4th International LAB Meeting - Winter Session 2006 Announcement

Social Representations in Action and Construction in Media and Society

"Virtual Group Training and Individual Supervision Relating to the Distant Cooperative Research Program aimed at the Meta-Theoretical Analysis of the Comprehensive Literature on Social Representations and Communication"

at the European PhD on Social Representations & Communication Multimedia LAB & Research Center, Rome-Italy

in combination with Worldwide on-line connection points

From 21st to 29th January 2006

 

Project Summary

 

The European PhD on Social Representations and Communication International Lab Meetings, successor to the decade of International Summer Schools, provides an important opportunity for young researchers to obtain advanced academic and technical skills needed to conduct state-of-the-art research. Twelve ten days-long courses are organised around the theme of Social Representations in Action and Construction in Media and Society and focus on advanced practical training for 25 participants.  The first two events each year integrate virtual and face-to-face sessions, aimed at training doctoral students in meta-theoretical analysis of the literature. The following one is face-to-face intensive training courses requiring the physical mobility of participants and open to long-term dissemination via web. These events share common objectives and have a didactic structure with multiple training opportunities for critical analysis of the link between multi-media communication systems and social representations. The methods, techniques, software packages and related method theory guiding applications in research design, will provide the unifying theme for each event of the proposed advanced courses. The topics developed in the participants' research projects presented and discussed during the workshops will provide a variety of societal issues mediated and constructed via traditional and new media.  The program's originality is in its training methods, integrating face-to-face interaction (workshops, lectures, presentations) with mediated virtual interaction (Internet forum discussion, web-videoconferencing, streaming videos). Key lectures expand the horizon to other communication fields (semiotics, linguistics, sociology, mass communications, media studies etc.). The phenomena we cover (information society, new socialization and communication strategies and applications for politics, health, the environment, social minorities, gender, etc.) are clearly relevant to EU policy.

Compared  to  that  successfully  used  in  the  past  ten  years  of  the  International  Summer  Schools,  the  European   PhD  on  Social Representations and Communication International Lab Meetings will offer a slightly different formula for advanced training. The originality of this program is found in its innovative training methods, combining face to face interaction in a variety of training situations  (workshops, lectures, presentations)  with mediated  virtual  interaction  (internet  forum discussion,  web-videoconferencing, streaming  videos on the web) for training  purposes,  especially  long term dissemination  of the scientific  events.   Our intention is to continue  the International  Summer School's  tradition  of achieving  "steps forward"  by addressing  state of the art scientific  problems through valuable research training methods and innovative applications.

The formula adopted for this new series of events is even more innovative compared previous ones for the following reasons:

• it   gives  research  trainees  a more  active  role allowing  a number  of  them  to  take  on  responsibilities  as  research  event assistants;

• it will accept a limited number of post-doctorate  researchers  as participants,  not only doctoral  candidates.   This will allow for the improvement of cross-fertilization  of ideas and research practices between research trainees with different levels of expertise as well as providing new training opportunities for researchers who already have  4-10 years of experience at the time of the event;

• the practical advanced training sessions (in the physical lab as well on-line) reduces the number of   participants  in each event and increases the number of events each year;

• it  includes  complementary  sessions  aimed  at  international  research  management  training  valuable  for  researchers'  career development;

• it promotes  post-event  forum discussions  among the participants  via web on the knowledge  acquired  during  the practical  courses and its later applications.  They can also request on-line feedback from guest experts, as consultants.

Event No	Event duration of whole series
	Start date	End date
1	22/01/2005	30/01/2005
2	29/04/2005	08/05/2005
3	02/07/2005	10/07/2005
4	21/01/2006	29/01/2006
5	29/04/2006	07/05/2006
6	28/08/2006	06/09/2006
7	20/01/2007	28/01/2007
8	28/04/2007	06/05/2007
9	07/07/2007	15/07/2007
10	26/01/2008	03/02/2008
11	26/04/2008	04/05/2008
12	05/07/2008	13/07/2008

 

The draft agenda in the first three sessions of the Advanced Research Training Courses to be organised on the first year (2005) in winter, spring and summer is as follows.

N°	Year	Session	Start date- End date	Typology and Location	Topic Advanced Research Training Objective
4	2006	Winter	21/01/06 29/01/06	Integrated On Line and Face-to-Face held at the European Ph.D on S.R & C. Research Centre and Multimedia LAB Rome - Italy with multi-points connection via web-auditorium	Virtual group training and individual supervision relating to the meta-theoretical analysis of the literature on Social Representations Special training sessions will be organized using as didactic materials: guidebook for the use of the European PhD. Marratech Pro. Web auditorium and the guide of conduct designed to participate in the on-line events; the new grid aimed at the meta-theoretical analysis of the comprehensive  literature  on Social  Representations and Communication  and at building the specialized Intelligent Virtual Library on S.R. & C.. the new tools for the on-line evaluation of the research reports developed by the research trainees at different stages of their doctoral training.
5	2006	Spring	29/04/06 07/05/06	Integrated On Line and Face-To-Face held at the European Ph.D on S.R & C. Research Centre and Multi-media LAB Rome - Italy with multi-points connection via web-auditorium	Modelling and positioning approah in research on Social Representations mediated by traditional and new media:     the analysis of textual data via Multiple Analysis Correspondence applying the package SPAD-T
6	2006	Summer	28/08/2006 06/09/06	Face-to-Face held at the European Ph.D on S.R. & C. Research Centre and Multi-media LAB with integrated sessions with the 8th International Conference on Social Representations	Dialogical and Conversational Analysis in Focus groups. The application of DiscAn (Discourse Analysis) to research designs on Social Representations.

 

The teaching staff will include internationally recognised experts in the field of communication and social Representations, most of them partners in the SoReCom Thematic Network of excellence.

Keynote speakers will be chosen from among leading scientists in various disciplines  (anthropology, sociology, social psychology, psychology of art, media studies, science communication, etc.) with different  research  traditions  in the area of communication.  The aim is not only to present state-of-the-art of research and theory from various fields, but also to stimulate the cross-fertilization of ideas in a multidisciplinary arena.

Depending on the technical conditions of the speed connection available across the online participant’s network and the accomplished technical requirements, the magisterial lectures, produced during the scientific events, are transmitted simultaneously in real time to all the participants and/or transmitted in streaming videos on the web for a post event connection.

Following the three 2005 sessions and the 2006 winter session, the fifth International lab meeting will be held in Rome (April 24th to May 7th) at the European Ph.D. Research Centre and Multimedia LAB.

During the 5th International Lab Meeting theoretical issues on research methods concerning the modelling and positioning approach in research on Social Representations mediated by traditional and new media, and in particular the so called "Geneva School" approach.

Following the three 2005 sessions, the fourth International lab meeting (winter session 2006), as for the fisrt event in the previous year, will be chaired by Prof. Michel-Louis Rouquette (University of Paris V), and Prof. Annamaria Silvana de Rosa (La Sapienza University of Rome – Italy), Scientific Co-ordinator of the program. Prof. Bruno Mazzara (faculty of Communication Sciences - La Sapienza University of Rome) also confirmed his participation.

The audience will consist of two different groups of participants. One group will participate in the meeting from multi-media lab in Rome, the other group will be connected from various countries worldwide. Both groups will be joint into the interactive learning process via the use of Marratech pro multi-point video conference system called the European PhD web auditorium.

The first part of the event will consist in training the participants in the technical use of the online conferencing tool. The second part will include Keynote lectures followed by interactive discussion with the participant, from inside and outside the lab.

The meeting will be chaired by Prof. Annamaria Silvana de Rosa (La Sapienza University of Rome – Italy), Scientific Co-ordinator of the European Ph.D. program.

The meeting also will include:

• INTENSIVE GROUP WORKING SESSIONS ON PARTICPANTS’ RESEARCH PROJECTS

• ADVANCED TRAINING ON META-THEORETICAL ANALYSIS

• ADVANCED SEMINAR RESERVED TO THE EUROPEAN PH.D. RESEARCH TRAINEES ON: “Paradigmatic coherence between criteria for meta-theoretical anlysis of the literature on the Social Representations theory and evaluation tools designed to analyse different steps of the research reports.”

ACTIVE PARTICIPANTS’ CONTRIBUTION

The whole series of practical courses will involve substantial hands-on laboratory and/or field experience for the participants, who will be asked to bring their  research  data  files,  if  available. 

The  various  topics  developed  in  the  participants'  research  projects  presented  and  discussed during the workshops will provide a variety of societal issues mediated and constructed via different traditional and new media.   The methods, techniques, software packages and related method theory guiding applications in research design, will provide the unifying theme for each event of the proposed advanced training courses.

The  European  PhD  on  S.R.  &  C.  International  Lab  Meetings  will  be  led  by  qualified  academic  experts,  who  will  commit  for  the entire ten days-long  event, assisted by one or two doctoral or post-doctoral  candidate  research assistants  who are already familiar with the specific technique and software. 

The 12 sub-programmes are related to each other by:

• common pedagogical objectives in training European PhD researchers

• the general topic: "Social Representations in Action and Construction in Media and Society"

• links between specific topics (the theory of the methods and their applications) around which the 12 events are organised

• a focus on social psychology from a multidisciplinary perspective

• a didactic structure involving different types of training sessions (empirical research methods advanced training, workshops with participants'  presentations,  keynote lectures, integrated  training sessions using the European PhD website, post-event forum discussion, streaming videos on the web, etc.)

• integration  of  on-site  training  (face  to  face  interaction)  with  web-videoconferencing (virtual  interaction)  with  European PhD network university sites, including the Marie Curie Multi-Partner Organisation and the SoReCom Thematic network.

Target participants  include the following:

• Doctoral research trainees enrolled in the European PhD on S.R. & C.

• European PhD on S.R. & C.  Marie Curie Fellows.

• A limited  number  of young  researchers  (no more than 5) with  4-10  years  of post-graduate  experience  from  organisations,  institutions,  and public or private research centres interested in the subjects (preferably  among participants in previous European PhD on Social Representations and Communication International Summer Schools or introduced by  one  of  the universities of the Socrates-Erasmus network or the European PhD Vinci network).

• Postgraduates,  doctoral research trainees including those  not belonging  to the European PhD on S.R.   & C.  network and from outside Europe enrolled  in  national  PhD  courses  or in  team  research  programmes   (preferably  among participants in previous European PhD on Social Representations and Communication International Summer Schools or introduced by  one  of  the universities of the Socrates-Erasmus network or the European PhD Vinci network).

Priority in the selection procedure will be given to the regularly enrolled European PhD on S.R. & C.  research trainees, by taking into account that the European PhD on Social Representations and Communication International Lab Meetings is a  crucial didactic  stage  in  their  training,  for  which  10  credits  per  year  are  awarded under  the  Euro  PhD  system.   Each  young researcher has a national tutor and a foreign tutor, possibly present at least in one of the three per year European PhD on Social Representations and Communication International Lab Meetings or connected via web-auditorium.

If places will be still available, young researchers not enrolled in the Euro PhD programme will be selected. For them the European PhD on Social  Representations and  Communication  International  Lab  Meetings  provide  an  opportunity  to broaden  their  specialised knowledge in the subject area.

Dissemination

The  European  PhD  on  Social  Representations  and  Communication  International Lab  Meetings  deal  with  “Communication”  as  it relates  to  Social Representations, an  area  of  study  which  originated  in  and  spread  out  from Europe.   Past International  Summer Schools, particularly through their link with the European PhD, have reinforced the European origin of the research area and helped to re-establish the world wide intellectual leadership of European Social Psychology.   The European PhD on Social Representations and Communication  is now well established  as a permanent  European forum for disseminating  state of the art research in this area. Continuation  of the Euro  PhD Summer  School  experience  in future  years  is crucial  if Europe  is to maintain  its role  as the leading “voice”  in  what  has  now become  a multilingual  worldwide  research  field  which  is  closely  tied  to  social policy-making  processes including  immigration  and  minority  groups,  quality  of life,  health,  environment,  and   information  technology . There  is  also European added value in  training researchers who can pool the knowledge gained from academic research and expertise acquired by the  private  sector  and  political institutions  to  conduct  future  comparative  studies  in  social  sciences  in  areas of importance  for  EU citizens. Continuing  to  offer  these  advantages,  now  via  the European  PhD  on  Social  Representations  and  Communication International  Lab Meetings  that  have  a consistent  ethos  and format  (didactic  and administrative structure,  monitoring  system)  will help  to  set  and  maintain  European  standards  for  both  research  and  teaching.   In  this  respect  the  European  PhD  on  Social Representations  and  Communication  International  Lab  Meetings  will  be  yet  another  step  towards  the  construction  of  a  "Virtual University of Europe".

The eligible candidates may apply for MSCF-CT-2004-013264 funding (including scientific participation fees, travel expenses at the lowest fare, accommodation and lunches according to the arrangement provided by the organiser). Eligible applicants are:

• research trainee enrolled in the European  Doctorate on Social Representations and Communication

• new candidate of the European Doctorate on Social Representations and Communication for 2007/2008 with no more than 4 years of research activity, since gaining a University Degree giving access to doctoral studies

• potential candidate of other doctoral program in Social Sciences with no more than 4 years of research activity, since gaining a University Degree giving access to doctoral studies or as doctoral research trainees who had not yet obtained a doctoral degree 

• Experienced Participant with at least 4 years and less than 10 years of Research Experience - since gaining a University Degree giving access to doctoral studies (no more than 5 experienced participants will be admited, free of charge)

Those who do not fulfill the eligibility criteria, - if admitted – are requested to pay the amount of 1000 Euro for the scientific participation fee (not including travel, accommodation, and living expenses) as soon they receive the letter of acceptance. The deadline and method of payment will be communicated with the letter of acceptance