PhD on Indigenous Screen Content

What you'll receive

You'll receive:

a scholarships of $40,000 per annum, tax exempt and indexed annually for 3 years.

An extension of up to 6 months may be considered, subject to satisfactory progress.

Eligibility

To apply for this scholarship, you must meet the entry requirements for a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD).

You must also:

• be of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent and provide a confirmation of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent form stamped with a common seal belonging to a registered organisation. Find out more about confirmation of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent via the Australian Institute for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies website.
• have a background in Law, Digital Media, Communications or a related discipline.
• enroll as a full-time, internal student.

How to apply

Interested applicants must submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) for consideration prior to applying for this scholarship, as per QUT's how to apply website.

The EOI must include:

• an up-to-date curriculum vitae (CV);
• academic transcripts for prior study;
• a research proposal addressing the scholarship topic and explaining why you would be an excellent candidate for this scholarship;
• a writing sample (e.g. copy of an article or essay you have completed); and
• contact details for 2 academic referees.

The EOI must indicate that you are applying for this scholarship, and must have Dr Kylie Pappalardo nominated as your potential supervisor.

What happens next?

This scholarship will remain open until a suitable candidate is found.

For more information about the scholarship or application process please contact Dr Kylie Pappalardo at k.pappalardo@qut.edu.au

Conditions

The Scholarship will be governed by the QUT IPRA Conditions

About the scholarship

We are seeking a full-time, highly motivated PhD candidate to perform cutting-edge research on how to support and manage production and distribution of Indigenous screen content in an age of big data and algorithmic recommendations.

About the project

During the course of their PhD, the candidate will drive a research project that examines the diversity of screen content in Australia, with a particular focus on content that is produced by or represents First Nations people. The project will evaluate how Indigenous screen content is funded, produced, made visible, and distributed in Australia, and will investigate whether regulatory interventions are required to better support Indigenous cultural production and dissemination, especially in light of technological change and ongoing funding cuts to Australia’s public service broadcasters.

The PhD project will be seated within the wider context of an ARC funded project (DE210200525) that examines the impact of copyright law in Australia’s screen industries, focusing on distribution and access to audio-visual material.

This project examines how automation, digital distribution, and intellectual property laws shape the reach and diversity of our culture. It studies how streaming video-on-demand services, like Netflix and Stan, are changing what screen content gets produced, what historical cultural material is available, what is recommended and made visible, and whose voices are heard. These decisions are increasingly informed by data about what consumers are watching, which in turn is influenced by what titles are recommended and made visible.

The project considers how the high costs and complex logistics of screen production and distribution can be reconciled with the public goal of broad, affordable and sustained availability of audio-visual content that represents the full diversity of Australia’s people and cultures. It aims to provide rigorous evidence to inform the development of technology-neutral regulation for Australia’s copyright industries, improve copyright licensing markets, and unlock the value of under-distributed screen content.

Supervisors

The successful candidate will be working under the direct supervision of Dr Kylie Pappalardo in the School of Law. The candidate will be based within the vibrant research cultures of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society and QUT’s Digital Media Research Centre.