Supervisors

Project Details

This project brings together sociological and socio-linguistic methods and frameworks to analyse a linguistic dataset of the ‘protect our girls’ narrative, and its emergence and development as a public discourse over asylum. Through a mixed methods design combining social network analysis and critical discourse analysis, it will create a corpus of Reddit subforums and traditional media reports to identify how these narratives emerged, spread, and have mutated from bottom-up public to legitimised institutional discourse. Analysis will identify the semantic structure of these narratives; how they construct and reinforce hierarchies of power; how they trade off completing rights claims between in groups and (multiple) othered outgroups; and how they create a gendered and racialised economy of action, entitlement, and exclusion.

International Applicants

International applicants are welcome to apply for this position.

Financial Support

This project covers all tuition fees and includes an annual stipend.

Please note that the successful candidate will be responsible for any costs relating to moving to Birmingham and/or visiting the Aston campus. International students must meet the financial requirements for the visa, flights, and NHS Surcharge. Applicants should be confident that they can meet these costs before applying.

Further information can be found by visiting our Financial Requirements page.

Person Specification

The successful applicant should hold, or expect to achieve:

A First or Upper Second Class Honours undergraduate degree, and a Masters degree with Merit or Distinction, both in relevant subjects.

Qualifications from overseas institutions will be considered, but performance must be equivalent to that described above, and the University reserves the right to ascertain this equivalence according to its own criteria.

Desirable / Essential Skills or Experience

Required characteristics

Master's (or equivalent) degree in linguistics or related social scientific field 2. Familiarity with critical discourse analysis methods

Desirable characteristics

Understanding of sociological frameworks for analysing narrative 2. Familiarity with social network analysis methods

Submitting an application

We can only consider applications that are complete and have all supporting documents. Applications that do not provide all the relevant documents will be automatically rejected. Your application must include:

English language copies of the transcripts and certificates for all your higher education degrees, including any Bachelor degrees.
A Research Statement detailing your understanding of the research area, how you would approach the project, and a brief review of relevant literature. Be sure to use the title of the research project you are applying for. There is no set format or word count.
A personal statement which outlines any further information which you think is relevant to your application, such as your personal suitability for research, career aspirations, possible future research interests, and further description of relevant employment experience.
A Curriculum Vitae (Resume) which details your education and work history.
Two academic referees who can discuss your suitability for independent research. References must be on headed paper, signed and dated no more than 2 years old. At least one reference should be from your most recent University. You can submit your references at a later date if necessary.
Evidence that you meet the English Language requirements. If you do not currently meet the language requirements, you can submit this at a later stage.
A copy of your passport. Where relevant, include evidence of settled or pre-settled status.

Contact Information

For enquiries about this project, contact Dr Graeme Hayes.

Location

This position will be based on the Aston Campus in Birmingham, UK. The successful candidate will need to be located within a reasonable distance of the campus, and will be expected to visit in person regularly.