Fully funded PhD CASE Studentship, Department of Sociology, Lancaster University
Transitions in the technologies and practices of office work: Manchester’s administrative industries (1960-2017)
With Manchester Museum of Science and Industry.
This project investigates the relation between innovations in office technology - from filing cabinets and fax machines through to hard drives and email – and changing competencies and experiences of office work. The research will makes use of the Museum of Science and Industry’s (MSI) collection of office-related objects, and of secondary sources together with interviews and focus groups to find out how innovations in office technology have affected the nature and location of office work and vice versa. In tackling these questions, and in showing what past innovations in office work might reveal about the future, the research will bring together concepts and approaches from fields such as science and technology studies, material culture and the sociology of everyday practice, also developing a novel integration of methods of material culture/object analysis, interviews, focus groups and archival research.
This is a +3 studentship for Home/EU students who already have a relevant Masters’ degree. The studentship is to start in October 2018. Further details are available at: http://wp.lancs.ac.uk/elizabeth-shove/research-students/
If you are interested get in touch with Elizabeth Shove (E.Shove@lancaster.ac.uk) by 1st March 2018 or as soon after this date as possible.
