Doctoral Studentship Awards - Electoral Misinformation

Doctoral Studentship in Electoral Misinformation and Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence

Status: Active (Expression of interest open)

Partner Institution: Birmingham City University (BCU)

Program Start Date: February 2025

Funder: Meedan

Studentship 1: The Impact of Misinformation on Electoral Integrity

Focus: Research into instances of election-related misinformation

Research Basis: Datasets created by Meedan and its network of community partners through implementation of tiplines during 23 elections in areas throughout the Larger World between 2016 and 2024

Research Goals:

Identify the relationship between election integrity and associated forms of misinformation

Determine what kinds of misinformation present the greatest risk to the electoral process

Preferred Qualifications:

Master's degree in media and cultural studies, or related field

Stand-out candidates with bachelor's degree or relevant professional experience also considered

Studentship 2: A Linguistic Approach to Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence

Focus: Language patterns in technology-facilitated gender-based violence

Research Approach:

Large-scale linguistic analysis of documented instances of tech-facilitated gender-based violence

Sources: social media and messaging apps

Goal: Discover language markers to identify and address gendered violence as it occurs

Preferred Qualifications:

Master's degree in linguistics or associated discipline

Exceptional bachelor's degree holders or those with significant outside experience also considered

Geographic Scope: Larger World (Meedan's areas of focus)