Wednesday 30 January 2013

Cancelled: Secret City event 6/2

With apologies! We'll aim to have this run before the end of the academic year.


Thursday 24 January 2013

UEA Postgrad Scholarships

The Faculty of Arts and Humanities holds an AHRC Block Grant Partnership, which provides a series of studentships in the Faculty, and these are supplemented by other studentships funded by the Faculty. In previous years, then, there have been around 30 such studentships on offer within the faculty.

Applicants applying to work in Film, Television and Media Studies (FTM) at UEA will compete for these studentships with applicants from other schools, but applicants to FTM have a strong track record of winning these studentships. For instance, in previously years, FTM has typically successfully secured funding for around 6-8 PhD students, or approximately half of its yearly intake.

For UK students, these awards cover both fees and maintenance and for EU residents awards are on a fees only basis.

If you are interested in applying for a PhD in Film, Television and Media Studies at UEA, please contact the School's Director of Postgraduate Research Su Holmes (susan.holmes@uea.ac.uk) who will help guide you through the process.

You may also wish to consult our list of staff and their research interests for guidance on possible supervisory expertise: http://www.uea.ac.uk/ftv/People

Those interested in MA applications should contact Peter Kramer, the Leader of Postgraduate Taught Programmes (p.kramer@uea.ac.uk) in the first instance.

The deadline for receipt of applications for those wishing to be considered for MA or PhD funding is 17 February 2013.

More information and details of how to apply can be found at: http://www.uea.ac.uk/futurestudents/uk/postgraduates/admissions/pgtadmissions (for MA applications) http://www.uea.ac.uk/futurestudents/uk/postgraduates/admissions/pgradmissions (for PhD applications)

Alternatively, please contact the UEA Humanities Graduate School: humgrad.school@uea.ac.uk<mailto:humgrad.school@uea.ac.uk>

North West Postgraduate Music Exchange Conference

North West Postgraduate Music Exchange Conference
Saturday 16 March 2013, 11.00-18.00
School of Music, Bangor University

The music departments of the Universities of Manchester, Birmingham and Bangor are starting an exchange conference for music postgraduates. This conference will be open not just to these three institutions, but to all postgraduates studying music in the Midlands, the North West of England and the North West of Wales.

The conference provides an opportunity for young researchers to present their work in a congenial and friendly environment. Additionally, it will allow students to meet their peers and staff from other institutions.

In 2013, the conference is hosted by Bangor University. It will take place on Saturday, 16 March, from 11.00 to 18.00. It will be possible to travel back and forth on the same day. To those staying overnight, the organisers can offer free tickets for a concert with the BBC NOW Orchestra (Friday, 15 March).

Call For Papers

We encourage submissions from students in their early stages of study to present their work in musicology, theory, performance, composition (if compositions are to be performed the composer must make their own arrangements for performers/ensembles) and any other aspect of musical research. Presentations will be no longer than 20 minutes, followed by discussion.

Proposals are to be submitted as attachments by email to Twila Bakker (mup00a@bangor.ac.uk). They should include the following information: paper title, authors name, institutional affiliation, email, audio-visual requirements and an abstract of up to 250 words.

Submissions must be received by Friday 8 February 2013. The chosen presenters will be notified on 15 February 2013.



Tuesday 22 January 2013

Salford SPARC conference: call for proposals

All postgraduate researchers are invited to take part in the Salford Postgraduate Annual Research Conference (SPARC) 2013: Theory, Practice, Impact

The conference is taking place on the 5 and 6 June 2013, and the call for abstracts is now open. Please see http://www.salford.ac.uk/research/postgraduate-research/sparc for the full details.

SPARC is a forum for developing research, offering a space for postgraduate researchers from all disciplines to exchange ideas. Proposals for presentations are invited which address the contribution (or potential contribution) of the research in relation to any of the conference themes: theory, practice and impact.
The conference is open to postgraduate researchers at all stages of research, and is free for Salford students. There are several presentation formats to choose from, and it’s a great way of developing presentation skills, testing ideas with new audiences, getting feedback, and meeting researchers from other disciplines and universities. 
The deadline for 250-word abstracts is 5pm on Monday 11 March. Details of how to submit are on the conference website http://www.salford.ac.uk/research/postgraduate-research/sparc
If you have any queries, please contact us on sparc@salford.ac.uk

Critical Digital Humanities talk at MMU

PUBLIC LECTURE Monday 18th February 2013
Presented in the 'Digital Humanities' strand of the Institute of Humanities and Social Science Annual Research programme at Manchester Metropolitan University

Dr David Berry (University of Swansea):
'Critical Digital Humanities'
Digital Humanities have been criticised, perhaps unfairly, for being narrow and lacking cultural critique, most notably by Geert Lovink and Alan Liu. In this paper I want to look at the way in which digital humanities as a field of research can address these critiques. This ranges from the particular research agendas that have become prominent within digital humanities itself, and which are strongly related to prior research interests drawn (or not) from the humanities themselves, and to the new research agenda that is driven primarily in relation to big data, gamification, MOOCs, and the so-called “industrialised” digital humanities. Whilst digital humanities have created critical versions of archives, tools, platforms, etc. and have begun to explore approaches to the use of the computational, how should digital humanities respond to the issues raised by the computational in society, economics, politics, or culture. Does the call for "more hack, less yack", calling for digital humanists to "do" rather than "talk", imply a reluctance to engage critically, or can discussions informed by the hashtag #transformDH, for example, help us to develop a more critical digital humanities. In what ways can hacking and "building" be undertaken in a critical vein and how can these "critical" practices inform theoretical discussions of digital humanities?

David M. Berry is Associate Professor in Digital Media in the Department of Political and Cultural Studies at Swansea University and affiliated researcher at Institutt for Medier og Kommunikasjon (IMK), University of Oslo. He is author of Critical Theory and the Digital (2013), The Philosophy of Software: Code and Mediation in the Digital Age (2011), Copy, Rip Burn: The Politics of Copyleft and Open Source (2008), co-author of New Aesthetic, New Anxieties (2012), he is also editor of Understanding Digital Humanities (2012) and Life in Code and Software (2012). He tweets at @berrydm on Twitter. http://www.swan.ac.uk/staff/academic/artshumanities/berryd/

The lecture will be preceded by an informal reception in Geoffrey Manton Building atrium at 5.30pm.
Seminar in lecture theatre 5 at 6.00pm.
This event is free to attend and all are welcome, however registration on Eventbrite is required and for security, entry to the building for non-staff /students will be restricted to those listed as registered.
So, please do register at Eventbrite here:
http://davidberry-arp-es2003.eventbrite.com

If you have any questions, please contact ihssresearch@mmu.ac.uk

Graduate Teaching Scholarships at Salford

Salford PhD teaching scholarships for the coming acacdemic year --- applications invited!

Deadline 1 March

Full info here:
http://www.salford.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/fees-and-funding/gts


Friday 18 January 2013

MMP Grad Prog talk: Productive Parasites

Wednesday 23 January:
Guest Speaker: Marie Thomspson (University of Newcastle)
Productive Parasites: Thinking of Noise as Affect
This paper seeks to provide a more nuanced explanation for noise that distinguishes itself from prevailing negative narratives, which define noise as unwanted, undesirable, or damaging sound. It will be shown that such definitions have left noise vulnerable to an aesthetic moralism, which works to construct noise as a ‘bad’ to silence’s ‘good’. In order to overcome some of the insufficiencies and impasses of subject-oriented and object-oriented definitions - noise as a judgement of sound or noise as a type of sound - this paper will characterise noise as an affect with effects. Noise-as-affect refuses stable associations with subjects or objects; it has an existence that is autonomous from and irreducible to its particular manifestations. Moreover, noise-as-affect does not pertain to an overarching division between ‘good’ and ‘bad’; there is nothing inherently ‘bad’ about noise; rather, its status as such is relational and contingent. Thus thinking of noise in terms of affect allows for noise’s capacity to not only diminish and destroy, but also enhance and create; it allows for, as the composer Henry Cowell labels it, ‘the Joys of Noise’. As a means of conclusion, this paper will consider the implications of an affective noise definition for an aesthetics of noise. 


Marie Thompson is a PhD candidate at Newcastle University, based in the International Centre for Music Studies. Her research considered the ethical and aesthetic implications of thinking about noise in relation to affect. She is the co-editor of the forthcoming collection Sound, Music, Affect: Theorising Sonic Experience (Continuum, 2013). Marie is also a musician. She plays solo as Tragic Cabaret, and as part of the groups Ghostly Porters, J.G. Bollard and Beauty Pageant

MediaCity, Third Floor, Space Two. 4.10-5pm. (Anyone needs to be signed in / can't find the room, please wait in reception for 4pm).

Drinks after, everyone welcome... hope to see you there!

Manchester Uni PGR scholarships

Postgraduate study in Drama at the University of Manchester

Drama at the University of Manchester has a number of AHRC and University of Manchester awards to support postgraduate study commencing September 2013.

Applicants must have an offer of a place on an appropriate programme before they can be considered for an award.

Deadline for applications to the programme: Friday 1 February 2013
Deadline for applications for funding: Friday 1 March 2013

MA Applied Theatre
MA Theatre and Performance
MA Screen Studies
PhD Drama

For more information about Manchester’s MA programmes go to:
http://www.alc.manchester.ac.uk/subjects/drama/postgraduatetaught/taught/

For more information about our Doctoral programmes go to:
http://www.alc.manchester.ac.uk/subjects/drama/postgraduateresearch/research/

For more information about funding to support Doctoral and Masters study at Manchester go to: http://www.alc.manchester.ac.uk/fees/postgraduate/

For general enquiries about postgraduate study in Drama at Manchester please email jenny.hughes@manchester.ac.uk

As Yet Impossible Presents: Daniel Glaser

As Yet Impossible Presents: Daniel Glaser   
Are we all interdisciplinary now?



Tuesday 29 January, 18:00 - 20:00
Digital Performance Lab 
University of Salford 
MediaCityUK
Salford Quays
M50 2HE 
FREE - Registration Required 
The rise of personal digital curation means that everyone can fill their cultural lives with snippets from a vast range of genres and sources. We are encouraged to express ourselves by difference. From ordering your morning coffee to your own unique mosaic of likes and retweets, identity is sampled from multiple streams.  
Research is similarly constructed from overlapping disciplines. Neuroscience was only invented as a word in the 1960s, denoting the combination of more classical scientific approaches to the nervous system. Yet it is already being combined with other fields such as computer science, psychology and even the arts to underpin contemporary studies of the brain. The cutting edge of malaria research combines genomics, informatics, epidemiology and paediatric intensive care.  
So what is the role of the expert in the modern construction of knowledge? How can authority and trust survive at the cutting edge? And is there still a role for the specialist critic and the niche funder?   
Dr Daniel Glaser is Head of Special Projects in public engagement at the Wellcome Trust. His team directs activities with young people, broadcast media and scientists' public engagement. His scientific background involves brain imaging of the visual system. In 2002 he was appointed 'Scientist in Residence' at London's Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) and in 2005 received a Cultural Leadership Award from the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA). He has presented a television series for the BBC and co-chairs the Café Scientifique at the Photographers' Gallery. 
Arrival drinks will be served from 6pm ahead of the presentation at 6.30pm, followed by a Q&A session, evening ends 8pm. 
Eventbrite - As Yet Impossible Presents: Daniel Glaser  

Institute of Humanities and Social Science Annual Research Programme at MMU

February dates:

4th February: Alzheimer’s Culture
Lucy Burke (MMU)

11th February: ‘What’s in it for us?’ Ethical Considerations in Gang Research
Hannah Smithson and Rob Ralphs (MMU)

18th February: Digital Humanities public lecture
David M. Berry (Swansea)

25th February: Derrida and Nancy: from Right to Philosophy
Joanna Hodge (MMU)

For more information and to register search ‘ARP’ on Eventbrite or see:


Research seminars take place on Mondays in Geoffrey Manton Lecture Theatre 5, starting at 6.00pm.

Each event will be preceded by an informal reception in Geoffrey Manton Building atrium at 5.30pm with refreshments provided.

These events are FREE to attend and open to all staff, students and the public.

If you have any questions, please email ihssresearch@mmu.ac.uk

Perspectives on Production Design - research symposium

Perspectives on Production Design - research symposium

5 February 2013, 10.30 - 6.00pm in Room A27, LICA building, Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts, Lancaster University

This one-day symposium will explore approaches to the historical and critical study of production design in cinema and related media, and will consider why it remains an under-researched area within the fields of Film, Media, Performance Studies and Cultural Studies. Attendance is free and anyone is welcome to attend. Please register your interest by email to Bruce Bennett, Director of Film Studies, LICA (b.bennett@lancaster.ac.uk).

Confirmed speakers:

Jane Barnwell (London Metropolitan)
Prof. Ian Christie (Birkbeck)
Prof. Christopher Frayling (Lancaster)
Prof. Charlie Gere (Lancaster)
Dr Andrew Quick (Lancaster)
Dr Catherine Spooner (Lancaster)
Prof Damian Sutton (Middlesex)

50 Years of E P Thompson's "The Making of the English Working Class"

People's History Museum conference, 13 April.
Info here: http://www.phm.org.uk/whatson/the-making-of-the-english-working-class/

Tuesday 8 January 2013

Making an impact with your research in the outside world – RNCM Research Study Day (17/1)



Venue: RNCM Carole Nash Recital Room (a.m.) and RNCM Studio Theatre (p.m.).

Following the success of last year’s Staff/Student Research Study Day around the theme of ‘Teaching and Learning Practice as / in Research’, we are organising an event on Thursday, 17 January 2013 on the topic of ‘Making an impact with your research in the outside world’.

The event is open to anyone interested – RNCM staff, students, colleagues from any other HE institution, cultural industry administrators, professional arts workers, etc.

There will be a series of sessions bringing together researchers – both students and staff – with representatives from a variety of professional and cultural industry partners. You are warmly invited to join us for all or part of the day, which will run from 10.00 to 5.00, and include presentations, discussions, an installation by PhD composition students, as well as lunch, a lunchtime concert and opportunities to meet and network.

The programme is:


Carole Nash Recital Room

10.00-11.30    
Presentations and Roundtable discussion: RNCM Composer Festivals/New Music North West Festivals – looking back and looking forward with:
Clark Rundell (Head of Conducting, RNCM and Director of Ensemble 10/10; Toby Smith (Head of Performance and Programming, RNCM); Prof. Adam Gorb (Head of Composition, RNCM); Dr David Horne (Composer, RNCM); Richard Wigley (General Manager, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra)

11.45-12.45  
Presentations and discussion: Music and musicians in healthcare situations with David Cain (Director of Regeneration and Charities at Central Manchester University Hospitals Foundation Trust); a member of professional hospital treatment staff, led by Holly Marland (Knowledge Exchange Manager, RNCM)

12.45             
Lunch

1.15
Lunchtime Concert – RNCM Harp Ensemble, including world premiere of a work by Tim Garland, RNCM Research Fellow in New Music


RNCM Studio Theatre

2.15-3.15
Collectives and Curiosities – installation/presentation by three RNCM student composers, Jacob Thompson-Bell, Emma Ruth-Richards and Michael Betteridge

3.30-4.30      
How do innovative musical performers make an impact in the wider world through their work?: Roundtable discussion between RNCM musicians (including Tim Garland), programmers and curators

If you wish to attend please book a place by contacting  Christina Brand, Research & Enterprise Administrator,
e: research@rncm.ac.uk  t: 0161 907 5228.

Friday 4 January 2013

Manchester International Festival Volunteers Wanted

Info and applications via here: http://www.mif.co.uk/jobs-and-volunteering/volunteer/


Kinosphir- she’s lost control

Continuing the As Yet Impossible public series, the University of Salford is pleased to welcome artist duo Igloo to MediaCityUK to present:

Kinosphir- she’s lost control

Artists Gibson/Martelli will talk about their past/current & future projects - which deal primarily with figure & landscape. Special attention is given to experience - a kinosphir -  a new methodology of giving audiences immersive experiences using a variety of techniques including game engine visualisations, motion capture, haptic interfaces & stereo projections to convey imagery derived from & relating to the Skinner Releasing dance technique. 

Arrival drinks will be served from 6pm ahead of the presentation at 6.30pm, followed by Q&A session, the evening ends at 8pm. Presentation takes place at the University of Salford, situtated behind Prezzo restaurant (from main MediaCityUK piazza).

more about igloo... 
Based in London, Ruth Gibson and Bruno Martelli work together as igloo. Their practice examines figure and landscape and the relationship between natural and the artificial, transposing sites to create ambiguous topographies. They create environments, installations and performances using a wide variety of media including print, video, and computer games. Their first work together won them a BAFTA nomination and their work has featured in numerous exhibitions and festivals including the 52nd Venice Biennale
please visit http://www.igloo.org.uk for more information


Travel to MediaCityUK:

Find out more about the As Yet Impossible series:

Tickets (free) via 

http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/event/5073456846/?ref=enivtefor001&utm_source=eb_email&utm_media=email&utm_compaign=inviteformalv2&utm_term=readmore&invite=null#