-------------------------
> Dear Colleagues and Friends,
>
> Please circulate this notice of available PhD studentships, and encourage
> qualified students and others with relevant backgrounds to apply. These
> studentships
> have been advertised, but we've extended the deadline in order to attract a
> wider
> pool of applicants.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Claudia Castaneda
>
> *****************************************************************************
> ************
> *****************************************************************************
> ************
>
> 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).
>
This three-year funded PhD studentship is an excellent research opportunity for
someone 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 candidatesinclude 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?
>
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
> [log in to unmask]
> 01524-594508
>
> And check our web pages: http://www.lancs.ac.uk/users/scistud/index.html
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|