Application deadline: 5 July 2013

Project description

The Sociology team in the School of Social, Historical and Literary Studies at the University of Portsmouth is keen to recruit a PhD candidate to work within the team. The Sociology Research Group has interests in a wide-range of areas that are located within the disciplinary field of sociology and in the interdisciplinary domain of social theory. The group has a successful record of supervising doctoral students to completion, and its members have internationally recognized expertise in a range of areas of social science. These include: food culture and consumption; classical and contemporary social theory; sociology of economic life; social exclusion; human/nonhuman animal relations and questions of rights; the sociology of culture, aesthetics and taste; the cultural economy of sport; war and embodiment; the impact of technology on social, cultural, and economic life; and emotions and social life, among others. For more information about the group, and its members, please see its website: http://www.port.ac.uk/research/ceisr/researchclusters/sociologyandsocialtheory/.

The PhD will be in the area of food culture and consumption. The successful candidate will demonstrate a clear ability to carry out research at postgraduate level and to teach at undergraduate level. 

The successful candidate will have a Masters degree in Sociology, Social Research Methods, or a cognate discipline, or a first class undergraduate degree in Sociology or a closely related field.  

The supervisory team will include Dr Joseph Burridge and Professor Barry Smart.  Applications from candidates with interests in the following areas are particularly welcome:

• Food in/and austerity: investigating the impact of economic austerity on food culture and consumption with particular reference to a. differences of social class, income and wealth, age, gender, or b. comparison across national contexts, including selected countries within the European Union.
• Weight loss discourse: investigating the multiple ways in which dieting discourse is constructed, received, and deployed in food consumption as part of the reflexive management of weight, body, shape, and identity.
• Food advertising: investigating the different institutions and media which deliver food advertising, including but not limited to the discourse analysis of advertising texts.

Funding

The bursary is for full time PhD study. It includes payment of tuition fees (UK/EU only) for three years (assuming satisfactory progress), as well as a guarantee of six hours of paid teaching per week in term time, which will attract payment of at least £40 per hour. This teaching is likely to include, but not be limited to, the provision of seminars including supervision of social research projects undertaken by groups of first and second year students. Suitable training for this teaching will be provided via the University’s Graduate Students Professional Development scheme. 

Informal enquiries contact details:

For an informal discussion about this opportunity, please contact Dr Joseph Burridge: Tel: 023 9284 2228, or email: joseph.burridge@port.ac.uk. 

How to apply

Applicants will need to complete the University’s standard postgraduate online application process: www.port.ac.uk/phdapplication, marking their application for the School of Social, Historical and Literary Studies, and including the Position Reference Number [PhD SSHLS C2221F SOCF]. Along with their application, candidates should provide a short research proposal (1500 words max) outlining their intended project.