PhD Scholarship in Media and Emerging Technologies: Workers in transition through automation, digitisation and robotisation of work

Job No.: 625799

Location: Caufield campus

Employment Type: Full-time

Duration: 3-year and 3-month fixed-term appointment

Remuneration: The successful applicant will receive a Research Living Allowance at current value of $29,500 per annum 2021 full-time rate (tax-free stipend), indexed plus allowances as per RTP stipend scholarship conditions at: www.monash.edu/graduate-research/future-students/scholarships/scholarship-policy-and-procedures.  A tuition fee scholarship and Single Overseas Health Cover (OSHC) will be provided for a successful international awardee.

The Opportunity

The School of Media, Film and Journalism (Faculty of Arts) and the Emerging Technologies Lab (Faculties of Art Design and Architecture and Information Technology) at Monash University invite applications for a fully funded, 3.3-year PhD scholarship for commencement in 2022. The position is offered by the Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture.

The successful candidate will participate in a collaborative research project on automation, digitalization and robotization of work: Workers in transition through automation, digitalization and robotization of work (www.autoworkproject.org ). The PhD position is one of two PhD positions in this project and will be located in Melbourne at Monash University in Australia. The second is located at NTNU Social Research in Trondheim, Norway. Both PhD’s are expected to spend time visiting each other’s home base, subject to eased travel restrictions.

The goal of the project is to produce new knowledge and responses to societal challenges arising from the automation, digitalization and robotization of work, in relation to inclusion and sustainability. We will map trajectories towards a meaningful future work-life for workers, using innovative ethnographic and future scenario methods that centre on workers’ practices and experiences (see below for further details).

The PhD candidate is expected to work qualitatively, using methodologies from media, social anthropology or science and technology studies (STS). Fieldwork will primarily be conducted in the sales and service sector, and secondly in the building and healthcare sectors. The candidate will be part of an interdisciplinary research team, and is expected to take part in joint project activities such as future scenario workshops, publication and dissemination activities. They should have an interest in and ability to engage in interdisciplinary, collaborative research.

The successful candidate will be integrated into the Monash’s Culture, Media and Economy research hub and the Emerging Technologies Lab. Monash University is the largest university in Australia and regularly ranks in the top 100 universities worldwide. Monash has six globally networked campuses and international alliances in Europe and Asia. The applicant will be based at the Caufield campus in Melbourne. The School of Media, Film and Journalism and the Emerging Technologies Lab at Monash have vibrant and supportive research cultures led by internationally recognised scholars, and a strong track record in attracting national and international competitive funding.

Further information about the project and research environment

Workers in transition through automation, digitalization and robotization of work (AUTOWORK) project outline

Work – and the ability to work – defines our human nature. The concept of homo faber – the working/crafting human – conceptualizes work as a meaningful and expressive activity and therefore more than simply a means to survive. We are now at a point in time when digital technologies such as AI are changing societies and work-life. Increasingly advanced, complex and intelligent machines prove capable of performing work previously mastered by humans alone. The effects and implications of this are not yet known, especially on the micro level for individual workers – and macro societal level. Whether humans are replaced by machines, find themselves working alongside them, or working within machine-controlled systems, automation radically transforms working life, the role of workers, the labour market and society at large. How can future work-life provide meaningful, sustainable and inclusive places for human workers? AUTOWORK will explore the transformation of work across three sectors which will be particularly impacted by automation: building; sales and service; and healthcare sector. Together, these sectors employ the majority of the modern workforce internationally. AUTOWORK will investigate the implications of this transformation in Norway and comparatively in Australia. At Monash, project Chief Investigators include: Dr Aneta Podkalicka, Professor Sarah Pink, Professor Mark Andrejevic and Dr Debora Lanzoni.

Culture Media Economy (CME), directed by Professor Paul Long, is a research hub at the School of Media Film and Journalism at Monash that responds to the current conjuncture in which new financial and business models, technologies, socio-cultural dynamics and geo-political configurations have radically transformed our understandings and practices of culture, media and economy. Work in the hub draws on long standing disciplinary approaches from the political economy of the media, cultural studies, communications studies and critical cultural policy studies. It also looks to emergent research around social and locative media, ubiquitous computing and the city, labour in the cultural economy, and the post-neoliberal agenda.

The Emerging Technologies Research Lab, directed by Professor Sarah Pink, undertakes critical interdisciplinary and international research into the social, cultural and experiential dimensions of the design, use and futures of new and emerging technologies. Sitting across the Faculties of Information Technology and of Art, Design and Architecture (MADA), the Lab investigates an emerging technological environment where automation, artificial intelligence, data and the questions of ethics, responsibility and user experience and engagement that they bring with them are increasingly central. Internationally leading researchers in the Lab brings together high quality theoretical and ethnographic academic scholarship with engagement with external stakeholders, and advocate for the design of better, responsible and ethical futures. Their work advances new theory and ethnographic and futures methodologies drawing from design, anthropology, sociology and geography.

Candidate Requirements

The successful applicant will have an excellent academic track record, including a Masters’ degree or equivalent, in media studies, anthropology, science and technology studies (STS) or a cognate discipline or interdisciplinary area. They will have training in and experience of conducting qualitative or ethnographic research, and an interest in innovative ethnographic and futures research methods and approaches.

In its assessment, the selection committee will prioritise applicants who hold an Australian (or equivalent international) Honour’s or Master’s degree (both in a relevant field), with a significant research component and with first-class honours/H1 awarded.

Details of eligibility requirements, including English-language proficiency skills, to undertake a PhD in the Faculty of Arts are available at www.monash.edu/arts/graduate_research/how-to-apply . Applicants should ensure they familiarise themselves with these requirements before deciding whether they should apply.

The successful applicant will be expected to enrol by 1 March 2022. However, there may be some flexibility as to the date of commencement.

Submit an Expression of Interest (EOI)

EOIs shall comprise:

• A cover letter that includes a brief statement of the applicant’s suitability
• A brief research proposal not exceeding 750 words in length that fits within the broad project aims and objectives, and demonstrates some understanding of the area of research
• A curriculum vitae, including a list of any published works, conference presentations and relevant work experience
• A full statement of academic record, supported by scanned copies of relevant certified documentation
• Contact details of two academic referees

It is important that you contact CIs Dr Aneta Podkalicka [email protected] or Professor Sarah Pink [email protected] prior to submission of the EOI to discuss the project.

EOIs should be sent, preferably in the form of a single attachment to an email, to Ms Kinda Say, Senior Graduate Research Administrator, Faculty of Arts, at the following email address [email protected] . State “EOI [your name] - PhD Scholarship in Media and Emerging Technologies: Workers in transition through automation, digitisation and robotisation of work” in the subject heading of the email.

Shortlisted candidates will be interviewed (over Skype/zoom if necessary). The interviews will be conducted in English.

Enquiries

Enquiries should be addressed to Dr Aneta Podkalicka [email protected] or Professor Sarah Pink [email protected]

Closing Date

Friday 22 October 2021, 11:55pm AEDT

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