PhD Transtechnology Research

Using a range of practice and theory based methods the group is concerned to make apparent evidence of human desire and cultural imperatives as they are manifested in the way that science and technology is practiced, innovated by entrepreneurs and interpreted by its users.

Informed by transdisciplinary approaches, current research engages with burning questions in Film and Cinema Studies, Media Philosophy, Digital Media, History of Science and Technology, Media Anthropology, Design Theory, Interaction Design and Human Cognition.

Key features

• Transtechnology researchers hold a monthly seminar session which is open to the public. The 2018/2019 seminar series follows the mode of a ‘slow conference’ and has the theme ‘Gravity, Epistemology, and Representation: A Weightless Exploration.’ Please visit our Transtechnology website for more information.
• Transtechnology Research hosts the UK editorial office of Leonardo and the international office of Leonardo Reviews and Leonardo Reviews Quarterly (LRQ).
• Since 2006 the group has published the annual Transtechnology Research Reader, as part of the Transtechnology Research: Open Access Papers project.
• Transtechnology Research led a three year research project funded under the HERA JRP call ‘Humanities as a Source of Creativity and Innovation’ in collaboration with the VU University, Amsterdam, the University of Applied Arts, Vienna, the EYE Film Institute Netherlands and The Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision.
• Transtechnology research students receive funding as part of the Marie-Curie funded ITN CogNovo, and 3D3 consortium. Previous students have held full doctoral research grants from AHRC, EPSRC, the University of Plymouth and Brazilian and Portuguese Research Councils.
• Since 2015 Transtechnology Research has collaborated with Torbay Hospital Trust on a research project exploring lo-fi virtual reality in clinical training. It now has researchers in residence at Torbay’s Digital Horizons Centre working on a number of projects, one of which is approaches to low cost simulation for ODA countries
• The Temporal Image Research Open Lab (TTIRoL) provides an interface for the intersection of practice and theory and operates as an archive and lab space for projects concerning media archaeology and cognition. It is currently home to the dqpb LAB which is undertaking EEG experiments in auditory perception with the goal of collecting data wirelessly in a surrounding that is close to the everyday experiences of participants.

This full time or part time doctoral programme is suitable for people who have a particular research question or topic in mind, and wish to explore this through independent study in order to produce an original contribution to the subject. If you aspire to a research career this is the most appropriate research degree to undertake.

You will be guided by a small supervisory team of academic experts under the direction of a Director of Studies. Even if you already have a masters degree, you will normally be registered as a ‘MPhil/PhD’ candidate and may apply to transfer to ‘PhD’ status around 10–22 months after registration, based on your progress to date.

Many doctoral research projects begin with a conversation, and if you are considering a research degree there are a number of ways of engaging with us in order to find out more about the process and developing your application. Our monthly seminar sessions are open to the public. We also encourage potential applicants to contact us about making a visit to our offices for a meeting and the opportunity to meet other researchers in the group.