Applicants are invited for two 4 year PhD positions within the project ‘The birth of the digital doctor? A comparative anthropology of medical techno-perception’. The project is funded by the European Research Council (Starting Grant), awarded to the principal investigator, Dr. Anna Harris.
Research project
Digital technologies are reconfiguring medical practices in ways we still don’t understand. The birth of the digital doctor? A comparative anthropology of medical techno-perception seeks to examine the impact of the digital in medicine by studying the role of pedagogical technologies in how doctors learn the skills of their profession. It focuses on the centuries-old skill of physical examination; a sensing of the body, through the body. Increasingly medical students are learning these skills away from the bedside, through videos, simulated models and in laboratories. A research team of three ethnographers and a historian will interrogate how learning with these technologies impacts on how doctors learn to sense bodies. Simultaneous, comparative fieldwork will be undertaken with medical students and teachers in medical schools and teaching hospitals in: Budapest, Hungary; Maastricht, Netherlands; and Tamale, Ghana. A historian will conduct oral histories at each site. Focus will be on both spectacular and mundane technologies in medical education. Through this rich case of doctors-in-training, the historically-attuned anthropological study aims to address a key challenge in social scientific scholarship regarding how technologies, particularly those digital and virtual, are implicated in bodily, sensory knowing of the world.
Job description
This is an exciting opportunity to join a new research team to carry out collaborative ethnographic fieldwork about medical practices. In particular we are looking for two PhDs to conduct the ethnographic studies in Budapest (1 PhD) and Tamale (1 PhD). Incorporating innovative digital-sensory methodologies, each ethnographer will attend during fieldwork to doctors’ learning and teaching with technologies old and new. Each researcher will work both independently and in collaboration with each other and the principal investigator (PI) of the project, Dr. Anna Harris, who will also be conducting the ethnography in Maastricht. The PhD candidates will have the opportunity to expand on the details of their own projects based on their expertise, the material they gather and their own research ideas, all in consultation with the PI and their promoter (principal supervisor).
Requirements
Ethnographically experienced social scientists with a Masters degree (in anthropology or another discipline relevant to the project) are invited to apply. The PhD candidates will be based in Maastricht and will spend 10 months doing fieldwork in Hungary or Ghana. Excellent communication and writing skills in English are a prerequisite, since the candidates will be engaging on an international level, collaborating with other team members in English and producing English-language publications. For the ethnographer undertaking the Ghanaian ethnography, some experience living or doing research in developing countries will be considered favorably in the selection process.
Maastricht University
Maastricht University is renowned for its unique, innovative, problem-based learning system, which is characterized by a small-scale and student-oriented approach. Research at UM is characterized by a multidisciplinary and thematic approach, and is concentrated in research institutes and schools. Maastricht University has around 16,000 students and 4,000 employees. Reflecting the university’s strong international profile, a fair amount of both students and staff are from abroad. The university hosts 6 faculties: Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Faculty of Law, School of Business and Economics, Faculty of Humanities and Sciences, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience.
What we have to offer
We offer a dynamic and challenging job in an internationally-oriented organisation where young people receive an advanced education and scholars conduct exciting research. The PhD candidates will have the unique opportunity to carry out research within one or more of the four themes within the research programme. They will be part of an international network of top universities and renowned scholars within the field.
We offer two 4 year full-time appointments as PhD students. The first year will be a probation period and after a positive assessment each position will be extended by another 3 years.
Remuneration will be according to standard salary levels for PhD students starting with a salary of € 2.174,- with a yearly growth to € 2.779- gross a month (based on a full-time appointment.)
Each year the standard salary is supplemented with a holiday allowance of 8% and an end-of-year bonus of 8.3%.
You have to be willing to move to (the vicinity of) Maastricht. If you do not already live in Maastricht (or its direct surroundings) you will be eligible for an allowance for moving costs. If you do not already live in Maastricht (or its direct surroundings) you might be eligible for an allowance for alternative housing. Other secondary conditions include e.g. a pension scheme and partially paid parental leave.
You will be provided with shared office space and a PC.
Starting date: 15 August 2016 (or as soon as possible thereafter).
Information
Any inquiries about the position or the project may be addressed to Dr. Anna Harris.
The full job post can be viewed online.