Research lines of the Doctoral Programme in Humanities and Communication

This research line focuses on studying the construction of discourses on the city and/or citizenship in the digital era. This approach arises from the interest in analyzing the construction of the public sphere in urban settings and the right to the city. Within this framework, doctoral theses on the role of communication in the following areas are welcome:

•  Subaltern voices and urban margins.
•  Care networks in the city.
•  Communicative action as social activism in the urban context.
•  Audio-visual narratives and the city.
•  Women and the right to the city.
•  Participatory methodologies and urban studies.

Companies and institutions are increasingly aware of the importance of establishing good relations and effective communication with all their publics and stakeholders. Therefore, event organization and protocol are key tools for managing communication and contributing to the success of an organization's mission and vision.

From an academic perspective, this research line addresses the conceptualization of protocol and its implementation based on existing standards, both from a theoretical and applied perspective. The study also focuses on the ceremonial and organizational aspects of corporate events, considering various types of occasions, including official events, conferences, open houses, trade fairs, among others, and new trends being adopted in this growing sector.

Today, organizations need to establish, maintain, and consolidate fluid, positive, and productive relationships with public and private entities capable of influencing their activities and/or those they aim to influence to advance their interests. This is the field of institutional relations, one of the thematic axes of this research line.

Through the effective development of these institutional relations and other communication strategies, organizations can strengthen their reputation, defined as a collective mental construction around their trajectory and the ability to meet the expectations of their strategic public and/or stakeholders. Reputation and its implications form the second axis of this research line.

Finally, today reputation cannot be conceived without due attention to corporate social responsibility (CSR). Given that the public increasingly demands transparency and commitment to environmental and social issues, organizations must work on their communication strategies to demonstrate this responsibility and the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) defined by the UN.

As a new scientific paradigm, open science needs to understand how traditional forms of science communication will evolve to reach the general public and also enable their participation in research design. Science communication can provide new narratives and tools that help knowledge, mainly in the form of monographs and academic articles, reach different layers of society. Additionally, it may include work on alternative bibliometrics to citations, often based on social media metrics, as well as forms of scientific communication that promote new ways of evaluating the social impact of research.

Mediaccions is an interdisciplinary research group dedicated to the study of digital culture and communication. Our vision involves a critical approach to collective creation and everyday online practices as a source of transformative knowledge that contributes to understanding current communication forms.

We conduct a diverse and innovative methodological approach based on ethnography and include both digital methods and others based on citizen action and participation. From a broader perspective, candidates can focus on studying:

•  Participatory and collective creative practices, their processes, and structures both inside and outside cultural and creative industries.
•  Citizen labs, communities, DIY creativity, and self-managed cultural action processes.

Our main research line is:

Sustainability, storytelling, and design: We study the role of storytelling and design actions as a way to express and communicate environmental and sustainability issues, from everyday activism through social media, future imaginaries about climate change and sustainability, the narrative turn in environmental communication, creative methodologies to foster collective imagination about possible futures, and creating new spaces for public debate and action through storytelling, world-building, fiction stories ("what if"), reimagining cities and rural areas, etc.

We investigate the disciplinary boundaries of design and its expansion to other fields of knowledge, delving into methodological changes, research processes, and the political pulse of design practice in the 21st century. We study the impact of the Internet on design and how it has changed production, distribution, professional profiles, and research in an interconnected and interdependent society. Candidates are invited to explore the following topics:

•  Open design.
•  Technology and design.
•  Design education.
•  Design methods.
•  Innovation in brand design.

We investigate the role of stories, new narrative formats, and collective storytelling forms at the level of conceptualization, design, development, and experience. We aim to explore the centrality of narratives from a social perspective in various creative and professional fields, as they articulate expressive and personal forms, their relationship with audiences, as well as their potential to generate alternative imaginaries and possible futures.

•  Transmedia and transmodal projects, digital narratives (stories set in social media environments).
•  Fictional characters on Twitter.
•  Hybrid media projects.
•  Alternate reality and immersive narrative experiences.
•  Narrative games, podcasting, etc.

This proposal invites doctoral candidates interested in exploring the multiple dimensions of diversity - including processes of visibility and invisibility, social inclusion, and exclusion - and how they shape contemporary communication dynamics. Candidates are invited to explore, among other topics:

•  Discursive and visual representations of difference and diversity.
•  Gender and communication.
•  Emergent literacy and social inclusion.
•  Critical pedagogy and inclusive communication.

Communication between experts in a field and non-expert recipients has always been a complex issue. The cognitive domains of both interlocutors are different, and the sender must be able to adapt their discourse to make it understandable to the non-specialized recipient.

This research line aims to analyze, from a linguistic perspective, the factors that specialists need to consider when writing texts from their field of expertise but intended for non-expert audiences. The goal is to identify the linguistic strategies that must be applied to avoid comprehension problems that hinder effective communication. Although the study is conducted from a linguistic perspective, it also considers the cognitive dimension of specialized communication.

The proposed specialized fields for research are law and medicine, as it is essential that recipients fully understand the texts they receive in these areas. However, it is possible to agree on other specialized fields.

Research on environmental communication oriented towards citizen participation. Projects in two lines:

•  Participatory methods, gamification, and co-design of experiences on this topic.
•  Storytelling on social networks based on personal narratives and emerging activism profiles.

We are open to developing theses on other lines that delve into these topics and have social impact.

We explore how creative industries (including film, audiovisual media, music, and sound media) are reconfiguring their production, distribution, and consumption models in a context of technological disruption. We also examine how emerging cultural practices and new forms of cultural consumption (such as streaming and digital platforms) are transforming contemporary culture. Key topics include: production cultures; emerging cultural practices and digital audiences; political economy of creative industries; impact of technology on creation and consumption; and diversity, accessibility, and inclusion in creative industries.

Game studies aim to examine the cultural, social, psychological, aesthetic, economic, and technical aspects of games (digital or otherwise), their design, and their impact on society. We are interested in delving into topics related to game theory, narrative studies, Ludology vs. Narratology, analysis of games' cultural impact (identities, cultures, ideologies), game design, or the economy and industry of video games (microtransactions, freemium models, etc.). We also consider phenomena included in the “Gamification of Culture,” such as gamification, serious games, “game thinking,” “playful design,” simulations, or “pervasive games,” in any of their applications (e.g., entertainment, learning, persuasion, motivation, awareness, physical or mental well-being, etc.).

We address various aspects related to the interaction of citizens with communication media and social interaction platforms, including ways of accessing information and knowledge, emphasizing the emerging needs for media literacy, as well as the different types of social and political activism developed in these media and platforms. New ways of accessing and disseminating information pose challenges for both information and communication professionals and the citizens who use these media, highlighting phenomena such as disinformation, geopolitical propaganda (including aspects like hate speech, climate activism, and gender activism).

We investigate the development of corporate and advertising communication from both strategic and creative perspectives, exploring how organizations and brands structure their messages and the impact these have on reputation, perception, behavior, and the effects on various audiences (consumers, employees, citizens, etc.), with special attention to the most vulnerable groups. One focus is on sustainability and communication in ESG, both in content creation and communicative practices, analyzing how organizations integrate CSR into their narratives. Another focus is the impact of these communicative practices on the well-being of their audiences, especially regarding their mental health. Key topics: internal communication, digital communication, institutional communication, ESG and sustainability communication, youth, diversity, digital well-being.

We aim to deepen the analysis of the articulation between media, society, and culture by focusing on the processes of constructing subjectivities, identities, and power relations in contemporary visual culture. From an intersectional and transdisciplinary approach, we examine the dynamics and phenomena of visual culture to study their configurations and networks of relationships. Key topics include: the role of visual culture in contemporary societies; critique and visual representation; studies on gender, race, and sexuality in visual culture; visual culture and identity; cultural history of the image; aesthetics and ethics of images.

Research through design is a research approach where design practice becomes a way of inquiry, a method to explore and generate knowledge. It focuses on the creation and reflection on design artifacts, using these artifacts to explore ideas and generate insights.

This research proposal invites PhD candidates to engage in transdisciplinary and applied research addressing current social, cultural, and technological challenges through the intrinsic value of making. From a broad perspective, candidates can work on:

•  Design as inquiry, creating artifacts not only as functional products but also to generate knowledge, concepts, or critiques.
•  Emphasizing artifacts that are not only practical solutions but also essential parts of research that provide insights and generate wisdom depending on how they are designed.
•  Producing knowledge not limited to individual cases; this intermediate-level knowledge includes robust concepts, patterns, or design frameworks.

Technological progress has profoundly transformed the way information is produced, distributed and consumed. The digitalization of the media, the automation of communication processes and algorithmic mediation have shaped an informational ecosystem characterized by immediacy, overabundance and vulnerability to disinformation.

Gender biases embedded in algorithms, the challenge posed by artificial intelligence, media structures and journalistic content reproduce inequalities and reinforce stereotypes, placing the stability of human rights in a delicate position.

This proposal is based on the premise that analysing disinformation from a gender perspective is essential to understanding the ethical, political and technological challenges of contemporary communication. Its aim is to contribute to the development of critical thinking and journalistic practice capable of confronting informational manipulation, while promoting a more inclusive, equitable and truthful public sphere.

Research into communication usually focuses on people and their roles and social functions. "Communication at the edge" examines communicative phenomena beyond this paradigm. It studies and investigates intuitive communication techniques (indebted to advances in social and cognitive psychology on heuristic rules) and alleged communication between living witnesses and the dead.

We investigate artificial intelligence as a contested sociotechnical medium where power, culture and meaning-making are negotiated. Our approach combines critical theory, cultural analysis and creative practice to question AI's role in everyday media life, moving beyond techno-solutionism towards emancipatory and speculative perspectives. Candidates are invited to explore the following research streams:

- Algorithmic Mainstream: Critical examination of how AI systems become normalized mediation infrastructure. We study algorithmic bias and discrimination, surveillance capitalism, techno-colonialism, predictive systems and social sorting, fandom and algorithmic culture, and content virality and trends mechanisms.

- AI Media and Arts: Exploration of AI as both a creative tool and an object of artistic enquiry. We investigate how artists and creators use, subvert and reimagine AI technologies. Research areas include generative art and algorithmic creativity, deepfake and synthetic media practices, AI aesthetics and post-digital culture, and critical making with machine learning.

- Semiological Guerrilla: Research focused on counter-hegemonic practices that détourne and resist AI systems. Inspired by Umberto Eco's concept, we work with minoritized communities to develop methods for semiotic dissent against algorithmic homogenization. Topics include critical AI appropriation through participatory action research, adversarial practices, community-driven dataset creation and collective experimental methodologies for alternative imaginaries.

At a time of cultural transformation and climate emergency, film and audiovisual work have a key role in rethinking the relationship between people, communities and the planet. This line of research explores the role of film and audiovisual media in shaping sustainability mindsets. This concept is understood in a broad sense encompassing ecological, social and economic factors and the development of more sustainable and responsible audiovisual production practices. The programme combines critical analysis and creative practice to address the way in which media narratives represent sustainability, environmental and social justice, and how creative processes can contribute to transforming the ways in which culture is produced and consumed. It offers an interdisciplinary framework for researchers and creators interested in combining theory, audiovisual practice and social commitment, with the aim of generating knowledge and projects aimed at imagining sustainable, equitable and inclusive futures.

Possible lines of work:

•  Critical analysis of representations of sustainability, ecology and social justice in film and audiovisual media.
•  Study and implementation of ecologically, economically and socially sustainable audiovisual production practices.
•  Development of narratives on sustainability, care and ecosocial transformation.
•  Research into collective and participatory forms of producing and appreciating sustainable mindsets.

This area offers multiple possibilities for development, from academic research to the creation of audiovisual and artistic projects with social impact. Its aim is to build a space for critical, interdisciplinary work committed to the sustainable transition, using ecofilm and communication as pillars for rethinking the culture, economy and society of the future

This research line focuses on the study of digital accessibility in multilingual environments, understood as the set of practices, technologies, and linguistic and technical strategies aiming at guaranteeing equitable access to information and digital services for everyone, including people with sensory, cognitive, or motor disabilities, as well as individuals with different linguistic profiles. From an interdisciplinary perspective, this research integrates translation studies, applied linguistics, human–computer interaction (HCI), and language technologies to analyse how accessible digital content is produced, localized, translated, and adapted in multilingual contexts.

Research topics include, but are not limited to:

•  the linguistic and technical accessibility of multilingual websites and applications
•  Easy-to-Read on the Web
•  the impact of machine translation and artificial intelligence on digital accessibility
•  the development and evaluation of tools supporting accessible writing and translation practices

These issues can be studied from various approaches, such as linguistic and translation-oriented, ethical and social, technological and user experience (UX/HCI), or communicative perspectives. Research on these topics can also focus on various areas of life, including education and employment. We particularly encourage applied research in public and institutional contexts, in line with international regulatory frameworks (WCAG, European legislation) and the principles of social inclusion and digital rights.

We propose conducting an ethnography of the new forms and tactics of political and social resistance that are emerging today through the lens of event studies (Getz; Richards; Quinn). Social and political resistance movements can be characterized as innovative in terms of their rhetoric and collective mobilization. Currently, they produce a plethora of creations with collective representations and exhibitions based on crowd synchronization to achieve specific visual, emotional, and symbolic effects. These include colorful manifestations; the occupation of large strategic infrastructures; human chains stretching hundreds of kilometers; localized and networked displays of slogans and specific messages; mass festivals, and the saturation of landscapes with symbolic color. As national authorities may have opted to prosecute political and social leaders, the demand for anonymity has led some social movements to organize and plan events in new ways through new dramaturgies of collective celebration and resistance. Some movements also use technology to design and orchestrate protests.

Research projects that focus on what these new forms of resistance and disobedience, their rhetoric, narratives, design, actions and reactions, and technological appropriations tell us about the use and appropriation of political, symbolic, and public space are welcome.

Events such as festivals, carnivals, congresses, sports events, demonstrations, and contemporary rituals are analyzed within a research field known as "Event Studies". Currently, this field of study is expanding from business and politics to social, cultural, and contextual approaches (Getz; Richards; Quinn; Smith). This shift offers scholars the opportunity to address events as contemporary social activities with effects and actions, but also as forces that shape and transform societies. We have explored various aspects related to traditions, gender, sustainability, inclusion, social relations, networks, and liminality.

Thus, we offer guidance for research from a critical perspective, related to events and their consequences or potentialities for our society. We expect research projects to be based on social science methodology. The proposals should employ a qualitative methodology, but we also offer the possibility of working with quantitative measures. We encourage candidates interested in examining the role of contemporary events in our society.

The candidate may join the debate generated within the framework of the recent EU-funded HERA research project, titled "Festivals, events, and inclusive urban public spaces in Europe" (2019/2022).

This line offers two sub-lines of research:

1. Obedience and disobedience in a neoliberal academic and scientific context from a gender perspective. What do ‘obeying’ and ‘disobeying’ mean, and how do we understand them in this context? How do academics and researchers discuss obedience? Where are the boundaries between obedience and protection? What disobedience practices can be identified, under what circumstances, and with what consequences? Can we observe any differences from a gender and/or generational perspective in the behaviors, discourses, and consequences associated with these practices?
2. Neoliberalism in the "Gender Academy": the impact of evaluation technologies on the construction of subjectivities. This line aims to study the processes through which a management ethos has begun to govern academic and scientific institutions, which in turn has led to the introduction of competencies and skills foreign to this field. What impacts does this "intrusion" have on the processes of subjectivation and control of academics and researchers, and on the design of their academic careers? What are the consequences from a gender perspective?

Thinking is training the imagination, producing possible images of what is not apparent, obvious, or immediate. In an immediate present that cancels all imagination except the apocalyptic, what imaginaries do we have today to enable new emancipatory visions of the present, past, and future?

The impact of neoliberal policies and practices has caused the most significant transformation in contemporary science and academia since the mid-20th century. Neoliberal academic policies have placed more emphasis on creating commercial value than on achieving social welfare or knowledge; they have encouraged the use of patents over the open dissemination of knowledge and promoted private investment in universities and research projects to support those research lines with higher commercial application and, thus, financial return prospects.

Existing literature on these issues focuses on the natural or "hard" sciences, such as the biomedical field, while areas like the humanities and social sciences have been much less studied. In this research line, we aim to analyze this almost unexplored terrain, using specific cases such as "digital humanities," and to identify and study initiatives or resistance experiences—both in content and organization—inside and outside academia.

This proposal invites PhD candidates interested in exploring the role of visual culture in contemporary society. This includes examining photography, visual and performing arts, cinema, and video, as well as electronic media, focusing on the historical foundations of visuality and theories of visual culture and aesthetics. Candidates are invited to explore the role of visual culture in society concerning:

•  The symbolic construction of race, class, and gender
•  Visual dimensions of social life
•  Visual history of social practices and social artifacts
•  Art-based research and visual research methodologies

Modern thought and science placed doubt at the center of their method for accessing truth and knowledge. Today, however, new forms of doubt have emerged, often systematically produced by powerful actors aiming directly to generate confusion, controversy, or ignorance. In the case of scientific knowledge, studies in agnotology have analyzed and documented numerous cases of systematic doubt production to create uncertainty or ignorance about what we already know (climate change, ozone depletion, the effects of tobacco, etc.), which are at the root of so-called denialism.

Phenomena such as fake news, the rise of conspiracy theories, or the collapse of imagination are also examples of these new forms of doubt. From a philosophical approach, we propose investigating these new forms of doubt and ignorance, their cases, and their conceptual and socio-political implications. We aim to analyze what kinds of transformations are currently taking place in the regimes of truth/falsehood and in the relationships between knowledge, ignorance, and truth, using both theoretical studies and case or sectoral analyses.

Research proposals to study how more homogeneous or more mixed spaces of interaction impact inequality and subjectivity.

Study of inequality from the perspective of the impact of interactions, social ties, and social capital. This proposal is aimed at those with knowledge in statistics and/or network analysis, or proficiency in qualitative techniques such as interviews, life history, or ethnography, who wish to join ongoing research exploring the relevance of social ties and capital that are formed differently depending on homogeneous or diverse interaction spaces in various institutional contexts (school, city, territory, leisure spaces, youth linguistic or cultural spaces, etc.) in the production and modification of symbolic boundaries between individuals and groups and subsequent social trajectories (inequalities).

Research projects focused on specific youth cultures and styles or on the relationship between different styles, with the aim of understanding how they articulate boundaries and social meanings.

Youth cultures can be studied using both quantitative and qualitative methodological strategies, focusing on specific styles or the relationship between styles; on contemporary or historical cases; and in a single location or a broader geographical scope. The objective is to study youth styles as cultural productions that generate meanings and symbolic responses to the historical and structural contexts in which they exist (social transformations and various forms of inequality).

This research line critically examines the reason that governs our current times: technodigital reason. We define technodigital reason as the economic, behavioral, and ideological logic that characterizes the contemporary era, marked by the shift from homo machina to homo data, representing a second stage of what is known as big tech capitalism or data capitalism. This research line aims to create a space for thought within the field of governmentality studies, offering new critical perspectives on foundational contributions from authors like Michel Foucault, and contemporary figures such as Mariana Mazzucato and Evgeny Morozov, focusing on the forms of control that data ideology exerts over the modern being, the homo sapiens.

The modern age turned the world into a place of exploration and exploitation, but the earth and the atmosphere, the oceans and the biosphere are no longer merely stages for human cultural and political life. Uncontrollable floods, megafires, heat waves, not to mention other ongoing disasters, are now a daily part of a complex network of processes and transformations that overwhelm the cultural and political institutions we have inherited. What began as a hypothesis put forward by geology, the Anthropocene has given rise to one of the greatest cultural transformations ever known. For several decades, its impact has driven a crisis in the modern conceptual framework, particularly the notions of politics and territory. Following the innovative work of Bruno Latour, Isabelle Stengers, Donna Haraway, Vinciane Despret, Frédérique Aït-Touati, Emanuele Coccia and Baptiste Morizot, it seems we must cultivate new "political arts" in the modern era: ways of doing things that centre on the question of how to inhabit the planetary catastrophe in plural and particularly non-modern ways. Theirs is a plea for research carried out in interdisciplinary collectives, investigating and experimenting with the generation of other habits and cultural and professional practices, combining the repertoires of the natural sciences with artistic and curatorial work or the action-research techniques of the social sciences. At a time when this type of initiative is flourishing, we would like to host study proposals from the environmental humanities on different cases, practices and attempts to reimagine political arts to inhabit a planet in crisis. 

The analysis of scientific fraud and misconduct can shed light on some fundamental aspects of science. For instance, the historical evolution of scientific fraud, from traditional “epistemological” manipulation — fabrication or falsification of data — to current varieties of “post-production” misconduct — aimed at enhancing publication impact — reflects dramatic changes in how science is evaluated and organized. We seek research proposals willing to analyze some of the most distinctive features of this new emerging style of scientific misconduct and link them to structural changes in the organization, funding, and evaluation of contemporary science.

Different methods can be used: from quantitative studies on “retractions” to qualitative analyses of specific cases. We are particularly interested in focusing on some recent notorious cases of alleged misconduct in Spanish science and how they have been handled by academic and governmental institutions, the media, and colleagues.

The so-called ‘Science & Technology Studies’ (STS) are an interdisciplinary research field that emerged a few decades ago, exploring different social aspects surrounding science and technology. At the intersection of disciplines like history, sociology, or the philosophy of science with a post-Kuhnian orientation, it promotes fundamentally empirical studies (using ethnographic, historiographical methods, or case studies) of specific practices, initiatives, and episodes in science and technology from a situated and critical standpoint against traditional perspectives of technological determinism, scientism, or the ideology of innovation.

This research includes analyses of the creation, design, or use of scientific knowledge and technological artifacts, paying particular attention to their social, cultural, and political contexts.

Analysis, on one hand, of inequalities in various dimensions of cultural rights (participation, education, creation, production, and governance). On the other hand, the study of policies and projects that address these inequalities.

This research addresses questions such as: What factors influence inequalities in exercising cultural rights? How do factors such as place of residence, people’s origin, or gender affect access to and creation of culture? What kinds of cultural and social policies are being developed to respond to these inequalities? How is the public problem of inequality constructed within these policies? What implications and results does promoting equity in cultural participation through specific programs and projects have?

In short, the research analyzes culture as a key dimension in addressing social and urban inequalities.

Analysis and evaluation of the public value of cultural policies and projects, studying the shift from the instrumentalization of culture for economic and social objectives to processes of democratic transformation. This line of research addresses questions such as: To what extent do cultural policies and projects promote collective and equitable identities, fostering a sense of belonging to shared, yet socially diverse spaces? How can culture foster the autonomous and creative development of individuals, providing opportunities for learning, understanding, and engaging with current societies?

What policies can drive inclusive and sustainable territorial transformation, building new cultural centralities and recognizing people’s cultural capacities? Methodologically, this research advocates for innovative approaches to measure the value and impact of cultural projects using both quantitative and qualitative instruments (indicators, surveys, frame analysis, etc.).

PhD projects that seek to study and understand how young people from peripheral contexts respond to inequality and marginalization, primarily from a qualitative and/or ethnographic approach.

In recent decades, society, media, academia, and politics have placed a strong emphasis on observing young people's attitudes and discourse towards democracy and their political engagement, seeking to measure the extent to which they hold reformist, disruptive, or even reactionary ideas. This focus has often led to stigmatizing views of youth, especially in peripheral or marginalized areas. In these contexts, young people face structural challenges such as a lack of decent employment, social segregation, or increasing poverty.

This research line aims to deepen the understanding of these political forms, moving away from stigmatizing perspectives on youth.

Generative AI produced 15 billion images in its first year, a feat that took photographers 150 years to achieve. The societal impact of this technology has not yet been fully understood.

Especially concerning are AI biases. These biases reinforce stereotypes and perpetuate discriminatory practices regarding race, gender, or age, among others, mainly because generative AI models fail to capture the diversity and complexity of our society, prioritizing certain narratives over others.

This research line aims to study the different forms of production, consumption, appropriation, or regulation of generative AI technologies in relation to various forms of discrimination and exclusion.

This research focuses on the emerging global rebellion against AI oppression and the dominant AI paradigm, including its practices, myths, and discourses. It draws on shared experiences of how AI is affecting society and explores the different ways users strive to negotiate their agency on algorithmic platforms, which could potentially evolve into collective algorithmic agency actions, impacting technology development.

Resistance to AI often questions the ethical implications of AI systems, power control, and social equity. It may operate within or against the system, encompassing social movements, legal struggles, algorithmic audits, or reverse engineering techniques, among other strategies.

Study focusing on changes in culture, communication and ways of life in coastal areas in the Anthropocene, with research into co-knowledge, community care, socio-ecological justice and narratives for resilience.

This line of research is part of the field of contemporary philosophy with a critical orientation towards emerging technologies that shape today's societies: artificial intelligence, robotics, biotechnologies and digital infrastructures. The main objective is to analyse the epistemological, ontological, ethical and political implications of these technologies from a plural, situated and critical philosophical perspective. It is based on the conviction that technologies are not neutral, but rather incorporate forms of power, rationality and knowledge production that must be interrogated. The research is linked to currents such as the philosophy of technoscience, cosmopolitics, critical epistemology, contemporary political philosophy and posthumanist theories. It promotes a reflection on the material and symbolic conditions that sustain digital infrastructures, as well as on the transformations of the subject, the body and life in the era of AI, biotechnology and the ecological crisis. This line aims to contribute to a deep philosophical understanding of the challenges posed by 21st-century technologies, while promoting dialogue between critical thinking, scientific practices and social transformations.

This area of research includes the following sub-areas: body, gender and affects in relation to nation-building; masculinity and nation-building; gendered bodies and their political possibilities, affects and effects; use of the body and gender discourse as a political tool; masculinity and politics; gender and the far right; body, popular culture, sport, influencers and politics; feminism and anti-feminism; misogyny; and affective expressions, gender and politics.

This project focuses on the history of China’s relations with other countries. The proposals should adopt a global history approach and focus on the contemporary period (19th, 20th, 21st centuries). Two research lines are particularly encouraged: 1) China-Spain relations during the late 1930s; 2) The Cold War and the beginnings of China’s economic reform in the late 1970s.

Research proposals on the economic and business history of China are welcome. Candidates should have Chinese language skills and an interest in pursuing a research career focused on China’s economic and/or business history. The proposals may cover the 19th, 20th, or 21st centuries and extend to the Greater China area. The candidate should be interested in reading secondary sources in different languages and examining primary sources (from digital or physical archives, if possible, in China).

Research proposals are welcome on contemporary art and curatorial studies that examine art history concepts beyond the Euro-American axis. This involves an approach based on art and politics, but also postcolonial studies, examining the persistence of colonial difference and possible reparative strategies. In addition, we welcome research that, whether in the field of art or not, seeks to understand how Western epistemological thinking operates to understand the persistence of coloniality in our academic environment.

Research efforts focused on art in Latin America and/or specifically on Brazilian art in relation to social, colonial, and political history of the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. Topics may include racism, latent colonial power relations, art under dictatorship, and curatorship, etc.

Research on the construction of discourses around concepts like otherness, modernity, and interculturality in the colonial and postcolonial world of East Asia, particularly in China and the Sinophone sphere, from the perspective of modern and/or contemporary history.

The need to modernize and open up the economy in Francoist Spain led to the expansion of a specialized bureaucracy capable of developing plans to stabilize the situation. Efforts were made to involve local and regional elites to ensure capillarity, consensus, collaboration, communication, and synergy in terms of their interests. Close collaboration between local leaders and regional administration members led to strong relational networks, often reinforced by family ties, which supported both general and particular social, economic, and political interests.

These new elites acted as agents implementing the regime’s reformist directives and simultaneously became spokespersons and messengers for provincial needs and concerns. These groups contributed to talent recruitment, professionalized apolitical staff, reintegrated individuals punished during the immediate post-war period, and, in some cases, brought modern and international trends into the regime, thus ensuring Francoism’s survival. This thesis proposal aims to identify such relationships, decode the mechanisms behind these connections among the various sectors involved, and reconstruct the relational networks that emerged during the developmental period.

Education has been one of the political and ideological battlegrounds in contemporary Catalonia and Spain, part of the confrontation between reformist and conservative models. From primary school to university, there has been a succession of opposing models regarding educational policies, teaching theories, curricula, and the organization of teachers. This research aims to examine some of these episodes that have affected—and continue to affect—our educational history.

Research on past and current societies has shown how high levels of socioeconomic disparity hinder social mobility and perpetuate intergenerational inequality. Barcelona and its surroundings during the 19th and 20th centuries provide an extraordinary case study for these issues due to significant levels of economic inequality. This area showed early industrialization from the late 18th century. Additionally, there was a replacement of elites: the nobility lost its prominence to liberal professionals, army officers, and public officials, while large merchants accumulated the most wealth during this period.

This area also experienced an early decline in fertility rates within Southern Europe, and until the late 19th century, the inheritance system was based on non-heritable property. These factors contributed to reducing inequality within families but increasing inequality between families, as wealthy families could invest more in their descendants to prevent downward mobility and, consequently, block upward mobility of members from less wealthy families. The goal of this doctoral project is to determine the processes of intergenerational transmission across the social spectrum along with industrialization in the Barcelona area.

The objective is to explore the continuity and influence of specific forms of regionalism within the margins of legality and permissiveness between 1939 and 1975, based on the recognition of their active and continuous participation in the construction of the Spanish state. The aim is to analyze the importance of regionalist discourses and practices in the political-cultural reconstruction of various territories and in the shaping and development of Spain during the second half of the 20th century.

Advances in archaeological and protohistorical research from the 20th to the 21st century have been very positive, incorporating new tools for data analysis and interpretation. However, in the Iberian Peninsula, the necessary inclusion of a gender perspective in this analysis has been much more limited.

In the case of the protohistoric settlement of Alto de la Cruz (Cortes, Navarra), which has been and remains a historical and archaeological reference both nationally and internationally for understanding societal changes and developments during the first millennium BC in the Ebro Valley and the Iberian Peninsula, this gender perspective is urgently needed and should provide key insights into interpretations of protohistorical developments in the region.

Research at the Alto de la Cruz site was crucial for the position of Spanish archaeology in the mid-20th century. The permanent exhibition at Alto de la Cruz, inaugurated in October 2017, offers a snapshot of the work carried out between the 1940s and 1990s.

A working team has been created to analyze the site from a gender perspective.

http://altocruz.blogs.uoc.edu/

http://www.ub.edu/grap/index.php/linees-de-recerca/alto-de-la-cruz-las-claves-de-la-protohistoria-europea

This research line addresses the various ways in which manifestations related to Modernity (avant-garde, modern architecture, cinema, and various expressions of mass culture) coexist, resist, or are promoted by the organs of Franco’s regime. This line proposes to bring historical-cultural analysis into the Spanish context of Francoism across its different socio-political stages: autarky, developmentalism, and late Francoism, exploring chronologies, artists, peripheries, and media less studied to highlight complex issues such as the relationship between fascism and modernism, modernity and regionalism, avant-garde and traditionalism, or classicism, as well as the processes of rupture and continuity in artistic modernity between the pre-war and post-war periods.

This line of research critically explores the intertwinings between artistic production, technoscientific development and social transformations in the contemporary context. It welcomes research exploring the interrelations between art, science, technology and society (ACTS) from historical, theoretical, methodological or practical perspectives, or a combination of these. Special attention is given to approaches from media archaeology, social studies of science and technology applied to the arts, as well as philosophical approaches from new materialisms. Research on the ACTS ecosystem as a whole is also reinforced, promoting a critical understanding of the infrastructures and technoscientific imaginaries that cross it. This research line is committed to a transdisciplinary and situated perspective, capable of analysing how media and creative practices influence contemporary social processes and open up new horizons of thought, sensitivity and action. 

Contemporary artistic practices are characterized by transcending the limitations and classifications of compartmentalized artistic languages. Adopting a post-media perspective allows the integration of both traditional techniques and digital technologies or more process-oriented and relational mediums. This doctoral thesis proposal promotes artistic research projects that do not center on the media themselves but rather on the implications of one form of materialization over another.

•  Artistic production with formalization in a work.
•  Theoretical, historical, and/or practical studies on new media.
•  Curatorial processes, social practices, and relational practices.

Digital art is not only ideally placed to explore these new spaces, but very necessary in order to have approaches, strategies and responses to it that go beyond established and commodified practices, and offer alternatives that aim at pushing these possibilities not for commercial profit but for creativity and towards a more positive impact on society. Currently focusing on the liminal territory between the virtual and the real created by digital technologies, the DARTS research group is invested, through this research line, in looking at the potential of practice-based and artistic research.

Following the Spanish Civil War, the victorious Franco regime built a new administration based on the political purging of existing staff and offices and the appointment of new personnel, to ensure loyalty and the execution of its political mandates. This transformation encompassed the town councils (or city councils) of the country’s towns and cities, which were key state institutions given their proximity to the general public, powers, staff, and social control. Future research must allow us to better understand both the process of destruction of the republican institutions and policies and the construction (and subsequent transformations) of the new regime's power at the local level.

This line of research builds on the concepts of deep time, media topoi and media art histories to investigate the historical and archaeological dimensions of media and the intersections with art, technology and science across diverse historical periods and cultural settings. Taking a decolonial perspective, it emphasizes a non-linear view of the temporal evolution of media, examining their cultural contexts and emphasizing experimental and archival research as methodological approaches. The thematic scope ranges from writing systems and numerical representations to computational programming languages, including analogue devices for projecting or capturing light, as well as microfluidics and new technical forms of computing. This line of research operates as a complement and counterpoint to canonical histories of knowledge and creativity. Although there is a global interest, the emphasis is on Latin America, Southern Europe and the Global South.

This research line focuses on the realization and study of inter- and transdisciplinary artistic practices. It uses process research methodologies known as practice as research (PaR) or practice-based research (PbR) to generate critical and transformative knowledge. This line explores the capacity of artistic, curatorial and design practices to intervene critically in social contexts and generate new knowledge. These practices are closely related to other areas of knowledge and are nourished by concepts, visions and approaches from the humanities, sciences and technologies.

The results of PaR/PbR include the development of methodological and epistemic tools that explore new materialities and processes, as well as the creation of aesthetic objects and experiences. This line fosters dialogues that allow for a critique of the present with a decolonial perspective, connecting practices with the development of situated and socially relevant knowledge.

This research line addresses the study of the societies that have inhabited and interacted around the Mediterranean Sea over time, such as the Greeks, Phoenicians, Romans, and Iberians. From prehistory to Late Antiquity, it allows for the analysis of the historical, social, and cultural processes that have shaped the Mediterranean as an interconnected, dynamic, and plural space. These research projects may combine the study of material culture with textual sources, traditional archaeological methodologies, and digital tools, with the aim of understanding the mechanisms of mobility, social, economic, and religious transformation, and identity construction that have characterized Mediterranean communities.

Research on contemporary Chinese and/or Sinophone literatures, particularly (but not exclusively) related to the representation of otherness, social tensions, or interactions between the Sinophone and Western worlds. Approaches to these aspects from the perspectives of comparative literature, translation studies, critical theory, intellectual history, and thought.

We conduct research on Conceptual Metaphor Theory and its applications to the analysis of conceptualizations or discourses in specific fields, particularly health and mental health. The research topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

•  Metaphor in health/mental health communication.
•  Metaphor in patient discourse.
•  Metaphor in professional or scientific discourse.
•  Metaphor in the media.
•  Methodologies for metaphor detection and coding.
•  Applied studies of metaphor.

Our current research project in this area focuses on mental health. More information can be found here: MOMENT Project.

Neural machine translation systems have significantly improved the quality of results, but there are still many aspects to investigate and enhance. This PhD research line is broad and includes both system training aspects and its integration into professional translation environments. Research can also include topics related to post-editing processes and the use of neural machine translation in translating creative and literary texts.

This is a broad research proposal exploring machine learning and artificial intelligence techniques applied to automatic terminology extraction and the automatic search for translation equivalents in parallel and comparable corpora.

This thesis proposal is hosted by the Global Literary Studies Research Lab and analyzes literary and translation history from a global, decentralized, and interdisciplinary perspective. We encourage thesis proposals observing cultural and literary phenomena that transcend national frameworks and can be studied within broader configurations. Within a decolonial, sociological, relational, gender/intersectional and digital humanities approach, we welcome PhD students that aim at investigating through one of these five main research lines: global translation flows, the global novel, global literary environaments and ecological humanities, global cinema, and imaginaries of the future. Researchers: Natàlia Cantó-Milà, Diana Roig-Sanz, Lucía Campanella, Takako Otsuki, Laura Fólica, Ainamar Clariana.
 
Global Translation Flows:

•  Book circulation, publishing history, and consecrating agents and institutions (translators, publishers, literary agents, book fairs, programs for translation, literary prizes, etc.) (Diana Roig-Sanz, Lucía Campanella, and Laura Fólica)
•  Translation, soft power and cultural history of the 20th and 21st centuries within a digital humanities framework (Lucía Campanella and Diana Roig-Sanz)
•  Literary translation and periodical publications, with a specific focus on Latin America (Lucía Campanella, Laura Fólica and Diana Roig-Sanz)
•  Literary translation and anarchism (Lucía Campanella)
•  Contemporary Japanese Literature in Translation (Takako Otsuki)

The Global Novel:

•  Studies on the global novel, with a specific focus on the Spanish speaking world and small/less-translated languages (Diana Roig-Sanz, Lucía Campanella, Laura Fólica, Takako Otsuki)
•  Black Diasporic Literatures with an intersectional perspective (Diana Roig-Sanz, Lucía Campanella)
•  Indigenous Literatures in a Global Context, particularly from Abya Yala (Diana Roig-Sanz)
•  Contemporary Japanese women writers (Takako Otsuki)

Global Literary Environments and Ecological Humanities:

•  Uses and representations of spatial environments in literature (Lucía Campanella, Natàlia Cantó-Milà, Diana Roig-Sanz)
•  Understanding how global spaces – such as forests, rivers, and oceans – historically constructed as "collective possessions" are shaped through literature, philosophy, and human sciences (Natàlia Cantó-Milà)
•  Ecology and Literature (Diana Roig-Sanz and Natàlia Cantó-Milà)

Global Cinema:

•  Sociocultural history of cinema (Ainamar Clariana-Rodagut)
•  Women and cinema (Ainamar Clariana-Rodagut)

Imaginaries of the Future:

•  Ecological social imaginaries and radical imagination (Natàlia Cantó-Milà)
•  Experiences and understandings of a human-made epoch to explore how these new times shape spaces and places we inhabit (Natàlia Cantó-Milà)
•  Relations with the environment (human and non-human) (Natàlia Cantó-Milà)

Communication between experts in a field and non-expert recipients has always been a complex issue with potential challenges. The cognitive domains of both interlocutors differ, and the originator must be able to adapt their discourse to make it understandable for the non-specialist recipient.

This research line aims to analyze, from a linguistic perspective, the factors that specialists should consider when writing texts within their field of expertise but intended for non-experts. The goal is to identify the linguistic strategies necessary to avoid comprehension issues that may hinder effective communication. Although the study is primarily linguistic, it also considers the cognitive dimension of specialized communication.

The proposed fields for research are law and medicine, as it is vital that recipients have a clear understanding of the texts they receive in these areas. However, other specialized fields may also be agreed upon.

The technical revolution experienced by society in recent decades has led to profound transformations that have had a significant impact on language, especially in terms of linguistic change. Today, Web 3.0 enables new words to circulate on the internet and spread massively among millions of users, who are often individuals.

Given these circumstances, it seems logical to hypothesize that the use of social networks is impacting both the processes of new word formation and the rate of neological change in languages (in terms of accelerating or increasing it).

This research line aims to validate or refute these claims by analyzing neologisms sourced from social networks to determine the current trends followed by languages in lexical innovation processes. It is also open to studying lexical creativity in general, both from a theoretical perspective and through case studies.

Computational Lexicography Studies focus on terminology, linguistic resources, and natural language processing tools from a multilingual and interdisciplinary perspective. The research topics include, but are not limited to:

•  Computational terminology
•  Corpus linguistics
•  Linguistic resources
•  Natural language processing tools
•  Computational lexicography: theoretical studies
•  Computational lexicography: applied studies

The GRESOL literature studies research group invites proposals for theses in the following areas:

•  Contemporary narratives from the edges of Europe. Neus Rotger
•  Contemporary Catalan narrative. Teresa Iribarren, Adriana Nicolau
•  Contemporary Catalan poetry. Olívia Gassol, Roger Canadell
•  Literary representations of gender violence. Teresa Iribarren
•  The Catalan literary institution: publishers, translations and national and international circulation. Teresa Iribarren, Olívia Gassol
•  Contemporary Catalan performing arts (especially from the perspective of gender and sexuality). Adriana Nicolau
•  Cultural, literary and intellectual history under dictatorial regimes (especially under Franco) and in periods of transition to democracy. Olívia Gassol, Maria Lacueva Lorenz
•  Memory, politics and literature. Olívia Gassol, Neus Rotger
•  Critical edition of contemporary Catalan literary texts. Olívia Gassol, Roger Canadell
•  19th-century Catalan literature. Roger Canadell
•  Didactics of literature and literary education. Maria Lacueva Lorenz, Roger Canadell
•  Catalan literature by women writers: texts, contexts and genealogy. Maria Lacueva Lorenz

Didactics of Language and Literature (DLL) is a discipline that spans pre-university educational levels (Infant, Primary, Secondary Education, and Baccalaureate), as well as university-level teaching (Undergraduate, Master's, Postgraduate) and adult education, both formal and informal (EOI, courses for migrants, continuing education, etc.).

Within this multi-level framework, we propose the following research lines in DLL from a non-androcentric perspective and committed to the Sustainable Development Goals:

1. Language didactics:

- Teaching and learning languages in multilingual contexts (L1, L2)

- Didactics of foreign languages, such as ELE or CLE.

2. Literature didactics:

- Literary education in multicultural contexts: theory, methodologies, practices.

- The sociocultural dimension of literature, canon, and educational curriculum.

- Interrelation of literature with other disciplines in educational practice.

3. Educational sociolinguistics:

- Didactics of sociolinguistics

- Linguistic attitudes, beliefs, etc., of the educational community (teachers, students, families, etc.).

4. Resources for DLL:

- Analysis of existing didactic materials and creation of new resources, both analog and digital.

- Digital humanities and their applications to DLL.

5. Intersection of language, literature, and culture in educational practice.

6. DLL from a historical, transnational, or comparative perspective.

7. DLL and reading promotion.

Studies of contemporary literary narrative with theoretical approaches based on comparativism, critical theory, studies of the novel, narrative theory, gender studies and studies of historical memory. Within the framework of the ongoing research project Narrative at the Margins of Europe (NAME), we welcome proposals for theses on narrative fiction and non-fiction literature from the 1990s to the present day, with special attention to the literary cultures of southern and eastern Europe.

Thesis proposals are welcome in the field of Catalan theater, particularly from a gender and sexuality perspective.

The IdentiCat research group includes a team of sociolinguists interested in understanding how linguistic diversity is intertwined with the production and reproduction of social inequalities. Specifically, we are concerned with how inequalities related to languages intersect with other axes of inequality, such as gender, sexuality, social class, race, functional diversity, etc.

In particular, we are interested in developing the concept of subjectivity as applied to linguistic practices, as well as exploring new contributions from post-materialism and post-humanism to understand how spaces of agency can be created for subaltern subjects, and how language policies can be integrated with other equality policies at all levels.

This research focuses on training and fine-tuning techniques for models used in speech-to-text and speech-to-speech translation. The aim is to study two specific applications: scientific and academic communication and the performing arts. In addition to examining technical aspects of translation models, the research also seeks to analyze possible output devices for using these applications: projectors, mobile devices, smart glasses, etc.

This research line addresses sociolinguistic studies, focusing on language not as a code but as a social practice (Halliday; Hymes; Gumperz) from a conflictual or critical perspective where individuals compete to gain and mobilize linguistic resources according to their interests (Bourdieu; Heller; Duchêne). We explore what linguistic practices mean for individuals in a world characterized by economic tertiarization, increased mobility of people, goods, and images, as well as new forms of governance. Our current Horizon multisituated (MultiLX) project aims to study everyday linguistic practices (both analogue and digital) and linguistic ideologies amongst the youth.

This research line focuses on the analysis of discourse in institutional settings, both at supranational (EU, UN, etc.) and national levels (parliaments, legislative chambers, organizations, etc.). The goal is to analyze the relationships of power, legitimacy, and authority through language, as well as the social and political implications of discursive practices carried out by public and private institutions.

The research line in Plain Language (PL) and clear communication focuses on studying and applying clear, accessible communication models for citizens, particularly in administrative and legal contexts. The objective is to simplify institutional documentation and identify best practices to enhance the clarity of administrative language. We collaborate on projects such as using eye-tracking technology to improve the accessibility of administrative texts.

Legal and institutional translation is a crucial field for intercultural communication. These contexts require precision and terminological adequacy to ensure the legal security of the system and the rights of citizens. This research line offers doctoral students the opportunity to explore translation in legal-administrative contexts at both supranational and national levels. This research addresses the translation of specialized texts (normative texts, contracts, court rulings, or institutional documents, among others) that must maintain accuracy while considering cultural and normative differences among stakeholders.