A newly formed research group comprising Drs. Ewa Masłowska <https://media.illinois.edu/advertising/maslowska-ewa>, Margaret Ng <https://media.illinois.edu/journalism/ng-yee-man-margaret> and Harsh Taneja <https://media.illinois.edu/advertising/taneja-harsh> are recruiting prospective students for fully-funded PhD positions in the Institute of Communications Research <https://media.illinois.edu/phd-program/about-icr> at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Our PhD program is very interdisciplinary. Students in our program take a very eclectic view of communications, with an international focus, integrating a variety of theories and methods. Our group is specifically looking for students with interests in the following areas, broadly defined 1. Consumer and audience research 2. Media/news consumption across digital platforms 3. Social media behaviors 4. Audits of algorithmic and recommendation systems as they relate to news/social media and/or advertising. 5. Spread and effects of misinformation You will join a large cosmopolitan PhD community with about 40 students <https://media.illinois.edu/icr/profiles> enrolled in the program across cohorts, but will have the opportunity to also become a part of a small group of students and faculty with mutually shared interests. Currently, three doctoral students are working with us directly: - Sakshi Bhalla - Social contexts, journalistic practices and their role in mitigating and exacerbating misinformation - Rik Ray - Social media affordances and their relationship with media consumption patterns - Maggie Zhang - Political communication Methodologically, we are very diverse and encourage students to adopt methods (including mixed-methods) that are best suited for the questions at hand. We have expertise in analyzing passively collected behavioral data, social media data, conducting online and offline experiments and surveys, as well as applied computational methods (machine learning, network analysis, text mining, etc). Our doctoral program offers 5 years of guaranteed funding through research and teaching assistantships as well as opportunities for no-obligation fellowships. The current compensation results in a full tuition waiver stipend of $2,100 per month, before taxes, for 9 months per year (generous for the low cost of living in Urbana-Champaign) and covers health insurance. A small university fee of $500 per semester may apply towards free buses, student health and use of the recreation center. There are opportunities for additional funding during the summer. **Interested candidates must formally apply to the ICR PhD program by the deadline of December 15 ( https://media.illinois.edu/institute-communications-research/admission-requi... )** Informally, we encourage you to contact either of us to know more about our program and discuss whether you may be a good fit. Further, if you do apply and want to work with us, please also let us know so that we have the opportunity to provide our inputs on your applications to the admissions committee. Our contacts: Dr. Ewa Masłowska ehm@illinois.edu; Dr. Margaret Ng ymn@illinois.edu Dr. Harsh Taneja harsht@illinois.edu --------- *Margaret Ng, PhD* Assistant Professor, Department of Journalism | Institute of Communications Research Affiliate Faculty, Department of Computer Science University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 234 Gregory Hall, MC-462, Urbana, IL 61801, (217) 300-8186 http://bitly.com/MargaretNg