

PSM-AP asks how the cultural and social values of public service media (PSM) are being transformed in the age of platforms and what factors are propelling or inhibiting change in different national contexts. Focusing on television, PSM-AP asks how PSM organisations, and the regulators and policymakers that legislate for and enforce their remits, are adapting to a new platform age that is transforming the environment within which PSM operates. To understand how and why platformisation is transforming PSM, the project will utilise a comparative framework to analyse in-depth expert interviews with commissioning, channel/service, curation and audience research teams, the programmes and catalogues of PSM organisations, and trade, regulatory and policy documents in six countries (Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Italy, Poland, UK). This multi-disciplinary and highly collaborative project involves a team of 9 researchers from 6 countries, as well as the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the European Platform of Regulatory Authorities (EPRA) as project partners. Knowledge exchange with PSM organisations, regulators, policymakers and civil society groups will be used to identify what actions might be needed to ensure that PSM operates in the public interest.

Brief description of the role:

• Qualitative expert interviews with key industry professionals within UK public service media organisations (BBC, ITV, Channel 4, S4C).
• Document analysis of regulatory, policy and trade documents related to PSM in the UK.
• Qualitative and quantitative analysis of the TV schedules and video-on-demand interfaces of the UK PSM linear channels and VOD services.
• Textual analysis of TV programmes produced by UK PSM organisations.
• Comparative analysis of the above data across the 6 case study countries, in collaboration with scholars from Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Italy and Poland.
• Authoring and co-authoring policy briefs, conference papers, journal articles, industry reports and other relevant outputs.
• Supporting the organisation of knowledge exchange workshops with industry and policy stakeholders, and the final project conference, and assisting the project lead with other knowledge exchange and dissemination activities.

If you are interested in this post, please review the recruitment pack information and use the online application form to explain how your knowledge, skills and experience meet the essential and desirable criteria required for the role.

Potential applications are encouraged to contact the project lead, Professor Catherine Johnson (c.johnson2@hud.ac.uk) to discuss the position.

For further details about this post and to make an application please visit: http://hud.ac/mwa

Closing date: 1 September 2022

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