ESRC South Coast DTP Studentship - Mapping social media networks of political actors and understanding the flow of information through them from elites to the wider public (S2149) (SCDTP-S2149)

Mapping social media networks of political actors and understanding the flow of information through them from elites to the wider public

A fully funded studentship awarded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) South Coast Doctoral Training Partnership (SCDTP) commencing in 2021/22 Academic Year.

This project will explore the spread of information between elite political actors on social media and measure its influence on the wider public. Involving data harvesting from social media, the project will build on the use of statistical techniques for sentiment/stance classification to estimate ideological maps and use computational tools to track the flow of polling information on social networks. The project aims to estimate how information flows between elite political actors influence polarization and political divides in Britain.

Supervisory Team:

Professor Will Jennings (PAIR, W.J.Jennings@soton.ac.uk), Professor Rebecca Hoyle (Mathematical Sciences, R.B.Hoyle@soton.ac.uk), Dr Markus Brede (ECS, Markus.Brede@soton.ac.uk)

Skills Required

A background in political science, mathematics, or computer scienceTraining in data gathering and quantitative methods to at least intermediate levelSome experience of analysis of social media data and relevant software packages

Funding

South Coast DTP Funding provides an annual maintenance grant (tax free) of £15285 (2020/21 UKRI rate), plus payment of programme fees.  Other funding available for SCDTP funded students can be found on the SCDTP website (www.southcoastdtp.ac.uk).

Funding is provided for 3 years full-time PhD study (pro-rata for part-time students).  Applications for 1+3 funding for students completing a Master's year prior to the commencement of PhD study are also welcome (details available at www.southcoastdtp.ac.uk).

Application Procedure

The closing date and time for applications is 4.00pm on 18th January 2021.  The full application procedure, the funding application form, and more information on the South Coast Doctoral Training Partnership can be found at: http://southcoastdtp.ac.uk/apply/ 

For further information about this project, please contact the lead supervisor detailed above.  For questions relating to the application procedure, or for more information about the SCDTP, please visit the SCDTP website or contact us at scdtp@soton.ac.uk 

Closing Date: 18 Jan 2021
Post Type: PhD Studentship (Funded)