RMeS RMa course: Arts, Life Science and Digital Culture

When: November-December 2023, exact dates see below
Where: Leiden University – room Gravensteen 1.11 (Pieterskerkhof 6, Leiden)
ECTS: 5
Coordinator: Dr. Ksenia Fedorova
Organisation: RMeS
For: First and second year RMa students in Media Studies, who are a member of a Dutch Graduate Research School (onderzoekschool). Students who are members of RMeS will have first access.

Registration will open 11 September 2023 via this link.

In this course students examine ethical and humanistic dimensions of life sciences through art and reflect on the application of digital methods within science. From the onset of medical research in history, the cultural worlds of art and science have interacted. More recently, artists have been directly inspired by the fields of genetics, bioinformatics and biophysics and by the media employed and generated by them. The science-art relationship has become an exciting and dynamic field where controversial ethical issues, societal consequences of technoscience, and the art of science itself are being addressed. How do artworks provoke new ways of thinking about science and the world? What moral and critical dilemmas are involved in the intersections between technoscience and society and how can art play a role in this? The usage of biofeedback tracking and other digital technologies invites yet another series of questions about the impacts of algorithmization on our relation to the body and knowledge about physical and organic processes in general. Finally, looking at the biological entities in terms of their agency will allow a discussion about the shift towards the posthumanist paradigm in today’s humanities and science studies.

The students will:

Learn to reflect on the social and cultural consequences of the life sciences by studying art works;
be able to signal and evaluate ethical issues and controversies in science addressed by art;
analyze the specificity of the usage of media in technological and science art by engaging media theoretical, STS and aesthetic perspectives.

Programme

Tuesday mornings from 10:15-13:00 hrs

14 November 2023
21 November 2023
28 November 2023
5 December 2023
12 December 2023

Paper deadline: January 5, 2024

RMeS Winter School & Graduate Symposium 2023-24

When: 1 & 2 February 2024
Time: TBA
Where: University of Groningen
ECTS: 2 (two full days plus preparation 3 days)
Organized by: prof. dr Marcel Broersma and RMeS
For: PhD candidates who are a member of RMeS
Registration will open 11 September 2023 via this link | Register before 10 December 2023

This year’s RMeS Winter School (1-2 February 2024) will be organised by University of Groningen.

More information will follow soon.

Practicalities

This Winter School will feature different types of sessions: 1) parallel sessions for presenting your work to peers 2) lectures by RMeS staff members and 3) a workshop on Academic career outside academia.

  1. PhD’s are kindly asked to submit an abstract of their paper presentation. This may regard a chapter of your dissertation, a draft for an article, or a write-up of research results, which you would like to discuss with your peers. We will group your abstracts into panels, selecting panels on the basis of your theme/subject, approach and your level of advancement in the PhD track. If you want to be in a session with one or two of your peers (people whose judgment you value, or people you haven’t worked with yet) please feel free to indicate this on your abstract. We will then try to organize panels on the basis of your proposals. You will be assigned to peer-review one paper and to chair or respond to one paper in another session. A month before the Winter School starts, you will be asked to send in your full chapter or article, which will be peer-reviewed and responded to during the Winter School.
  2. Lectures: tbc
  3. Finally, this Winter School & Graduate Seminar will also offer a workshop on Academic career outside academia.

Sign up for Winter School

If you are interested in participating and earning credit (both in EC and social credit from your peers), please

  • Register for the Winter School before December 10, 2023 via our website. You will receive a confirmation email from our RMeS office.
  • Please submit abstracts for individual presentations before December 10, 2023. Abstracts for individual presentations are max 300 words, including a clear research question or thesis statement. Please indicate on your abstract whether you would like to be in a panel with specified other participants and/or whom you consider a suitable reviewer for your paper (although we cannot promise that all your wishes will come true…).
  • You can opt for two formats in terms of paper submission:
  1. Those of you who are in the very early stages of your PhD, may also consider to hand in your PhD proposal, which will then be commented upon by your peers. (recommended to PhDs who have just started)
  2. Most PhD candidates will opt to hand in a chapter/article format: a full paper of approx. 5,000 – 6,000 words.
  • Full papers of (or one of the above formats) are due by January 14, 2023. On the basis of your submissions, we will group the panels, assign reviewers and organize responses. We will distribute the papers to all panel-members and assign the tasks of writing a full peer review (1-2 pages long). Each of you will have to write one peer review.
  • Presentations: During the Winter School, each participant will give a presentation of 5-10 minutes. Each presentation will receive a prepared peer review (in writing, handed in the same day, and a short oral summary of the review). Another panel member will be assigned as discussant/respondent. All session members engage in discussion and feedback.
PRACTICAL MATTERS

We invite you for drinks and dinner on Thursday night at a restaurant in Groningen; all participants and lecturers at this Winter School are invited to join. On both days, lunches, coffee and tea will be served at the university locations. As for accommodation, you are free to choose any accommodation you want. Please make all bookings yourself.

If you are not reimbursed for travel and/or accommodation by your own faculty, you can apply for remuneration from the RMeS travel-fund. Please send an e-mail outlining your request and including a preliminary budget to Chantal Olijerhoek at rmes@rug.nl. You will be notified if you qualify for financial assistance within 14 days.

RMeS Winter School | RMa Day

When: 2 February 2024
Time: TBA
Where: University of Groningen
ECTS: 1
Organized by: Prof. dr Marcel Broersma and RMeS
For: 2nd-year RMA students who are a member of RMeS

Registration will open 11 September 2023 via this link | Register before 10 December 2023

This year we will organise a special RMa Day during our RMeS Winter School & Graduate Symposium.

The sessions during the RMA Day of the RMeS Winter School will be primarily intended for 2nd-year RMA students, so that they can present their thesis proposals and receive constructive feedback from peers. It’s also possible to present another research topic you’re currently working on. The RMa students that wish to take part will have to contribute the following:

  1. A brief thesis proposal or abstract of your research topic (1-2 A4) that will be collected prior to the event and circulated among fellow RMa Students and Winter School teachers.
  2. An 8-10-minute presentation on the day itself, which should include an introduction to the subject matter, the method/approach, expected outcomes, and the significance of the research for the field.
  3. A written response to a peer (participants will serve as respondents to each other’s presentations), of 3-5-minutes, that presents questions, notes, and constructive feedback.

The overall exercise is intended to provide RMa students with the opportunity to present work and respond to an Q&A like they would in a symposium or conference, and also to receive feedback on their research proposals.

Keynote speakers

  • TBA

Sign up for the Winter School

If you are interested in participating and earning credit (1 EC) please

  • Register for the Winter School before December 10, 2023 via our website. You will receive a confirmation email from the RMeS office.
  • Please submit a brief thesis proposal (1-2 A4) for individual presentations before January 14, 2024. This proposal should include a short introduction to the subject matter, method/approach, expected outcomes, and the significance of the research for the field into this proposal (which you will expand on in the presentation). On the basis of your submissions, we assign reviewers and organize responses. We will distribute the proposals to all participants and assign the tasks of writing a response, including a set of questions (1-2 pages long). Each of you will have to write one peer review.
  • Presentations: During the Winter School, each participant will give a presentation about their thesis proposal of 8-10 minutes. The peer assigned to be respondent will then provide a prepared peer review (as an oral summary during the session, and then in writing on the same day). All session members engage in general discussion and feedback.

RMeS RMa Course: Trending Topics – Engaging Objects

When: February-March 2024, exact dates see below
Where: Utrecht University
ECTS: 6
Coordinator: Dr Rik Smit (RUG)
Guest lectures by: t.b.a.
Organisation: RMeS
For: First and second year RMa students in Media Studies, who are a member of a Dutch Graduate Research School (onderzoekschool). Students who are members of RMeS will have first access. RMeS staff and PhD researchers are welcome to sit in on specific sessions; please send an e-mail to RMeS if you intend to attend one or more seminar sessions: rmes@rug.nl.

Registration will open Fall 2023 via this link.

General description:

Each spring, the Research School for Media Studies offers a Trending Topics course where faculty members from nine participating universities (UvA, UU, VU, EUR, UL, UM, RUG, RUN, TU) present the latest research in their fields of interest through a series of lectures and workshops. The course invites RMA students to participate in an international, cutting edge research environment, while earning credits towards their degree. It presents a unique opportunity to get to know other students and leading academics from all over The Netherlands, in an open setting of engaging and ambitious exchange that would prove particularly fruitful for students who are aspiring to pursue a future career in academic research or teaching. All nine universities accept the credits earned in this module.

The field of media studies today is decreasingly tied to specific media types (film, television, or digital media) or practices (e.g. journalism), and instead often turns towards the areas of interaction between them, and their shared concepts and ideas. Larger trends such as globalisation, digitisation and convergence have prompted researchers to study the complex interrelation of technological changes and media content, as well as the new relations between users and producers, while different modes of media consumption have brought about new areas for aesthetics and politics that continue to require intense critical enquiry. These crossovers are both theoretically and methodologically challenging. Moreover, it requires us to rethink our engagement with specific media objects, and our critical analysis skills. Close reading remains incredibly important, but it can no longer stay isolated. In order to improve and enrich our understanding of the media objects we engage in our research, it is important to understand where different perspectives add to, overlap, or digress from one another.

In the ‘Trending Topics – Engaging Objects’ course, the lecture sessions will each take a specific media objects as a primary case study (from the field of film, television, digital media, and journalism studies), and bring two guest lecturers and their respective areas of expertise into dialogue about their objects. Each afternoon will be dedicated to the analysis, research and discussion of specific media objects. A fifth session revolves around student presentations in preparation of their final written assignment. All sessions, assignments, readings and preparatory work will be supervised and marked by the coordinator of the course. The grading will be based on both the presentation (30%) and the final written assignment (70%).

Venues:

Utrecht University, tbc

Programme:

Fridays 13.00-17.00

9 February 2024:
16 February 2024:
1 March 2024:
8 March 2024:

and

Friday 10.00-17.00

22 March 2024: Presentations

RMeS RMa Course | Disinformation and Media: Cultures, Infrastructures, and Regulation

When: April and May 2024 (exact dates, see below)
Time: 13.00-17.00
Where: University of Amsterdam
Credits: 6 EC
Course coordinator: Dr Bharath Ganesh (UvA) and Dr Marc Tuters (UvA)
Guest lectures by: TBA
For: First and second year RMa students in Media Studies, who are members of a Dutch Graduate Research School (onderzoekschool). Students who are members of RMeS will have first access. RMeS staff and PhD researchers are welcome to sit in on specific sessions; PhD researchers can inquire with RMeS should they wish to attend one or more seminars: rmes@rug.nl

Registration will open Fall 2023 via this link.

In the past few years, disinformation has become firmly established as a fundamental concern for digital media studies research. In the process a wide range of perspectives and theories have emerged, including the return to prominence of the ‘media effects’ tradition. This course will situate these developments in the field of ‘disinformation studies’, which includes such concepts as fake news, conspiracy theory and deplatforming.  We will develop critical perspectives on these terms by engaging with recent research into how disinformation is produced, circulated, and  valorized online. In analyzing these dynamics the course will discuss political subcultures, ‘alternative’ content creators, new perspectives on the role of media infrastructures (including software, algorithms, and their affordances) and critically evaluate policy responses to disinformation. Each seminar will focus on an aspect of the field from a specific disciplinary perspective, with students being assessed on the basis of a research paper focused on an empirical case study. Students completing the course will develop advanced perspectives on the contemporary state of disinformation studies by engaging with scholarship from digital research methods, cultural studies, platform studies and political communication.

More information will follow soon.

Venue University of Amsterdam:

tbc

Programme

Friday’s from 13.00-17.00
5 April 2024
12 April 2024
19 April 2024
17 May 2024
31 May 2024 (Paper presentations) 10.00-17.00