Funding for three new UG PhDs in the humanities

Research ranging from studies into online media fandom, the Landscape of the Northern Netherlands as Critical Material and speech planning and monitoring in Parkinson’s disease: three talented emerging UG researchers will spend the next few years carrying out research projects, thanks to funding from the NWO PhDs in Humanities programme.

The everyday life of media fans: ritual and sacralisation in online media fandom

Applicant: Dr. K.E. Knibbe
Candidate: W.F. Wagenaar

Digital media have made it possible to engage in new, consuming ways with the fictional worlds of different media. This is especially true for media fans, who routinely explore their favorite story worlds online. Such involvement raises concern about people becoming disconnected from the ‘actual’ world. Existing research on fandom fails to adequately address the complex interactions between online fan activities, fictional worlds, and people’s everyday lives. This project uses theory on ritual framing and sacralisation to fill this gap, with the aim of developing a new framework for studying the cultural significance of fictional worlds and media fandom.

Nature, Crisis, and Creativity: The Landscape of the Northern Netherlands as Critical Material, from Abstract to Activist Art

Applicant: Prof. dr. A.S. Lehmann
Candidate: A. Haveman

This project shows how artists have use the landscape of the Northern Netherlands as critical material. It illustrates how artists’ first experiments with the use of the landscape as their material since the late 1960s are still relevant. These histories are related to present day artists, who are engaging with issues such as the rising sea levels or the earthquakes in Groningen. The result will not only provide insight into a hitherto neglected chapter of Dutch art history, but also show how artists might foster awareness or challenge perspectives in the face of contemporary ecological crises.

Speech planning and monitoring in Parkinson’s disease

Applicant: Prof. dr. M.B. Wieling
Candidate: T. Rebernik

With the worldwide ageing of the population, there is an increased prevalence of age-related diseases such as Parkinson’s disease (PD). In PD, speech is also affected. Given the importance of being able to communicate effectively, the ultimate goal of this project is to investigate which aspects of speech – planning or monitoring – are affected most in PD. Importantly, we do not only investigate the produced speech, but also the underlying movement of the articulators. Another goal of this project is to assess if there are Parkinson-specific patterns in our results which may help develop better diagnostic tools and speech therapies.

More information

The aim of the PhDs in the Humanities Programme is to give a boost to the supply and promotion of young talent in the humanities. A total of 3,3 million euros was awarded to 18 emerging researchers in this funding round.

Source: Financiering voor 18 nieuwe promovendi in de geesteswetenschappen