Evaluating and bolstering the quality of local visual news (PhD scholarship)

You’ll receive a stipend scholarship of $40,000 per annum for a maximum duration of 3.5 years while undertaking a QUT PhD. This is inclusive of a $30,000 per annum living stipend, and a $10,000 per annum top-up scholarship. This is the full-time, tax-free rate which will index annually, and includes a full tuition fee offset.

The duration includes an extension of up to 6 months if approved for your candidature.

As the scholarship recipient, you will have the opportunity to work with a team of leading researchers to undertake your own innovative research in and across the field of visual communication and journalism.

Eligibility

To be eligible for this scholarship, you must:

• be able to commence by 30 June 2023
• be eligible for admission to QUT’s Doctor of Philosophy Degree
• be able to commit to full-time, internal enrolment
• be of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent and be able to provide confirmation of this
• have a background in journalism or public communication.

Find out more about confirmation of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent via the Australian Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies website .

How to apply

Apply for this scholarship at the same time you apply for admission to a QUT  Doctor of Philosophy.

The first step is to email Dr T.J. Thomson detailing your academic and research background, your motivation to research in this field and interest in this scholarship, and include your CV.

If supported to apply, you will then submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) following the advice at How to apply for a research degree .

In your EOI, nominate Dr T.J. Thomson as your proposed principal supervisor, and copy the link to this scholarship into question 2 of the financial details section.

What happens next?

For questions about this research project, please contact Dr T.J. Thomson

For questions about the application process, please contact [email protected] .

About the scholarship
Overview

Journalism is vital to the public good, but regional and remote communities lack the same access to local news as their urban counterparts. This is especially true for local visual news, which is often an afterthought despite its importance in creating high-quality news content, engaging audiences, and shaping public perceptions.

This project observes local journalists at work and evaluates their output against the needs expressed by their communities, thus facilitating a much-needed conversation between local journalists and audiences. In doing so, it defines what quality local visual news is, and through local newsroom briefings and events co-hosted with industry provides guidance on how journalists can best produce it. This project evaluates local visual news in eight communities across the country, including several with higher-than-average Indigenous populations.

Research activities

The project addresses the following central question:

What is the volume and quality of local visual news in eight key regional and rural areas across Australia?

In particular, it investigates:

By doing these, the project then generates recommendations to safeguard and reinvigorate the quality of local visual news, directed at industry, government, the local communities themselves, and journalism educators and academics.

Methodology

The project begins with a media analysis of the local visual news published on the websites and/or social media pages of the eight outlets under study. It continues with community visits to allow for observations of and interviews with local journalists. Concurrently, community members will be invited to participate in a digital diary study to allow an understanding of how they encounter and react to visual news in their local news outlets and/or on social media platforms. Community members will also be invited to share their expectations about local visual news. After these phases and armed with the insights from the media analysis, the diary study, observations, and interviews, a community reflection and dialogue event will take place in each site to facilitate community-wide discussions about the quality of local visual news in the regions and how to ensure quality journalism’s sustainability into the future.

Outcomes

This project produces important and urgently needed benefits to six distinct stakeholder communities, including industry, policy-makers, local communities, Indigenous Australians, broader Australian society, and the academy. In addition to the standard academic outputs that we produce, the project includes the following four signature outputs:

• Community dialogue events and newsroom briefings to translate research findings into practical outcomes.
• An industry report that provides critical insights to news managers and informs regional strategy and priorities, including those related to news representations of Indigenous Australians.
• A series of policy recommendations to be shared with government stakeholders at the local, regional, and national levels, to guide Australia’s investment into quality journalism in the future.
• An academic monograph, addressing the gap about local visual journalism in the literature and presenting the project’s first-of-its kind robust framework for measuring the quality of local visual news.

Skills and experience

As a PhD researcher on this project, you should have experience in areas such as:

• journalism studies and/or experience as a journalist or media professional
• visual communication
• qualitative content analysis and research methods (observations, interviews, focus groups).

You should ideally have a particular focus on the intersection of visual communication and journalism.

Those from or with experience in regional/rural areas of Australia are especially encouraged to apply.

Research culture and cultural support

Projects will be supported by Indigenous Australian academics or industry professionals through the supervisory team, through opportunities to connect with individuals who are willing to provide support through external advisory groups and committees, or via another mechanism chosen in consultation with applicants. The DMRC can commit to providing an Indigenous supervisor/panel member for the recipient of this scholarship.

The successful applicant will join a research community with existing strengths and ongoing projects related to regional/rural communities , news, media, and journalism , everyday online culture , online safety , and Indigenous communities .

The DMRC provides a supportive research environment for PhD students, who will be part of an interdisciplinary cohort of Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars. PhD students will be connected to a research environment that produces projects informed by social justice principles, and Indigenous research projects such as “Connecting in the Gulf “.