The Centre for Science Studies at Lancaster University has extended the deadline for
applications for two CASE PhD studentships (details below).
NEW DEADLINE: Friday, 7 June 1999
TWO 3-YEAR CASE (ESRC) PhD STUDENTSHIPS: 'CO-ORDINATING CONSTRUCTION' - with
Bovis Construction Group
This research examines the nature of building construction in an age of pre-fabrication,
pre-assembly, and modularisation. Questions to be explored include:
* the extent to which the process of construction can be standardised when it involves
coordinating what amounts to a series of virtual organisations,
* how to negotiate site-specific challenges relating to the delivery and supply of materials in
on-site construction
* the kinds of constraints and possibilities generated by the use of pre-fabrication,
pre-assembly and modularisation in the construction process,
* how buildings are changed through these kinds of construction practices.
This research studentship offers the opportunity to explore issues in science and technology
studies in the context of Bovis Construction Group's working construction systems. This
collaboration is designed to bring innovative research to bear on Bovis' interest in developing
more effective management systems in the construction process.
The research can be approached from a variety of academic perspectives, including
* management studies,
* technology and innovation studies
* science and technology studies (e.g. social studies of knowledge, actor-network theory, or
the social construction of technology).
Applicants are encouraged to specify how their particular interests and concerns might contribute
to the research design and outcome.
DEMONSTRATING BENEFITS: EVIDENCE AND INNOVATION
with the Dept. of Environment,Transport and the Regions (DETR)
* What is 'best practice?'
* What is the best way of working?
* Can it be written down and used to improve practice?
* Is it, indeed, possible to answer these questions? And if so, then how?
These are very important practical questions. Important to industry, important to government,
important in the provision of social services and health care. But they are crucial social science
questions too. Questions central to organisation theory and science technology and society STS).
We're offering a unique opportunity. It is a three-year funded PhD studentship for someone who
is interested in
* the character of expertise and knowledge,
* what counts as evidence,
* the complex relationship between tacit knowledge, practice, and written rules,
* in how local knowledge might made general and transferred elsewhere - or how general rules
might be adapted to local circumstances
Notorious for its reliance on practice and craft based knowledge, this has been criticised for
failing to innovate and generalise good practice. The Department of Environment, Transport, and
the Regions (DETR) spends about ?6 million per year on the Construction Best Practice
Programme.
The successful applicant will look at this programme, at how it works, and about how it might
work. We don't have a strong view about the theory that might be appropriate - though obvious
candidates include actor-network theory, the social construction of technology, or appropriate
aspects of organisation theory, for instance to do with knowledge communities.
What will the successful applicant look like?
The answer is, he or she will be a lively person who
* wants to work in a flexible and interdisciplinary way
* has a first degree in an appropriate subject - for instance, STS, sociology, management
science or organisational behaviour
* is interested in research grounded in both qualitative empirical research and relevant
theoretical approaches to real-life, contemporary problems
What we're after is exciting applications - so we encourage applicants to say how they would
like to explore the potential of the important topics of these studentships for their PhD.
For applications and further information, please contact
Lesley Waite
Centre for Science Studies
Lancaster University
Lancaster LA1 4YT
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01524-594508
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