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PhD Opportunity: Geographies of the body / urban environments and embodiment

Employer
Global Academy Jobs
Location
United Kingdom
Closing date
Jan 10, 2017

Job Details

Details

A variety of technologies have emerged in the last decade that make it easier and cheaper than ever before to capture, analyse and transform everyday embodiment:
• lightweight wearable cameras such as the GoPro allowing users to record footage of their most banal everyday activities;
• devices such as the Fitbit and Apple Watch bringing continuous physiological monitoring out of the medical realm and into mainstream culture;
• apps like Strava allowing people to quantify their cycling, running and walking activities;
• VR and AR blurring the boundaries between real and virtual spaces;
• lightweight devices for measuring brain activity (EEG) and stimulation (EDA) becoming sufficiently robust and discreet to be used in non-lab environments.

None of the underlying technologies are novel, but as they are made accessible in cheaper and more user-friendly packages, new techniques and sources of data are becoming more readily available for geographical analysis. Engagement with these technologies has created a rapidly expanding area of investigation within geography.

Students are sought to explore the potential of different technologies to reshape understandings of space. A broad variety of different projects are encouraged, examining the interface of technology and embodiment. These might include using wearable technologies to examine people's embodied and emotional responses to different environments – for example urban green space. The emphasis, however, is on projects that are driven by critical theories of embodiment, rather than a positivist enthusiasm for the potentials of big data and surveillance.

Funding Notes
UK applicants are eligible to apply to the University's ESRC DTC funding: http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/postgraduate/dr-fees/esrc/index.aspx and AHRC Midlands3Cities funding:
 

Company

Global Academy Jobs works with over 250 universities worldwide to promote academic mobility and international research collaboration. Global problems need international solutions. Our jobs board and emails reach the academics and researchers who can help.

"The globalisation of higher education continues apace, driving in turn the ongoing development of the global knowledge economy, striving for solutions to the world’s problems and educating a next generation of leaders and contributors."

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