Job: PhD position in musicology, Växjö, Schweden
Salaried PhD position in musicology
Deadline: August 31, 2023.
More information here.
Welcome to Linnaeus University! We meet the societal challenges of today and tomorrow in a spirit of openness, curiosity, and creativity. By creating arenas for exchange of knowledge from different subjects, fields, and cultures, we open up for new ideas and create new opportunities for long-term sustainable societal development. Linnaeus University – where people grow.
Linnaeus University is located in Växjö and Kalmar in the southern Swedish region of Småland. The university has 2 100 employees and more than 44 000 students and offers over 200 degree programmes and 1 500 freestanding courses. Research at Linnaeus University is of high quality, nationally as well as internationally, not least at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, where research in intermedial and multimodal studies, digital humanities, environmental humanities, global humanities, colonial and postcolonial studies, young adult fiction, and popular culture is prominent.
The Linnaeus University Centre for Intermedial and Multimodal Studies (IMS) is a world-leading interdisciplinary research centre studying relations and interactions between media. IMS is part of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at Linnaeus University in Växjö.
IMS and the Department of Music and Art are now inviting applications for a salaried PhD position in musicology, as part of the graduate school The Future of Democracy: Cultural Analyses of Illiberal Populism in Times of Crises (FUDEM), which is financed by the Swedish Research Council.
Subject area for the position
Musicology
Location until further notice
Växjö
Linnaeus University is based in two cities – Växjö and Kalmar. The graduate school is based in Växjö, but as a doctoral student, you will be expected to participate in activities in both locations.
Term and hours
The position is a 48-month fixed-term full-time employment.
Employment as a doctoral student is limited according to Chapter 5, Section 7 of the Higher Education Ordinance. The total employment period may not exceed the equivalent of full-time doctoral studies for four years. However, besides their own studies, someone employed as a doctoral student may, to a limited extent, work with education, (artistic) research, and administration, in which case the period of employment will be extended proportionally. Such work may not exceed 20 per cent of full-time work.
The current (1 January 2023) starting salary for a doctoral student position is SEK 29 450 per month (subject to tax).
For more information about employment and working conditions at Linnaeus University, see our website.
Starting date
As agreed upon, but no later than January 1, 2024.
Job description
As a doctoral student, you will be part of the Linnaeus University Centre for Intermedial and Multimodal Studies (IMS) and the new graduate school The Future of Democracy: Cultural Analyses of Illiberal Populism in Times of Crises (FUDEM). FUDEM is a collaboration between six universities: Linnaeus University, Linköping University, Lund University, Södertörn University, University of Gothenburg, and Uppsala University.
You will be pursuing your doctoral studies in the field of musicology, focusing on cultural analysis of illiberal populism in times of crisis. Your work will include project planning, data collection, processing and analysis of collected material, publication of results, and presentation of preliminary results and conclusions at conferences. You will be expected to participate in research and teaching activities at FUDEM, IMS, and the Department of Music and Art.
As a doctoral student, you will play an important part in the faculty’s research environment and at your department. You will be expected to contribute actively by regularly attending seminars, workshops, retreats, courses, and other activities organised by the graduate school and/or your department, and to interact regularly with other doctoral students, researchers, and teaching staff at the faculty. You will be expected to spend most of your working hours at the Växjö campus of Linnaeus University, unless your research – for instance, in the form of field work, archival research, or research trips – requires otherwise.
Your doctoral studies will comprise four years of full-time studies, and include research, writing of a doctoral thesis, participation in courses, and literary review.
The graduate school will offer several mandatory and optional courses, workshops, and seminars focusing on illiberal populism, theories on democracy from a humanistic perspective, and cultural analysis of crises. As a doctoral student, you will be expected to organise a research conference towards the end of your studies.
The programme’s working language is English.
You will find more information on the graduate school FUDEM and its thematic specialisations here.
The context of the position
As a FUDEM doctoral student you will be part of the Linnaeus University Centre for Intermedial and Multimodal Studies (IMS) in Växjö.
At IMS, art historians, linguists, and scholars of literature, film, design, music, and media studies, examine the complex mixture of media and modalities involved in communication, drawing on intermedial and multimodal perspectives as well as on perspectives used in media and communications. At IMS we study intermedial and multimodal aspects of media in relation to our four main themes – Meaning Making, Narration, Learning, and Truthfulness – and we strive to meet the societal challenges of a mediated society through our four research clusters: IMS Green, IMS News, IMS Memory, IMS Literacy. These interdisciplinary research clusters explore societal challenges such as how film, literature, and games communicate research findings about the climate crisis (IMS Green); multimodal and transmedial challenges of journalism and the dissemination of disinformation (IMS News); contested cultural heritage and memory cultures in the digital age (IMS Memory); and the role of media and modes in education (IMS Literacy).
For the graduate school, we welcome research proposals in the field of intermediality, multimodality, and cultural analyses of illiberal populism in times of crisis in a broad sense, but we particularly encourage proposals that fit into one of the research clusters described above.
Examples of themes for doctoral theses in musicology include:
music/sound in illiberal mass media
illiberal populism in different musical traditions and genres (popular music, classical music, traditional music, etc.)
representations of illiberal populism in and through music/sound
musical representations of passions, emotions, and values in relation to illiberal populism
audio-visual analyses of illiberal propaganda.
Eligibility
General entry requirements according to Ch 7 S 39 of the Higher Education Ordinance:
A person meets the general entry requirements for admission to doctoral studies if they
have been awarded a master’s degree
have at least 240 credits of passed courses, of which at least 60 credits are at the master’s level; or
have acquired essentially equivalent knowledge in some other way, in or outside Sweden.
Linnaeus University’s specific entry requirements:
at least 120 credits in musicology, or equivalent knowledge acquired in some other way, in or outside Sweden
at least 30 credits in musicology at the master’s level, including an independent project of at least 15 credits
knowledge of English corresponding to the general entry requirements for university studies in Sweden at the bachelor’s level (see also the information provided by the Swedish Council for Higher Education).
All eligibility requirements must be met by the time of the application deadline.
For more information on specific entry requirements and doctoral education at Linnaeus University, please see the general syllabus for doctoral education in musicology.
Application
The application should be written in English and include the following:
a cover letter explaining why you are applying for the position (max two pages)
your CV (max five pages)
attested copies of transcript(s) of records supporting your eligibility for the position, including proof of proficiency in English for non-native speakers
a research plan (max 10 000 characters excl. references), including aim, theory, research questions, method, time plan, and an account of how your project fits in with FUDEM and, if applicable, with one of the research clusters (i.e., IMS Green, IMS News, IMS Memory, or IMS Literacy)
a copy of your master’s thesis, or the equivalent
names and contact information for up to three referees.
For more information about the application procedure and to apply, please visit Linnaeus University’s job page.
The application deadline is August 31, 2023.
Assessment criteria
The selection of candidates will be made based on an assessment of the applicants’ ability to benefit from doctoral education. The assessment will be based on the following criteria:
the relevance, originality, and feasibility of the research plan in relation to the field of intermediality and illiberal populism (for further details, see the FUDEM webpage)
the applicant’s academic qualifications, especially as regards the quality and relevance of the master’s thesis (or the equivalent)
other relevant qualifications and references.
Contact
Martin Knust – FUDEM board member in Växjö, member of IMS, and associate professor of musicology
Eva Kjellander Hellqvist – Head of the Department of Music and Art
Sandra Kron – HR partner at the Department of Music and Art