Post Specification Post Title: PhD Studentship Post Status: Fixed - term Contract or Specific Purpose Contract – Full - time. Research Group / Department / School: Department of Film , Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin Location: School of Creative Arts , Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin College Green, Dublin 2, Ireland Reports to: Dr. Jennifer O’Meara Terms & Conditions: Studentship covers PhD feeds for an EU or Non - EU candidate , as well as an annual stipend of €17,316 (from 1 October 2021) for four years Hours of Work: In addition to their own PhD research and doctoral studies, students with a Provost’s PhD Project Awards will be asked to work up to 24 hours per month on their supervisor’s research project. Closing Date: 12 Noon ( GMT ), [ 30 June 2021 ] Post Summary ‘ Experiments in Digital Screen Culture: from Avant - Garde Film to Augmented Reality ’ Principal Investigator: Dr. Jennifer O’Meara 4 - year doctoral studentship. Applicants are sought for a fully - funded four - year Provost’s PhD Project Award , to start a PhD at Trinity College Dublin in September 2021 on a subject related to the research project ‘Experiments in Digital Screen Culture: from Avant - Garde Film to Augmented Reality ,’ led by Dr Jennifer O’Meara . This award provides a unique opportunity for a doctoral student to engage in research in digital screen studies at Trinity College. The successful applicant will be based in the Department of Film in the School of Creative Arts and enrolled in Trinity’s Structured PhD programme. The award comprises the student’s full PhD tuition fees (EU or non - EU) and an annual stipe nd of €17,316. Potential applicants are invited to email the Principal Investigator, Dr Jennifer O’Meara ( jennifer.omeara @tcd.ie ), to consult on their research proposal. 2 Applications for the award must include a personal statement with a research propos al (max. 5 pages), a curriculum vitae with educational history, transcripts of degree results, and the names and contact details for two academic references. Prospective students should send these documents to Jennifer O’Meara by June 30 th 2021. Standard Duties and Responsibilities of the Post In consultation with their PhD supervisor, Dr. O’Meara, the successful candidate will devise a dissertation project aligned to the broader research project, “Experiments in Digital Screen Culture: from Avan t - Garde Film to Augmented Reality ” This project explore how immersive technologies and online platforms for short - form videos connect to earlier trends and practices in avant - garde film. It is envisioned that the PhD project will be tied to strand 3 of th e project – on the recurrence of human hands in digital screen culture – however , applicants are welcome to propose a project related to any strand. Further details on the project and strands are provided below under “Further information.” In addition to their own PhD research and doctoral studies, students with a Provost’s PhD Project Awards will be asked to work up to 24 hours per month on broader research project. Funding Information Trinity College Dublin, Provost ’ s PhD Project Awards These doctoral awards are generously funded through alumni donations and Trinity’s Commercial Revenue Unit. Further information is available here: https://www.tcd.ie/graduatestudies/phdawards/ Applications are open to EU and Non - EU candidates and include an ann ual stipend of €17,316 (from 1 October 2021) for four years. Person Specification We are looking for applicants with the following qualifications: Essential : • A first - class (or equivalent) undergraduate degree in Film/Media/Screen Studies • Excellent written and oral competence in English • Excellent research and organi s ational skills Desirable : • A Master’s degree (completed or in progress) in Film/Media/Screen Studies • Experience of researching digital media (particularly Augmented Reality, GIFs, and platforms like YouTube and Instagram) • Experience of creati ng digital outputs such as video essays • Experience of studying and researching experimental film or art history Application Procedure Applicants should submit a personal statement with a research proposal (max. 5 pages), a curriculum vitae with educational history, transcripts of degree results, and the names and email address for two academic references, to: 3 Dr Jennifer O’Meara ( jennifer.omeara@tcd.ie ) by June 30 th 2021. F u rther I nf ormati o n for Applicants : The research project “Experiments in Digital Screen Culture: from Avant - Garde Film to Augmented Reality” explore how immersive technologies and online platforms for short - form videos connect to earlier trends and practices in avant - garde film. With a focus on dominant video - based social media sites, it will examine issues of creativity, embodiment and selfhood in digital spaces through a focus on three connected strands: (1) Augmented Reality (AR) filters on Instagram and Snapchat, which allow users to crea te video effects historically achieved in experimental cinema via complex analogue means. (2) ‘ASMR’ video communities are the second form of experimental media to be examined. Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR) refers to a euphoric, tingling bodi ly sensation triggered by specific auditory or visual stimuli. With the phenomenon of ASMR emerging only as a result of its popularity on digital media communities, initial research into ASMR has focused on the psychological and physiological components. S uch studies incorporate ASMR videos – by measuring physiological responses to watching them – but without paying commensurate attention to the videos’ thematic and aesthetic properties. This strand will address this gap in scholarship by exploring various overlaps between ASMR videos and historical avant - garde media; including ties to synaesthesia, and the dependence of both media forms on dexterous creators and h ypnotizing colours and shapes. 3) Hand - focused media and touchscreen technologies. In keeping w ith the centrality of abstracted body parts to influential avant - garde films, the final focus is on the recurrence of human hands in digital screen culture. The project will consider the fundamental role of hands in many ASMR videos and looping GIF videos, particularly in relation to the touchscreen interfaces through which users create and access video content on smart devices. NB : It is envisioned that the PhD project will be tied to strand 3 of the project – on recurrence of human hands in digital screen culture – however applicants are welcome to propose a project related to any strand. Taken together, this three - pronged approach will allow for a pioneering examination of how online video platforms are facilitating a return to experimental media practi ces of the 20th century. By revealing historical precedents for such experiments in digital screen culture, the project will explore the possibility that online video communities encourage a return (one that is at times algorithmic) to earlier avant - garde visual culture. URL Link to Area https://www.tcd.ie/creative - arts/ URL Link to Human Resources https://www.tcd.ie/hr/ 4 Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin Trinity is Ireland’s leading university and is ranked 108th in the world (QS World University Rankings 2020). Founded in 1592, the University is steeped in history with a reputation for excellence in education, research and innovation. Located on an iconic campus in the heart of Dublin’s city centre, Trinity has 18,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students acro ss our three faculties – Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences; Engineering, Mathematics and Science; and Health Sciences. Trinity is ranked as the 17th most international university in the world (Times Higher Education Rankings 2020) and has students an d staff from over 120 countries. The pursuit of excellence through research and scholarship is at the heart of a Trinity education, and our researchers have an outstanding publication record and strong record of grant success. Trinity has developed 19 broad - based multidisciplinary research themes that cut across disciplines and facilitate world - leading research and collaboration within the University and with colleagues around the world. Trinity is also home to 5 leading flagship research institutes: - Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute (TBSI) - Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience (TCIN) - Trinity Translational Medical Institute (TTMI) - Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute (TLR H) - Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices (CRANN) Trinity is the top - ranked European university for producing entrepreneurs for the past five successive years and Europe’s only representative in the world’s top - 50 universities (Pit chbook Universities Report). Trinity is home to the famous Old Library and to the historic Book of Kells as well as other internationally significant holdings in manuscripts, maps and early printed material. The Trinity Library is a legal deposit library, granting the University the right to claim a copy of every book published in Ireland and the UK. At present, the Library’s holdings span approximately 6.5 million printed items, 400,000 e - books and 150,000 e - journals. With over 120,000 alumni, Trinity’s tradition of independent intellectual inquiry has produced some of the world’s finest, most original minds including the writers Oscar Wilde and Samuel Beckett (Nobel laureates), the mathematician William Rowan Hamilton and the physicist Ernest Walton (Nob el laureate), the political thinker Edmund Burke, and the former President of Ireland Mary Robinson. This tradition finds expression today in a campus culture of scholarship, innovation, creativity, entrepreneurship and dedication to societal reform. Rank ings Trinity is the top ranked university in Ireland and ranked 108th in the world (QS World University Rankings 2020). Trinity ranks in the top 50 in the world on 6 subjects and in the top 100 in 20 subjects (QS World University Rankings by Subject 2019). Full details are available at: www.tcd.ie/research/about/rankings Equal Opportunities Policy 5 Trinity is an equal opportunities employer and is committed to employment policies, procedures and practices which do not discriminate on grounds such as gender, civil status, family status, age, disability, race, religious belief, sexual orientation or me mbership of the travelling community. On that basis we encourage and welcome talented people from all backgrounds to join our staff community. Trinity’s Diversity Statement can be viewed in full at https://www.tcd.ie/diversity - inclusion/diversity - statement Application Procedure Application Procedure Applicants should submit a personal statement with a research proposal (max. 5 pages), a curriculum vitae with educational history, transcripts of degree results, and the names and email address for two academic references, to: Dr Jennifer O’Meara (jenni fer.omeara@tcd.ie) by June 30th 2021.