PHD STUDENTSHIP: ANTHROPOLOGY OF SMARTPHONES AND SMART AGEING

PHD STUDENTSHIP: ANTHROPOLOGY OF SMARTPHONES AND SMART AGEING

DURATION: 1ST OCTOBER 2017 TO 1ST APRIL 2021

The Department of Anthropology at UCL has secured ERC funding* for a
3.5-year PhD studentship on the Anthropology of Smartphones and Smart
Ageing project, led by Professor Daniel Miller. The project starts 1st
October 2017, with 15 months of fieldwork starting from 1st February
2018. The candidate is likely to be spending most of their time in
London before and after fieldwork.

PROJECT OUTLINE

Based at the Department of Anthropology, UCL, the project will employ
twelve anthropologists to conduct simultaneous 15-month ethnographies in
different regions. The project focuses on three core topics:

        * The changing experience and meaning of ageing for people aged
between 45-70.
        * The impact of the smartphone on this age group, in the context of a
general ethnographic understanding of the use and consequences of
smartphones today.
        * A commitment to using this ethnographic knowledge to consider the
social and cultural implications of smartphone health apps, including a
long-term participant design process in which the anthropologist helps
to make mHealth apps that are more socially and culturally sensitive to
users.

This exercise in engaged anthropology will inform our intellectual
advances in the field of digital anthropology which has not, so far,
considered the smartphone from a global comparative perspective.
Reflections on mHealth and the smartphone will in turn also contribute
to the core aim of advancing our understanding of the experience of
ageing in this new interstitial period of life between young and old,
and to appreciate the major transformations in society and sociality
represented by the new ubiquity of the smartphone. Both the intellectual
and engaged components will be shown to depend upon sensitivity to the
forms of cultural diversity uncovered by our comparative ethnographic
approach.

The project follows the collaborative and comparative style of research
and dissemination developed in Miller’s recently completed Why We Post
project about social media.

WE ARE PARTICULARLY INTERESTED IN CANDIDATES WITH:

        * Previous experience conducting qualitative research/ethnography in
sub-Saharan Africa.
        * A proposed fieldsite in sub-Saharan Africa, ideally outside of South
Africa.
        * Some knowledge and interest in either digital anthropology, medical
anthropology, or both.
        * Knowledge of a relevant language for research in sub-Saharan Africa.

You should have attained, or be expected to complete in 2017, a masters
degree in Anthropology or a related discipline that employs
qualitative/ethnographic research. We will consider a candidate
possessing only an undergraduate degree if they have additional relevant
experience.

The successful candidate will receive a tax-free stipend for 3.5 years.
In the first year the stipend will be £18,000, with increments in
subsequent years.

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS:

        * Cover letter (c. 750 words) describing how you are qualified and
prepared for the position and how you would approach the proposed topic
and your proposed choice of fieldsite.
        * A full CV (up to 2 pages).
        * A piece of work or selection from a longer work (c. 5,000 words).
This can be from your masters dissertation or a similar piece of work.
        * A statement (c. 750 words) describing how you are qualified and
prepared for the position and how you would approach the proposed topic
and your proposed choice of fieldsite.
        * Two references (at least one should be academic).

Applications should reach d.miller@ucl.ac.uk by midnight 25th July.
For enquiries about the post email d.miller@ucl.ac.uk.

*Note: We are awaiting final confirmation from the ERC therefore there
is a possibility that the start date may be delayed.