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4 Year PhD funded program_Climate Transformations

by Jason Kelly

Qualification type: PhD
Location: Indianapolis, IN, USA
Funding for: US and International Students
Hours: Full Time
Closes: 15 March 2018

Project: The Anthropocene Household
Principal Supervisor: Jason M. Kelly, PhD.
Email: jaskelly@iupui.edu

Project Description

The Anthropocene Household Project explores the Anthropocene at the local level by focusing on the household as an essential element to understanding the day-to-day lived experiences, knowledges, and practices associated with environmental change. The purpose of this project is threefold: 1) to work with communities to produce local narratives and understanding about water specifically, and the environment more generally; 2) to develop new approaches to interdisciplinary, community-based research grounded; and 3) to develop, synthesize, and analyze quantitative and qualitative data sets that generate actionable knowledge relevant for policy makers, community organizations, residents, and scholars.

This interdisciplinary project uses a Participation Action Research framework, working with residents, community organizations, neighborhood groups, schools etc. as co-producers of knowledge. PhD students working on this project will be trained in mixed methods approaches, including surveys, participant observation, focus groups, interviews, and oral histories. Moreover, they will be trained in community-based research collaboration practices and ethics.

Outputs

This project builds on the work of the Rivers of the Anthropoceneproject and its research network, which has been active publishing, curating exhibitions, and holding scholarly worksho

ps, and developing community-based educational programming since its creation in 2012. The Anthropocene Household will continue on this trajectory through:

• holding scholarly workshops and conferences
• producing articles, white papers, and monographs based on the project’s research
• developing informal educational programming focused on understanding local environmental histories and legacies and expanding knowledge about the environment
• working with residents to develop installations and exhibitions focused on the issues of water, sustainability, and environmental change in their communities
• conducting a multi-year “citizen science” project that will produce GIS-based, open access data sets on household water quality

The Anthropocene Household is part of the Rivers of the Anthropocene Project. It is funded in part through the IU Grand Challenges: Prepared for Environmental Change initiative. It is affiliated with the Memory, Place and Community in Global Water Systems Working Group of the Sustainable Water Future Programme, a project of Future Earth.

4-Year Funded PhD Position: The Anthropocene Household (A Project of Rivers of the Anthropocene)

Course of Study

As an applied PhD program, students will pursue both a course of traditional coursework and a four-year, community engaged research assistantship based at the IUPUI Arts and Humanities Institute (IAHI).

In the first two years of the program, the PhD student will take the required core courses in the PhD program, which will be supplemented with relevant courses in disciplines including environmental studies, geography, history, and anthropology. While taking coursework, the PhD student will be employed as a research assistant at the IAHI. This research assistantship is the centerpiece of the program and replaces the role that teaching assistantships often play in graduate programs. Through their internship, the student will develop relevant technical skills in participant observation, interviews, oral histories, exhibition and program design, and community engagement. They will also have the opportunity to co-author publications and grants with the project team as well as present at conferences. In years three and four, the student will pursue research that culminates in the doctoral research project.

Subject Areas / Keywords

Participant Action Research; Applied Anthropology; Visual Anthropology; Environmental Humanities; Urban Anthropology; Human Geography; History; Public History; Museum Studies; Science and Technology Studies (STS); community-engaged research; citizen science; public scholarship

Candidate Requirements

This project is ideal for a student with a master’s level degree in anthropology, history, public history, geography, digital humanities, environmental studies, or field related to this research topic.

The ideal candidate will

• Have a familiarity with basic concepts in environmental science
• Demonstrate an aptitude to develop technical skills including GIS, audio/video editing, and basic web design.
• Have previous coursework or experience in ethnography, oral history, and/or exhibition design.
• Be prepared to work in a collaborative environment.

Further information

You are encouraged to reach out to Jason M. Kelly at jaskelly@iupui.edubefore submitting your application.

American Studies PhD at IUPUI: http://americanstudies.iupui.edu/amst/ph-d/
Rivers of the Anthropocene: https://rivers.iupui.edu/

The Anthropocene Household: https://rivers.iupui.edu/cms/the-anthropocene-household/

Application

To apply for the program, visit https://sisjee.iu.edu/sisad-prd/p/Guest.do?methodToCall=start&inst=IUINA&career=GRAD

In your letter of application, please mention the project title: “The Anthropocene Household.”