Three PhD positions ?Governing Digital Societies in Europe? (1.0 FTE)

The Department of Media and Culture seeks to appoint three PhD candidates for the project "Governing Digital Societies in Europe" led by Prof. dr. José van Dijck. This project forms the start of an interdisciplinary research group that investigates socio-technical, legal and governance aspects of online platforms and data practices. The candidate may write his/her own research proposal that should deal with digital platforms and their effects on public institutions or democratic processes. Preferably, the proposal focuses on one or two specific sectors (e.g. online news) or one or two specific data practices (e.g. data literacy or policy making). Since the subject of 'governing the digital society' is highly interdisciplinary, the ideal candidate is expected to combine theoretical and methodological perspectives, such as media studies, law, information science, software studies, philosophy or governance studies. The project will be situated in the Media and Culture Studies Department with close associations with the Utrecht Data School, the Centre for Digital Humanities and the UU research theme "Institutions for Open Societies."