[Air-L] Fully Funded PhD Positions in Media and Communications at the University of Illinois (UIUC)

[Margaret Yee Man Ng]

A newly formed research group comprising Drs. Ewa Masłowska
<https://media.illinois.edu/advertising/maslowska-ewa>, Margaret Ng
<https://media.illinois.edu/journalism/ng-yee-man-margaret> and Harsh Taneja
<https://media.illinois.edu/advertising/taneja-harsh> are recruiting
prospective students for fully-funded PhD positions in the Institute of
Communications Research <https://media.illinois.edu/phd-program/about-icr>
at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Our PhD program is very interdisciplinary. Students in our program take a
very eclectic view of communications, with an international focus,
integrating a variety of theories and methods.

Our group is  specifically looking for students with interests in the
following areas, broadly defined

   1.

   Consumer and audience research
   2.

   Media/news consumption across digital platforms
   3.

   Social media behaviors
   4.

   Audits of algorithmic and recommendation systems as they relate to
   news/social media and/or advertising.
   5.

   Spread and effects of misinformation


You will join a large cosmopolitan PhD community with about 40 students
<https://media.illinois.edu/icr/profiles> enrolled in the program across
cohorts, but will have the opportunity to also become a part of a small
group of students and faculty with mutually shared interests. Currently,
three doctoral students are working with us directly:


   -

   Sakshi Bhalla - Social contexts, journalistic practices and their role
   in mitigating and exacerbating misinformation
   -

   Rik Ray - Social media affordances and their relationship with media
   consumption patterns
   -

   Maggie Zhang - Political communication


Methodologically, we are very diverse and encourage students to adopt
methods (including mixed-methods) that are best suited for the questions at
hand. We have expertise in analyzing passively collected behavioral data,
social media data, conducting online and offline experiments and surveys,
as well as applied computational methods (machine learning, network
analysis, text mining, etc).

Our doctoral program offers 5 years of guaranteed funding through research
and teaching assistantships as well as opportunities for no-obligation
fellowships. The current compensation results in a full tuition waiver
stipend of $2,100 per month, before taxes, for 9 months per year (generous
for the low cost of living in Urbana-Champaign) and covers health
insurance. A small university fee of $500 per semester may apply towards
free buses, student health and use of the recreation center. There are
opportunities for additional funding during the summer.

**Interested candidates must formally apply to the ICR PhD program by the
deadline of December 15 (
https://media.illinois.edu/institute-communications-research/admission-requirements
)**


Informally, we encourage you to contact either of us to know more about our
program and discuss whether you may be a good fit. Further, if you do apply
and want to work with us, please also let us know so that we have the
opportunity to provide our inputs on your applications to the admissions
committee.

Our contacts:

Dr. Ewa Masłowska ehm at illinois.edu; Dr. Margaret Ng ymn at illinois.edu Dr.
Harsh Taneja harsht at illinois.edu





---------

*Margaret Ng, PhD*
Assistant Professor, Department of Journalism | Institute of Communications
Research
Affiliate Faculty, Department of Computer Science
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
234 Gregory Hall, MC-462, Urbana, IL 61801, (217) 300-8186

http://bitly.com/MargaretNg