Dear colleagues,

Apologies for cross-posting.

The Media group in the Faculty of Arts Design and Social Sciences is currently inviting applications for fully-funded doctoral studentships in the field of Sport, Media and Gender to join our PhD programme at Northumbria University through the AHRC Northern Bridge Consortium.

For details and to apply (deadline: 9th January 2019), please visit the Northumbria University website.

Project Title: New approaches to the study of representations of sportswomen and/or femininity in British sports media

Project Rationale and Description:
The development of rigorous, theoretically informed explanations of the meanings, effects and practices of the sports media’s construction of femininity has a long history dating back to the 1970s. However, there are contemporary challenges to our understanding of the role and influence of sports media in the representation of gendered identity, not least due to the recent scale and pace of technological change in the media such as, for example, the advent of social media as well as the emergence of new forms of femininity such as the “pretty and powerful” third wave female athlete. Both these phenomena have significantly altered the ways in which sports media representations of femininity are produced, disseminated and interpreted.
The aim of this project is to investigate the contemporary socio-cultural construction of female identity in the sports sector through the representations of female athletes and/or female non-athletes in the coverage of men’s sport. It can draw on inter-disciplinary conceptual approaches and theoretical tools (including, but not limited to, sociology, cultural studies, human geography and politics), and can encompass discussion of British print/broadcast/online sports media, so long as it has been created within the last decade (approximately).
The nature of this project is that it is open to a wide variety of approaches. Possible topics could include, but are certainly not limited to, the following: 

• The gendered context of sports media industries
• Sports media representation of female non-athletes
• Sports media, gender and race
• The impact of social media on female athletes’ self-representation
• The impact of the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements in sports media
• Inclusive and exclusive framing of trans athletes
• Representations of Muslim sportswomen and femininity
• Gender-marking within sports marketing
• 
  

This PhD studentship is based within the Department of Social Sciences at Northumbria University. Potential applicants are advised to identify a potential supervisor to work with in formulating their application, and to ensure that the ‘fit’ between the proposed project and the research context and environment at Northumbria University is clearly articulated.

Enquiries can be made to Roger Domeneghetti ([log in to unmask]).
The deadline for applications for October 2019 entry is 9 January 2019 (5pm) but it is important to make contact as soon as possible.
For further details, please visit:
https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/research/postgraduate-research-degrees/studentships/nbc-dtp/