Dear all,

The PhD opportunity below might be of interest to the students of network members,  I would appreciate it you could forward the opportunity to students that might be interested in applying.

PhD Opportunity at Lancaster University, UK:

The History and Future of Data Storage and Data Use

Please contact [log in to unmask] by  18^th May 2018 if you are interested in applying

This is a call for applications for a three year fully funded Leverhulme PhD studentship in the Sociology Department at Lancaster University. The PhD is part of the Material Social Futures PhD Programme.

The PhD investigates the past, present and future of data storage and data use to understand some of the social and environmental implications of innovations in data storage technologies and materials. The PhD will focus on selected cases to explore different configurations of technology, data and storage and raise questions of what ‘data’ is, and why and how it is stored, accessed and even forgotten. The appointed candidate will decide the focus of the PhD in line with their specific interests and enthusiasms, and in discussion with the supervisors. For example, the PhD might explore data storage and use in everyday life in relation to music, reading, family photographs or managing a household – exploring how such practices have transformed as configurations of technology, data and storage have changed. Likewise, it would be possible to focus on a specific sector, such as the university, heritage or health sectors, to explore transformations of data storage and use therein. The point though, is to explore the relationships between different configurations of data storage materials, technologies and use, and to consider their social and environmental implications: from filing cabinets and floppy discs historically, through to cloud computing today, and in imagined futures of quantum data storage.

The PhD project will draw on independent research supplemented by collaborations with PhDs in nanotechnology and data storage that will allow the creative exploration of different configurations of data storage materials (including nanotechnology) and data use. It will enable analysis of anticipated and less certain or predictable social and environmental consequences of these diverse configurations of use and material technology. Ultimately these potentially exciting conceptual and empirical understandings will be brought together to shed new light on the consequences of such advancements in material science.

Further details and information on how to apply http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/sociology/postgraduate/phd/fees-and-funding/

Nicola Spurling
Lecturer & Co-convenor Everyday Futures Network
Institute for Social Futures & Department of Sociology

B20 Bowland North, Lancaster University, LA1 4YD

http://www.nicolaspurling.com Twitter: @NicolaSpurling
http://wp.lancs.ac.uk/everydayfutures/, http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/social-futures/