Space and Culture Research Group
The University of Alberta welcomes applications from both Canadian and international applicants for fully funded positions for Masters and Doctorates across the range of social science and humanities disciplines starting in Sept. 2009. Competitive awards at the Masters, Doctorate and Postdoctoral levels of research. Now in our centennial year, The University is a major centre of research and features a vibrant cultural studies and social theory scene, as well as one of the best libraries, archives and data repositories (including GIS) in Canada and North America. The Space and Culture Research Group meets bi-weekly and provides a framework for research by faculty, students and postdoctoral researchers, regardless of Department, concerned with any aspect of social space, place, urban culture or design. An art-based methods in the social sciences panel was amongst the numerous events over the last year.
Also of interest: the Department of Art and Design will shortly announce a competition for a Senior, Tier 1, Canada Research Chair in Design. Stay tuned.
And, the Department of Sociology has a tenure-track, open specialization, Assistant Professor in Social Theory, Application deadline: Oct 6 2008. See this and other ads here.
I supervise in the Departments of Sociology and Art and Design but am also involved in the City Region Studies Centre. The Department of Sociology also hosts graduate students in Interdisciplinary Studies (pursuing topics such as painting and ethics, music and media, semiotics and medical visualization). I am also involved in supervision in Education, and the Department of Modern Languages and Cultural Studies.
Areas of current interest at the University of Alberta’s Intermedia Research Studio align with those of Space and Culture, but also include recent areas such as visual culture and ’second geographies’, areas being written up (including fieldwork on syncretism, race and communication in Salvador Bahia Brazil) and upcoming areas at many scales from the virtuality of sovereignty and the case of the Northwest Passage, to airport design, to cyborg identities, to the social aspects of nanotechnology and the material culture of Canada’s National Institute for Nanotechnology.
International experts visiting the Department this Fall include Anne Game (UNSW). Recent visitors have included Andre Lemos (FACOM, UFBA, Salvador Brazil) researching locative media, Vince Miller (Social Science, University of Canterbury UK) researching social aspects of the internet, Giles Lane and Orlaugh Wood (Proboscis, London UK) presenting on artist activists and community art.
Postdoctoral Fellowships: Among Canada’s most prestigious research awards, Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Postdoctoral Fellowships are open to qualified candidates, both domestic and international, who do not currently hold a postdoc or faculty position. Applicants are encouraged to write directly to the head of a relevant department, and applications are accepted from December through January, with some awards decisions made as early as mid January. Killam Postdocs have significant value and are tenable for 2 years.
Space and Culture Research Group, Dept. of Sociology, 4-27 Tory Building, University of Alberta, Edmonton AB Canada T6G 2H4 Tel +1780.492.04889/0489
- Rob