[csaa-forum] PhD Winter School on Participation & Communication - Jinan University, Guangzhou (China)

[Carpentier Nico]

Call for participants
for the
PhD Winter School on Participation & Communication
Jinan University, Guangzhou (China)
5-9 December 2016

The PhD Winter School on Participation & Communication has opened its 
call for applications for participation in the PhD Winter School, which 
will take place at Jinan University, in Guangzhou (China) from 5 to 9 
December 2016.

The PhD Winter School combines two objectives. The School’s first 
objective is to provide participating PhD students with state-of-the-art 
academic knowledge about participation and communication, by organising 
a series of lectures and workshops given by senior and experienced 
scholars on participatory theory and methods. With its focus on 
participation, the PhD Winter School engages with one of the key issues 
of contemporary Media and Communication Studies. Participation, with its 
variety of meanings and practices these meanings refer to, is an 
academic concept that allows for a better understanding of 
socio-political configurations, all over the world, in both micro- and 
macro-settings. In (and beyond) communicative contexts, this notion also 
produces opportunities for a better understanding of issues related to 
power and empowerment, ideology, collaboration, creation, agency and 
citizenship. Moreover, the concept affects different types of media 
organisations and different communicative-technological environments, 
which makes it relevant to study the different participatory affordances 
that they incorporate, sometimes maximalising participation, while in 
other cases featuring more minimalist versions of participation. In 
addition, the PhD Winter School will also use the concept of 
participation to reflect upon academic practices, and pay attention to 
the participatory potentials of research methods and science communication.

The second objective of the PhD Winter School is to offer participants 
high-quality feedback on their individual PhD projects. To serve this 
purpose, a series of master classes will be organised during the PhD 
Winter School. During these master classes, each participating PhD 
student will receive detailed and constructive feedback on their PhD 
project, from one of the PhD Winter School lecturers. In order to 
optimise the quality of the feedback, all participants are required to 
submit a 5-page PhD paper, outlining 1/the research questions, 2/the 
theoretical framework, 3/the methodology, 4/the research design and 
corpus and 5/the time schedule of their PhD project.

Convenor of the PhD Winter School is Professor Nico Carpentier (Uppsala 
University – Sweden; Vrije Universiteit Brussel – Belgium and Charles 
University in Prague – Czech Republic). PhD Winter School lecturers are 
Vaia Doudaki (Uppsala University – Sweden), Arne Hintz (Cardiff 
University – UK), Rico Lie (Wageningen University – the Netherlands), 
Loes Witteveen (Van Hall Larenstein University of Applied Sciences and 
Wageningen University – the Netherlands) and Nico Carpentier. The local 
organiser is Professor Tingrong Zhi (Dean of the College of Journalism & 
Communication, Jinan University, Guangzhou).

The target group are PhD students in the middle phase of the PhD 
studies, from all regions of the world. Although the PhD projects of 
participants do not have to be explicitly and entirely focussed on the 
PhD Winter School theme of participation and communication, a research 
interest in, and affinity with, the PhD Winter School theme is 
advisable. Sufficient knowledge of the English language is a requirement.

In order to apply for participation in the PhD Winter School, please 
send the following documents to Yiming Chen at 
jnwinterschool2016 at 126.com, before the deadline of 10 October 2016:
-A letter motivating the application for the PhD Winter School
-A 500-word abstract of the individual PhD project
-A brief CV

PhD Winter School deadlines:
-Deadline for application to the PhD Winter School: 10 October 2016
-Acknowledgement of acceptance by the PhD Winter School: 24 October 2016
-Deadline for submitting 5-page PhD paper to the PhD Winter School: 14 
November 2016
-Start PhD Winter School: 5 December 2016
Please note that these deadlines will not be extended.

No registration fee is required. Participants are expected to cover 
their own travel and living expenses (including accommodation). 
Assistance with visa applications and local travel will be provided to 
non-Chinese participants (if necessary).

Queries are to be sent to jnwinterschool2016 at 126.com.

The PhD Winter School on Participation & Communication is supported by 
the College of Journalism and Communication (Jinan University) and the 
Participatory Communication Research Section of the International 
Association of Media and Communication Research (IAMCR).