[ARENA] Fw: eca PhD studentship

[arena_mod]

eca
edinburgh college of art

PhD Studentship.

GBP 13,290 per annum maintenance will be provided, and course fees  
will be paid for three years.

Research proposals are invited from applicants who wish to undertake  
a practice-based PhD researching networked, distributed and  
collaborative authorship in electronic arts and literature practices  
and the subsequent implications for how creative communities form and  
creative practice emerges. The PhD research project will explore  
questions through employing theoretical and practical methods within  
the context of a larger European wide research project.

Developing a Network-Based Creative Community: Electronic Literature  
as a Model of Creativity and Innovation in Practice is a 1 million  
Euro, three year research project funded by the Humanities in the  
European Research Area Joint Research Programme. The project involves  
an academic consortium, including Edinburgh College of Art,  
University of Bergen (Norway), Blekinge Institute of Technology  
(Sweden), University of Amsterdam (Nederlands), University of  
Ljubljana (Slovenia), University of Jyvaskyla (Finland) and  
University College Falmouth (England). Focusing on a particular  
creative community, of electronic literature practitioners, the  
project inquires into how creative communities of practitioners form  
within transnational and transcultural contexts, within a globalised  
and distributed communications environment, seeking to gain insight  
into and understanding of the social effects and manifestations of  
creativity. Creative communities can be regarded as microcosms of  
larger communities. Within networked culture creative communities  
tend to be international and yet reflective of cultural specificity,  
acting as a lens through which social change can be observed. Such  
communities exist as local and global phenomena, in ‘creative  
cities’ and ‘global networks’, and appear to draw value from  
this conjunction of opposites. Whilst creativity is often perceived  
as the product of the individual artist, or creative ensemble, it can  
also be considered an emergent phenomenon of communities, driving  
change and facilitating individual or ensemble creativity. Creativity  
can be a performative activity released when engaged through and by a  
community and can thus be considered an activity of exchange that  
enables (creates) people and communities. Understanding creativity as  
emergent from and innate to the interactions of people facilitates a  
non-instrumentalist analysis.

The successful candidate will work with Principal Investigator  
Professor Simon Biggs, Co-Investigator Dr. Penny Travlou and Dr.  
Scott Rettberg (University of Bergen, Project Leader), producing a  
body of their own creative work, a thesis, assisting with  
ethnographic fieldwork, associated research, publications, the  
project conference and exhibition. They will liaise with project  
partners, particularly the University of Bergen and Blekinge  
Institute of Technology (Maria Engberg and Talan Memmott), on the  
design and development of the project website and DVD anthology of  
artists' networked practice, as well as University College Falmouth  
(Jerome Fletcher) and New Media Scotland, preparing a programme of  
performance based electronic literature as part of the final  
exhibition and conference.

Candidates should possess either a Masters or a 1st or 2:1 degree in  
a relevant digital and creative arts, design or computing discipline,  
or have equivalent experience and skills, and be a practising artist  
or author in the field of electronic arts and literature. Skills in  
digital media design will be advantageous. The studentship will begin  
in September 2010 for a period of three years. For UK and EU  
students, the remuneration will be at the Arts and Humanities  
Research Council studentship rate and all fees will be paid. For non- 
EU students the remuneration will cover approximately 1/3 of the  
annual student fees. Students on programmes at eca graduate with an  
award from the University of Edinburgh.

Further details on the project can be found at: http://www.elmcip.net/

Informal enquiries should be addressed to: Professor Simon Biggs. +44  
(0)131 221 6084 s.biggs  eca.ac.uk

To apply please send a proposal and an application form to the  
Academic Registry, Edinburgh College of Art, Lauriston Place,  
Edinburgh EH3 9DF UK. Tel: +44(0)131 221 6291. Guidelines and forms  
are available at: http://www.eca.ac.uk/index.php?id=379

Closing date for applications: 5pm on Friday May 14, 2010.  
Shortlisted applicants will be informed via email by May 20 and  
interviews will be held on Friday May 28, 2010.

For further information on eca, please visit: http://www.eca.ac.uk

For further information about the studentship please see: http:// 
www.eca.ac.uk/index.php?id=1041

eca is an accredited institution of the University of Edinburgh and a  
charity registered in Scotland No: SC009021.


Simon Biggs

s.biggs  eca.ac.uk simon  littlepig.org.uk Skype: simonbiggsuk http:// 
www.littlepig.org.uk/
Research Professor edinburgh college of art http://www.eca.ac.uk/
Creative Interdisciplinary Research into CoLlaborative Environments  
http://www.eca.ac.uk/circle/
Electronic Literature as a Model of Creativity and Innovation in  
Practice http://www.elmcip.net/