Phd in JOINT INTERNATIONAL DOCTORATE IN SOCIAL REPRESENTATIONS,
CULTURE AND COMMUNICATION

The International Joint Doctorate in Social Representations, Culture and Communication is an interdisciplinary doctoral programme with an intersectional approach, offering advanced training in the social sciences. The Doctorate focuses on the intersection between social representation theory, cultural studies, and media and communication studies. It was created in response to the challenges posed to the social sciences by so-called 'wicked problems' in relation to some of the main global transformation processes currently underway, such as environmental sustainability and ecological transition, intercultural relations and changes in culture, platform society and the transformation of the public sphere, democratisation and citizenship-building processes, and diversity, inclusion and vulnerability. Particular focus is given to communication ecosystems. The programme promotes research into the symbolic and representational dimensions underlying these processes using a variety of methods with the aim of developing interpretative models of change and intervention strategies that can influence reality and socio-cultural policies.

The Doctorate, coordinated by Sapienza, is jointly developed with the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași (Romania) and the University of Pécs (Hungary), and is governed by Inter-Institutional Agreements, as already defined by the MIUR Decree n. 94 (published on February 8, 2013), by the DM 226/2021, at the art. 27 of the Sapienza regulation (International PhDs), and by the most recent ministerial provisions.
Unique experience at the international level, the doctorate involves and relaunches an already consolidated network of prestigious professors affiliated to international Universities and Research Centers, which makes this program a point of reference for a vast scientific community in the social sciences. 
History and materials of the original network and previous projects are available on the external website europhd.



Signatory universities



Co-tutelle:


Scientific board from (partner institutions):
Bournemouth University; El Manar University Tunis; Jakarta Research Centre on Social Representations; Jesuit Worldwide Learning; Nankai University, Tianjin;  Paris Université Eiffel;  San Sebastian University of Basque Countries; Tianjin University of Technology and Education; UFSC - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina; Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana; Universidad de Belgrano; Universidad Nacional de San Martin; Universidade de Uberlandia; Università Ca' Foscari Venezia; Università del Salento; Université Aix-Marseille; Université Lumière Lyon II; Université Paul Valéry - Montpellier III; University of Coimbra; University of Malta; University of Ottawa


THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS
The PhD programme draws on a variety of research traditions, ranging from the study of social representations and cultural studies to media and communication studies, gender and diversity studies, democratic participation and post-colonial studies and forms of social action. The programme is oriented towards interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research into the socio-symbolic dynamics of the social construction of reality, the role of the media as cultural actors and the relationships between 'expert' and 'everyday life' knowledge. Through a combination of online and face-to-face training, as well as joint supervision practices within an international setting, the programme aims to provide students with a robust theoretical and methodological foundation, equipping them for research opportunities in Italy or abroad, as well as for roles within the public and private sectors.

FORMATIVE OBJECTIVES
The training and research programme aims to provide doctoral students with the conceptual tools, methodologies and research techniques necessary to understand the communicative, cultural and psychosocial processes involved in the social construction of reality.

Doctoral students will acquire an in-depth understanding of the processes involved in developing and structuring social representations, as well as communicative and cultural processes. This includes an understanding of how these processes relate to different social systems and identity dynamics. The programme provides advanced knowledge of social representation theory and its recent developments, as well as communication sciences, cultural studies, cultural psychology, gender studies and research on forms of democratic participation. Students will also be required to develop relevant practical and interpersonal skills in areas such as design, scientific communication, dissemination and public relations.

Another objective of the PhD programme is to promote the ability to apply acquired knowledge in research and in public and private sectors requiring experts in social and communication sciences with high application value. Through a wide range of research training in various subject areas and national and international social contexts, as well as opportunities for international mobility and relationships with non-academic entities, doctoral students will be encouraged to explore professional opportunities in various fields, including institutions and research centres, media and communication agencies, cultural institutions and industries, social and socio-health associations and organisations, political institutions, and companies operating in technological and media innovation and the third sector and active citizenship.

Teaching methods combine online distance learning and face-to-face courses with compulsory international mobility, research activities and multiple international supervisors to ensure educational exposure, collaborative research and exchange opportunities with a large, multi-generational scientific community of renowned scholars on various continents. The teaching programme includes lectures, in-depth seminars, intensive weeks, individual and group research work, progress presentations, collegial discussions, and peer review. Training activities are also planned to develop technical and applied skills, as well as project design training for submitting research funding applications through competitive calls for proposals at European and national levels.

 

On an epistemological and ontological level, the PhD programme draws on the rich scientific output concerning the interrelationships between the social construction of knowledge (in its various forms) and theories, tools, and forms of contemporary communication.

Adopting both nomothetic and ideographic approaches, the programme aims to contribute to the development of general theoretical models and the exploration of contextual dynamics in the relationship between the mind, culture and communication. Theories of social representations and perspectives from cultural, media and communication studies provide a privileged frame of reference for investigating the dynamics of interaction between individuals, groups and institutions in relation to the environment and various systems of mediation and communication.

The epistemological and ontological objective is to develop a fully interdisciplinary field of study. The research will examine the relationship between the construction of reality and social practices, and the polyphonic media system. It will consider positioning and anchoring in historical and cultural contexts. This approach differs from studies oriented towards individual cognitions as ahistorical and decontextualised forms, and from studies of conversation and discourse as referential systems.

While social representations, frames, narratives and discourse are now well-established concepts and tools in the social sciences, the challenge today is to investigate and understand the relationships between these models and the dynamics of elaboration and change in a deeply mediated reality. In this reality, an increasingly pervasive, convergent and distributed communicative ecosystem has become the essential terrain for analysing every social and cultural phenomenon and the link between subjective experience and collective aspects. If this approach is based on sociology and social psychology, a cultural project "naturally" calls upon various disciplinary approaches as allies to be integrated in a complementary and transversal manner.

Building on this foundation, the PhD programme will explore points of contact and differences with national and international research approaches that have recently examined similar social construction processes. These include cultural and linguistic studies, cultural sociology, frame analysis, narrative, and critical discourse analysis. The programme therefore aims to advance theory through the study of social representations and cultural constructs of the symbolic sphere that give meaning to experience by guiding interpretations, and thus directing action, interaction, and social relations.

 

RESEARCH TOPICS
The doctoral programme focuses on complex problems and socially relevant issues in the context of global, mediated and culturally fragmented societies.

- Environmental sustainability and ecological transition, primarily in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals, energy transition processes, risk perception and socio-technological innovations;

- Migration and intercultural relations, including discursive processes of intergroup relationship building, stereotyping, inclusion, empowerment practices, agency and advocacy in sensitive areas such as health and education.

- Post-colonial studies and their relationship with the processes of mediatisation of decolonisation dynamics

- Diversity, communication and inclusion, particularly the role of the media ('traditional' and algorithmic) in framing and combatting discrimination against women, sexual minorities, people with disabilities, and other vulnerable groups.

METHODOLOGY
The field of research and therefore the PhD programme allows for a pluralistic approach to education. Building on the debate between triangulation models and mixed-methods approaches, PhD students will develop skills in different research designs for the structural and dynamic analysis of social representations, everyday discourse and communication in relation to local and global social issues. They will learn to implement qualitative and quantitative techniques and tools for text analysis and data collection based on multiple communication channels (e.g. oral, textual, iconic-figurative and multimodal). They will also learn about discursive and conversational approaches, creative methods, critical and dialogic analysis perspectives, sociological and ethnographic methods, and tools for studying cultural and communicative dynamics in the contemporary media ecosystem.