Hosted by: The Centre for Research into Information, Surveillance and Privacy (CRISP), University of Stirling, Stirling, Scotland, UK.

The Living in Surveillance Societies (LiSS) COST Action (IS0807) invites doctoral research students from any academic discipline to participate in an international Doctoral Training School to take place in February 2013. Participation in the School will be funded by LiSS and students are expected to be engaged in research relevant to furthering our understanding of everyday life in surveillance societies. The doctoral research projects may cover a range of topics, including the development of technological applications and their implications; the governance of privacy, surveillance and new technology; the relationship between security and surveillance; impacts of surveillance on data protection, privacy and civil liberties; the politics and political economy of surveillance; media representations of surveillance; citizen-state relations; surveillance, identity and subjectivity; profiling for commercial activity and public policy (including analytics and big data); resistance to surveillance; surveillance, literature and the arts; the use of surveillance in particular domains (e.g., transport, education, law enforcement, health, marketing, etc.); surveillance and social media; and the cross-national or cross-local study of surveillance.

The Doctoral Training School will be hosted by the Centre for Research into Information, Surveillance and Privacy (CRISP) and will take place at the University of Stirling in Scotland, UK. The School will be a week long event (4-8th February 2013) and will incorporate a range of knowledge-exchange and research-training activities, as well as providing social and networking opportunities. Most of the sessions will be delivered via an interactive workshop format and will be facilitated by leading scholars in the surveillance studies topic area, including Professor William Webster, Professor Charles Raab, Professor Mike Nellis and Dr Kirstie Ball. Students participating in the School will have the opportunity to develop their own doctoral research projects and well as learning transferable research skills. Scheduled sessions include state-of-the-art lectures by leading surveillance scholars; working with theory and disciplines; designing and implementing research methods; getting published; research funding opportunities; reading sessions; working with the media; academics and activism; a film screening with public lecture; and a surveillance-themed field trip. There will also be innovative informal social sessions including surveillance ‘speed dating’; the Privacy Game; a surveillance ‘sand-pit’; and ‘stump the expert’ sessions.

The LiSS Doctoral Training School provides an ideal opportunity for doctoral students to present and discuss their doctoral research, and to share ideas and experiences. It also provides a starting point for a network of early stage researchers within the field of surveillance studies. It is anticipated that the School will have between 15-20 participants and a number of expert ‘trainers’.

Application procedure

To apply to participate in the Doctoral School you will need to email the following information to Liz Carroll (eac1@stir.ac.uk) by Friday 14th December 2012. Successful applicants will be notified by email by Tuesday 18th December 2012.

• Name
• Institutional affiliation
• Address
• Email
• Telephone
• Title of doctoral research
• Abstract of doctoral research (150 words)
• Academic discipline
• Year of research (year 1, 2, 3, etc.)
• Specific research needs
• (do you have any specific research requirements you would like us to cover during the Doctoral School?)

Funding

Doctoral students participating in the School will be funded by the LiSS COST Action, via the COST Short Term Scientific Mission (STSM) funding instrument. This will provide participants with a block grant to cover travel, accommodation and subsistence costs. To be eligible for a STSM, students must be based in a ‘COST country’, which includes most European Union Member States. Any doctoral student can apply, there is no requirement to be associated with the LiSS COST Action. Advice on how to complete the STSM administration process, as well as information about the location of the Doctoral School and accommodation (etc.), will be supplied to all participants after Tuesday 18th December 2012. A small number of places are also available for self-funding students or those supported by institutions that are part of the ESRC Scottish Graduate School (SGS) of Social Science. SGS students should contact their local SGS pathway lead in the first instance to discuss attendance.

Further information

For further information, please contact Professor William Webster (c.w.r.webster@stir.ac.uk).

Useful Websites:

Living in Surveillance Societies (LiSS): http://www.liss-cost.eu/
COST:  http://www.cost.eu/
University of Stirling:  http://www.stir.ac.uk/
Centre for Research into Information, Surveillance and Privacy:  http://www.stir.ac.uk/management/about/crisp/
Scottish Graduate School of Social Science: http://www.socsciscotland.ac.uk/pathways