Ph. D. Research Group „Locating Media“ will be funded for five more years

The DFG provides a total of 3 Million Euros until October 2021. The Research Group was established on Oct. 1st 2012 and currently affords 20 researchers the possibility for additional scientific qualification and Ph. D. studies.

The Research Group „Locating Media“ of the University of Siegen is confirmed for a second term of funding by the DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft – a German organization for the promotion of science and research). The DFG sets aside a total of 3 Million Euros for this purpose until October 2021. The Research Group was established on Oct. 1st 2012 and is currently offering 20 doctoral students as well as one post doc the opportunity for further qualification and to obtain their Ph. D.

Was the first phase of funding marked by a methodological reorientation of media sciences through local and situation related analyses, the focus of the second funding phase is placed on the development of mobile and digital methods for the analysis and design of mobile digital media.

„This prolongation rewards recent years‘ work. We are glad, that this Research Group can now continue its important contribution to the development of methodology in media- and social sciences“, said co-speakers Carolin Gerlitz and Tristan Thielmann.

The comprehensive aim of the DFG-Research Group 1769 is the research of historical and present media practices, ‚in motion‘ and ‚in situ‘. The fellows of the second funding phase examine how media and data processes rearrange themselves, as a consequence of increased mobility and a more widely distributed spatiality. For this, ethnographic methods, which were tested successfully in Siegen, are enhanced with digital and mobile methods, in order to better meet the challenges of the research of current media phenomena.

Research in this post-graduate program is highly interdisciplinary; expertise from various disciplines, such as social- information- and studies in humanities, are combined with media scientific technical interests. The disciplinary subjects of location- and situation related media research include media science, fine arts, literature, history, political science, linguistics, information systems, human-computer interaction, science and technology studies as well as media ethnology and media geography.

More Information about the Research Group "Locating Media" of the University of Siegen

Photo: Members of the Research Group "Locating Media" of the University of Siegen