As a member of the Information Science Pathway of the ESRC Scottish Graduate School of Social Science Doctoral Training Centre (SGS-DTC) Edinburgh Napier University is currently inviting applications for this year’s studentship competition.

I would be pleased to hear from eligible candidates who would like to apply for a PhD place at Edinburgh Napier under this scheme, and whose interests match the focus of the Information Science pathway within the broader context of the ESRC SGS-DTC. The key areas of interests of the Information Science pathway are:

• the social and economic impact of information;
• the legal and regulatory context for the collection and use of information;
• the technologies for the management of information;
• information policy and strategy.

Applicants are expected to (a) already hold a Masters degree or (b) be on target to complete a Masters degree before the start of the academic year 2015/16. The Masters degree should be in a relevant subject, for example: Information Science; Information Management; Information Studies; Information Systems; Knowledge Management; Records Management; Science and Technology Studies. Ideally the Masters degree undertaken should be ESRC-approved. In addition, all candidates should hold a good first degree. Research proposals submitted as part of the application process should align with the key areas of interest of the Information Science Pathway, and the Centre for Social Informatics at Edinburgh Napier University.

In the first instance, interested candidates should contact me by e-mail at h.hall@napier.ac.uk. Then we can arrange a telephone or Skype call to discuss research proposal ideas, and potential supervision arrangements at Edinburgh Napier. The conversation will also provide an opportunity for me to explain in further detail the application process. This initial contact should be made by Monday 12th January 2015 at the latest (and preferably sooner).

Candidates whose research ideas and academic profile are deemed suitable will then be asked to complete a standard Edinburgh Napier PhD research proposal for an advertised PhD (see the Word document under the heading “How to apply for advertised studentship vacancies” on this page) to be submitted directly to me (h.hall@napier.ac.uk) by midday on Monday 19th January 2015. (The application should not be sent to the general research degrees admissions e-mail address.)

Interviews will be held at the Merchiston campus of Edinburgh Napier University on Wednesday 28th January 2015. Decisions on who will be invited to take their applications to the next stage will be made by Monday 2nd February 2015.

Candidates who pass the internal Edinburgh Napier application process will then be authorised to start the application process on the ESRC SGS-DTC system: initial registration needs to be made by Friday 6th February 2015. Following ESRC elibility checks, candidates will then be invited to submit their full applications to the ESRC SGS-DTC system by Friday 20th February. The outcome of these applications is expected to be known by May 2015.

Candidates who are considering making an application to Edinburgh Napier University through this scheme are encouraged to explore how their research interests align with those of the staff and research students within the Centre for Social Informatics. This can be done by checking the Centre’s pages on the web site of the Institute for Informatics and Digital Innovation. From here you will see that we carry out research that is broadly concerned with the intersection of people, communities and technologies, and that incorporates themes such as: digital economies; e-democracy and e-participation; e-health; information governance and risk; information science; the information society; knowledge management; librarianship; and project management. Our recent and current research students within the Centre for Social Informatics engage in a range of doctoral studies on topics that include:

• the impact of social media tools on tacit knowledge sharing practices between employees within public sector organisations;
• the evolution of social networking and its impact on career management skills;
• personal online reputation management;
• the role of libraries in the development of social capital and citizenship;
• the value of census information to policy making;
• the influence of off-line and online spaces on participation in community and civic life;
• sociotechnical aspects of information risk;
• knowledge working as a management innovation;
• processes of knowledge creation, creativity and innovation;
• online communities;
• the impact of organisational factors on information systems development projects.