[Air-L] PhD position call in Digital Participation in War

[Devanjan Bhattacharya]

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Dear all,

Please find below a PhD position call in our team at University of Edinburgh.


PhD opportunity call:

The WARSHARE: The New War Front – Digital Participation in War project, funded by a UKRI European Research Council Advanced Grant and led by Professor Andrew Hoskins at the University of Edinburgh, investigates how digital technologies and data-driven communication reshape contemporary warfare. From a computer science, artificial intelligence (AI), and data analytics perspective, the project examines the large-scale production, distribution, and interpretation of war-related digital content generated through smartphones, social media platforms, and messaging applications.

Modern conflicts produce vast volumes of multimodal digital data, including text messages, images, videos, memes, and emojis. These data streams form complex digital traces that can be analyzed computationally to understand patterns of participation, narrative formation, and information propagation during wartime. The project applies AI and machine learning techniques—including natural language processing (NLP), computer vision, and multimodal analytics—to mine and interpret these large-scale datasets. Such methods enable automated classification of textual discourse, detection of visual patterns, and identification of coordinated information campaigns across digital networks.

A key methodological component involves building data pipelines capable of collecting, processing, and analyzing high-volume social media data. These pipelines support tasks such as large-scale content retrieval, feature extraction, clustering, and network analysis to map interactions between actors involved in digital warfare communication.

The project uses Telegram, a hybrid messaging and social media platform, as its principal case study due to its central role in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Telegram provides a rich environment for studying information diffusion, network dynamics, and digital participation in conflict narratives.

By integrating computational methods with interdisciplinary social research, WARSHARE demonstrates how AI-driven analytics can reveal the mechanisms through which digital platforms influence the perception, documentation, and strategic communication of modern warfare.

We invite applications from eligible candidates as per the application process mentioned in the links below. The deadline is on 20th April 2026.

For any queries, please email me at d.bhattacharya at ed.ac.uk or Prof. Andrew Hoskins, andrew.hoskins at ed.ac.uk.

  1.  Scholarship webpage: https://www.sps.ed.ac.uk/study/prospective/postgraduate-research-programmes/scholarships/external-awards-or-project-scholarships/warshare-phd-scholarships


  1.  School Projects listing webpage: https://www.sps.ed.ac.uk/study/prospective/postgraduate-research-programmes/scholarships/external-awards-or-project-scholarships


Please feel free to ask me in case of any queries.

Thank you.

Best,
Devanjan
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Dr. Devanjan Bhattacharya (FHEA)
Research Fellow, WARSHARE,
SSPS, University of Edinburgh
Profile link: https://www.research.ed.ac.uk/en/persons/devanjan-bhattacharya/



The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC005336. Is e buidheann carthannais a th’ ann an Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann, clàraichte an Alba, àireamh clàraidh SC005336.