Leeds/Sheffield PhD studentship 'Enabling or Disabling? Critical responses to new audio technologies in the early 20th century'
White Rose College of the Arts and Humanities (WROCAH)
Fully funded PhD scholarship in the White Rose Network:
Electronic Soundscapes
Supervisors: Graeme Gooday (University of Leeds), and Esme Cleall (University of Sheffield).
Our
preliminary descriptor for this project is as follows; this will be
developed in the first six month of the PhD award via a comprehensive,
guided literature review:
New
media technologies have not always brought universal benefits. Some
indeed have had distinctly disabling effects on social participation and
communication.
This project looks at the challenges created by the new aural
technologies of telephone, radio and ‘talkie’ movies that added to the
soundscapes of British life for many by World War 2. While some of the
blind population could access the new ‘spoken word’
culture of radio through the
British Wireless for the Blind Fund founded in
1928, these aural innovations excluded
Deaf people and made participation problematic for hard of hearing
people. Numerous hearing aid manufacturers marketed a new generation of
electronic devices as a technical fix for the challenges
involved, but the experiences of many who tried to use these hearing
aids, and the controversies around the advertising of them, has never
been fully documented. The PhD student on this project would be invited
to explore any aspects that interested them in
the broader historical context of differentiated experiences of audio
technologies. Available research resources include the
Action on Hearing Loss Library,
which holds both the archives of the National Institute for the Deaf,
its records of regional Hard of Hearing Clubs and the journals of
various deaf organisations. Materials on the testing and advertising of
hearing aids are available at
BT Archives,
The British Post Museum and Archive and
the History of Advertising Trust in Norfolk.
For further information please contact
Graeme Gooday:
g.j.n.gooday@leeds.ac.uk
Esme Cleall:
e.r.cleall@sheffield.ac.uk
Application Closing Date: 5pm Friday 1 June
(Interviews have been provisionally scheduled for 4 July)
How to apply
Application is in two parts. An application cannot be considered unless BOTH PARTS are complete.
You
must apply for a place of study at the University of Leeds, School of
Philosophy, Religion & History of Science. If you have not done
this yet, you can do this here
White Rose Studentship Application Form:
http://bit.ly/wrocah2018nwapp
If you have any queries about completing the online application form, please contact the WRoCAH Office on
networks@wrocah.ac.uk
Applicant Requirements
Applicants must:
-
Have
at least a UK Upper Second Class Honours degree or equivalent. A
Masters degree is desirable, or demonstration of equivalent experience.
-
Demonstrate a desire to participate fully in the ‘Electronic Soundscapes’ network and its activities.
-
Demonstrate
a desire to engage with and benefit from the full WRoCAH cohort of
students from across the three White Rose Universities (c.
80 students) at the same stage in their research, in a shared training
and development programme.
Terms and Conditions
Each
WRoCAH White Rose Networks Studentship is tenable for three years and
students are expected to start in October 2018. As the coherence of the
network is important, deferrals
will not be permitted.
The award will provide fees at the Home/EU rate and a stipend paid at standard Research Council rates
(£14,777)
for the first year of study. The award is renewable for a second and
third year of study subject to satisfactory academic progress according
to each institution’s
Policy on Research Degrees.
Successful
students will also be eligible to apply to additional WRoCAH funding
schemes for research support, training, student-led activities and
knowledge exchange projects.
All students will be required to spend one month with an external
Partner organisation on a specific project to develop their
employability skills.