Research lines of the Doctoral Programme in Society, Technology and Culture

This proposal aims to theorize how older individuals enact, negotiate and resist digital devices and services – ranging from smartphones and social media platforms to newer AI-driven tools and creative agents – and how these practices are shaped by, and in turn shape, age-related stereotypes and digital ageism. Building on the theoretical strands of critical gerontology, digital sociology and STS (science and technology studies), the study examines how normative assumptions about ageing (for example, older people as technophobic, passive or ‘late adopters’) influence access, use and meaning-making in digital contexts, and how older users themselves navigate, challenge or reproduce these stereotypes. The project seeks to elucidate the complex interplay between generational imaginaries, algorithmic design, everyday lifeworlds and emerging AI modalities. By doing so, the research contributes to understanding how digital inclusion in later life is more than a matter of access or skills; it is embedded in cultural repertoires and power relations, and mediated by evolving techno-social infrastructures.

The aim is to analyse how data systems and algorithmic infrastructures reproduce, reinforce or resist age-based inequalities in contemporary digital societies. Building on the framework of the Aging in Data project (https://agingindata.ca/), it investigates data ageism – the processes through which older adults are rendered visible, invisible or misrepresented within data collection, categorization, and algorithmic decision-making. The study situates data ageism as both a structural and symbolic phenomenon, where older age becomes encoded through data practices and sociotechnical imaginaries that privilege certain life stages and digital competences. Combining critical data studies, digital sociology and ageing studies, the project analyses how age operates across datasets, platforms and policy narratives, and how older adults themselves understand, experience, and negotiate being datafied. The research contributes to re-conceptualizing digital inclusion by shifting the focus from access and skills to the political and ethical dimensions of datafication. Ultimately, it aims to expand the field of ageing studies by theorizing how age and data intersect as central categories of inequality and representation in the algorithmic age.

The topic of this research is the emerging global rebellion against the oppression of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the dominant AI paradigm, with its practices, myths and discourses. It is based on the shared experiences of how AI affects society and how users struggle to negotiate their agency on algorithmic platforms, which could eventually turn into collective algorithmic agency actions and impact the development of technologies.

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

AI generated 15 trillion images in its first year, a feat that took photographers 150 years to achieve. The impact on society has not yet been fully appreciated.

Particularly worrying are AI biases. These reinforce stereotypes and perpetuate discriminatory practices in terms of race, gender or age, among others. Mainly, because generative AI models fail to capture the diversity and complexity of our society and certain discourses are prioritised over others.

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

The aim of this research line is to analyse how political parties, as important institutions of representative democracy, promote and structure political debate and deliberation within and around themselves. We will examine the contribution of political parties to the democratic system of deliberation, taking into account both its internal dimensions (i.e. intra-party deliberation through digital platforms and face-to-face conventions and assemblies) and external dimensions (social media debates) in relation to the public sphere. We are also interested in party reform and would like to promote party transformation towards effective processes and mechanisms for participation and deliberation. The methodology will be quantitative and qualitative (interviews, focus groups), including computational techniques such as machine learning and network analysis. Theoretical and normative studies are also welcome.

Participatory platforms are now widely used around the world to carry out participatory processes, especially participatory budgeting. The aim of this research line is to collect data from the platforms' collective API or by means of another big data collection process and analyse the factors that may influence the adoption and success of participatory budgeting through platforms in Catalonia, Spain and the world. Dependent variables could be the number of people registered, the number of participants, processes, or suggestions and comments from citizens by municipality and country. Explanatory variables could be characteristics of municipalities and countries. We would also like to measure citizens' satisfaction with participatory budgeting on platforms and determine how this affects their political legitimacy and trust.

This line looks at the various ways in which technologies (especially digital technologies) and politics shape each other today, and what are the alternative futures for democracy as a result. The line moves from foundational problems in political theory and philosophy of technology up to specific  movements such as Black Lives Matter or projects of networked democracy such as Decidim.org, which we co-founded; more broadly, it covers processes ranging from the platformization and datafication of social movements, the public sphere, political parties and States to the construction and sociotechnical governance of data and digital infrastructures. It carries on an interdiscilpinary analysis (involving both descriptive and normative perspectives, and combining qualitative and quantitative methods, from ethnography to big data analysis) of digital politics today, including its conditions (e.g., platforms), phenomena (e.g., fake news, multitudinous identities), and regimes (e.g., authoritarianism, democracy). 

We live in digital societies that have grown extremely complex, composed of interconnected, multi-layered and multi-scalar systems and assemblages. With this in mind, how are we to think of their structures and dynamics? What are the general forms of construction and conflict in these societies? What role do dimensions such as technology and politics play, and how are these dimensions themselves structured, stabilized or transformed? This research line aims to conceptually and empirically explore a systemic theory of digital societies, connecting different traditions in philosophy, sociology, political science, political economy, science and technology studies, and complexity sciences.

This research line digs into rival narratives on the relationship between humanity and technology. The first, transhumanism, has argued that we should use technology to modify our biological, cognitive and social makeup to become more than human. More recently, technological humanism has stressed the reverse need to humanize technology, introducing humanist ethics and values into it. Both views are rooted in modern humanism, which usually places the human being as the measure, if not also the foundation and ultimate goal, of reality. As a response, forms of cultural posthumanism have proliferated as a constellation of positions that criticize the humanist vision of humans and their relationship with technologies, other living beings and reality itself. This research line draws, firstly, on the history of ideas and culture, and, secondly, on a critique coming from political economy. The aim is to explore some of the conceptual nuances of these narratives as well as their social, economic, political and ecological conditions and impacts.

Transport planning and policy is undergoing significant changes in the context of climate change, digital transformation, increasing congestion, remote working and changing consumption patterns. We are looking for candidates who are interested in analysing the changes in air, sea and land transport systems for people and goods and their socioeconomic impacts.

Aviation is facing significant challenges in terms of climate change, environmental reputation, new patterns of regional and international mobility, and technology developments. We are looking for candidates that would like to analyse the different sustainability dimensions of aviation, which include economic, environmental and social aspects.

Culture diversity and ethical values in organizations remain a significant challenge for both small and medium-sized enterprises and large corporations. We are looking for candidates that would like to explore societal changes related to work practices, and analyse new practices in talent management and technology solutions that focus on cultures that place ethics at the centre.

This research line emphasizes theoretical questions on how contemporary processes of change such as those derived from technology and other global trends affect our understanding of classical questions addressed in the field of political theory, such as democracy, freedom and equality.

The aim of this research line is to investigate how AI systems are designed and used for political decision-making by citizens in electoral, participatory and deliberative processes, and the future potential in this area. The "democratic" functions of AI could include information gathering and processing, moderation, consensus building or voting recommendation systems. The tools to be used can be derived from generative AI or be chatbots, visualization elements, etc.

The aim of this research line is to analyse the impact of artificial intelligence models, such as recommender systems and large language models, on access to political information, particularly during election campaigns.

Theoretical and empirical research on:

•  The sociopolitical implications of AI and data-driven technologies (especially in relation to fundamental rights, democracy and social justice);
•  Digital/data/AI sovereignty, governance and activism.

The aim is to shed light on the intersection between epidemics, socio-economic inequality and demographic behaviours, using innovative analytical methodologies based on artificial intelligence.

This research line explores food systems, especially those involving agroecology, and focuses on collective collaboration within the social or social and solidarity economy. It includes analysis of digitally based innovations and collaborative sharing dynamics related to food sovereignty, considering both ecosystems of practice and public policy perspectives.

This research line seeks to address questions regarding how contemporary global-local processes affect the configuration and functionality of rural spaces and communities today. We welcome projects aiming to contribute with knowledge and methodological advancements in the understanding of contemporary ruralities on an international scale.

This line of research explores how eco-social futures take shape both materially, in infrastructures, practices and everyday routines, and as circulating imaginaries in policy, media and culture. We welcome PhD proposals that trace latent futures already in the making and relate them with eco-social imaginaries to identify convergences, tensions and translations across scales and time horizons. Preferred approaches include infrastructural ethnography, analysis of policies, discourse and visual analysis, and mixed digital-qualitative methods, as well as ethnographies. Possible domains include energy transition and housing, water and coastal adaptation, mobility and logistics, agroecology and circularity, data and AI infrastructures, and, above all, care.

Theoretical and empirical research on media, media literacy, social networks with a focus from a gender perspective. Thesis proposals derived from the master's degree in Journalism and Digital Communication: Data and New Narratives are accepted.

The study of the development of gendered aspirations in STEM across secondary school years and the transition to higher education has been the scope of vast international research under the framework of the expectancy-value (EV) theory of achievement motivation. Similarly, many efforts have been conducted in the US and other international contexts to encourage the participation of girls in STEM, inspired by this EV theory and other theoretical frameworks, such as the stereotype threat theory, or the role and goal congruity theory.

Young females do not choose STEM studies because they do not identify with the prototypical masculine stereotype frequently associated with STEM professionals. Knowing more about the content of gender stereotypes about STEM studies and occupations can provide inspiration for interventions oriented to challenge these stereotypes and their prescriptive role. The main goal of this research line is to therefore analyze the main developmental socialization factors that contribute to the formation of gender stereotypes about STEM professions during childhood and adolescence.

The study of the gender digital divide faces new challenges due to the persistence of inequalities in terms of Internet access, but also with regards to digital skills, uses, and the design of technologies. ICTs can empower women’s opportunities to reverse inequalities and show the importance of including women’s talent in the design of ICT services and products that provide solutions to societal challenges like the ones associated to the current health crisis. From a mutual shaping of technology and society theoretical approach, it is necessary to examine women and men as consumers of digital devices and contents, but also as producers of these technologies.

The “Science of Team Science” brings together a variety of disciplines addressing the conditions of collaborative knowledge production. The question how gender diversity affects scientific collaboration is key in this respect. Current developments strive to integrate a more dynamic view on team processes. Recent methodological (time-based social network analysis) as well as technical developments (sensor/video based monitoring and automatic labelling) allow exciting new questions to be posed regarding the impact of gender diversity on team processes.

Behavioral tracking technology (video but also sensor based) is increasingly prevalent across a variety of societal contexts, including security sector, medical and fitness devices but also Human Resource management. This research line aims at a critical examination of the use and misuses of behavioral tracking technology and its gendered implications. Behavioral tracking, when combined with artificial intelligence decision making can perpetuate gender-bias but also open up new and exciting research questions regarding gender patterns of social behavior.

Our goal is to understand those factors that promote the effective design and implementation of inclusive gender equality interventions in research performing and research funding organizations as well as higher education institutions and the private sector. Interventions may take the form of a Gender Equality Plan, or Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Interventions- from an intersectional approach, amongst others. Analysis centers on the processes and outcomes of each phase of the intervention, from the design phase, to implementation, and outcomes whilst relevant context factors are taken into consideration. The main challenge is to understand how to make research more inclusive and diverse as well as produce better quality knowledge and innovations that respond to diverse needs.  We also examine how to demonstrate real change through monitoring and evaluation of the change process.

This research line focuses on studying strategies for domination and control of the public sphere, grounded in disinformation, the implementation of falsehoods, and the cancellation of otherness as tools of purported political revolution. The approach is proposed as a starting point for critically and contextually analysing the expansion of anti-woke narratives, hate speech, and the advocacy of anti-political correctness. This encompasses studies on media and social network content, on the neutrality or instrumentalization of cultural products, on the ownership of information, as well as on the challenges and threats faced by communication and information rights as human rights.

If modern work is to be sustainable, we need to rethink the balance between work and personal life in a context of technological and cultural transformation. Teleworking and new ways to organize work give us flexibility in time and space, but they can also intensify workloads and blur the lines between professional and private. From a gender perspective, these developments reveal persistent inequalities, as the burden of unpaid caregiving responsibilities more often falls on women. Fostering an equitable work-life balance involves designing inclusive work policies, recognizing the value of personal time, and redistributing caregiving tasks.

The aim of this line of research is to explore how work can be made more socially sustainable through the organization of work, work-life balance, gender equity and changing organizational cultures towards more inclusive and healthier work models.

Accelerated digitalization and the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in organizational, production and management processes are changing the world of work. These changes create a tension between the promise of greater efficiency and productivity at work and the consequences for the workforce, which have social, ethical and democratic implications. In order to explore these changes from a critical perspective, research will be carried out into the following:

- Discrimination in employment and biases related to gender, age, origin or functional diversity in the management algorithm.

- Discontent and controversy caused by precarious employment and intensified labour in digitalized workplaces and inequalities that shape careers and individuals' perception of work.

- Ethical and social implications arising from the development of algorithms in the workplace, with an examination of mechanisms that strengthen workers' protection and rights.

Artificial intelligence is transforming the world of work by establishing new forms of power and control based on algorithmic management. AI systems automate monitoring and decision-making, regulating key organizational processes through the application of opaque criteria justified by efficiency. This creates asymmetries between those who design or own the algorithms and those who are governed by them, increasing inequalities and eroding workplace autonomy. In response, innovative forms of digital activism and associative practices which seek to defend rights, guarantee decent conditions and promote a fair technological transition are emerging. Collaborative platforms, digital unions and transnational movements are using AI and social media to highlight inequalities, coordinate action, and strengthen collective participation. This line of research critically addresses these processes, analysing how AI redefines authority, work and social justice, and generates new strategies of resistance and solidarity, promoting a reformulation of worker power and the very meaning of organization in the 21st century.

This line of research addresses the impact of AI on labour structures and the ideological frameworks that support them. Automation and algorithms generate tensions between efficiency and precarious employment, innovation and loss of autonomy, meritocracy and surveillance. AI redefines notions of work, value and control, challenging the ethical principles of digital capitalism. These processes create contradictions between the promise of technological progress and the reproduction of socioeconomic inequalities, as well as the dehumanization of certain production processes. This line of research focuses on understanding how technocratic discourses legitimize or challenge these transformations, revealing the ideological disputes that shape workers' perceptions in the algorithmic age.

The present proposal invites PhD candidates interested in exploring the multiple dimensions and interrelations of diversity and inequality - including the processes of visibility and invisibility, inclusion and social exclusion - and how they are shaped in the contemporary dynamics in three main àreas: education, communication and urbanism. Candidates are invited to explore, among other topics:

•  Discursive and visual representations of difference and diversity.
•  Gender and communication.
•  Emerging literacies and social inclusion.
•  Critical pedagogy and inclusiveness.
•  Urban spaces, equality and representation.

Within our doctoral programme, we pursue a wide range of research into the multifaceted relationship between communication and mental health across various media. Doctoral candidates will have the opportunity to explore the impact of different communication media (traditional media, digital communication, advertising and influencers) on individuals' mental well-being. This research area also includes an examination of how mental health issues are portrayed and addressed in different media, with the aim of uncovering the intricate mechanisms and potential causal links between communication patterns across different platforms and mental health outcomes. Doctoral students will be able to employ a range of methodologies and interdisciplinary approaches to gain a comprehensive understanding of this critical intersection and contribute to the growing body of knowledge in the field of communication and mental health.

The line of research focuses on the digital inclusion of people with disabilities in access to museums, heritage and cultural sites. Methodological approaches can vary from ethnographic, qualitative studies to action research through cultural practices.

The aim is to examine the significance and implications of cultural sustainability in the context of ecological emergency and increasing social inequalities. We address both the role of cultural and artistic projects in sustainable development (culture as the fourth pillar of sustainability) and culture as sustainable development.

Nearly 50% of schools in European cities are in areas with strong urban heat island effects (>2ºC). Cities are increasingly interested in developing strategies and actions to build nature-based school environments in a participatory way, that is, by co-creating nature-based interventions to respond to climate change and for co-benefits (promoting urban biodiversity, enhancing wellbeing, fostering learning, etc.). We are looking for students who are interested in exploring how the ways nature-based schoolyards are co-designed and maintained shape the resultant co-benefits.

Climate change education is gaining momentum as a key tool to help children and citizens to understand and address the causes and impacts of climate change. This research line is interested in examining how climate change education is conceived and developed in cities in formal and/or non-formal settings through the lenses of post-sustainability education and climate justice. It also seeks to analyze the implications of different approaches in terms of changing citizens’ frames of reference and engaging and empowering them on actions relating to climate change.

Community-led initiatives towards climate change in cities (e.g., urban green infrastructure and agroecology projects linked to civic ecology practices, energy citizenship actions, public awareness interventions) involve a myriad of learning processes, both for individuals and in a social sense. We are looking for students interested in understanding how people share, transmit and even develop new knowledge (and skills) through being engaged in such community-based initiatives, and how such learning relates to social transformation and urban climate resilience.

This thesis will explore through the prism of urban political ecology, critical environmental studies and/or environmental justice the socio-environmental implications of the implementation of Nature-Based solutions (NBS) at the urban and metropolitan scale to tackle the impending climate emergency, including the unintended impacts, distributional issues and the conflicts around them. It may focus also on how NBS open up/produce new ecosystem services for citizens.  It will seek a comparative perspective.

The European Green Deal focuses on promoting the “twin transitions”, that is, the parallel pursuit of the green and digital transitions, which render sustainability a problem to be solved through (primarily technological) innovation. The city of Barcelona has adopted the “twin transition” discourse, which is very prominent in visions for how the circular economy is to be implemented at the urban scale. The thesis will critically analyse the socio-technical imaginaries linked to the “twin transitions” and the “circular economy”, and assess how innovation, technology and digitalisation produce green policies in Barcelona.

As digital capitalism advances and we become increasingly dependent on the virtuality of the digital world (the cloud, streaming, mobile phones, AI, etc.) for our everyday lives, these transformations are sustained by a less visible but very material network of digital infrastructure (data centres, cables, antennas, etc.) that intensively uses energy and raw materials. An infrastructure that goes beyond the central nodes of the digital economy and shapes particular forms of extractivism and uneven development. We are looking for students who want to explore the relationship between urban transformation, sustainable development and internet infrastructure from a political ecology and economic perspective.

We are looking for students interested in either exploring how current urban transformations are shaping the city and in gentrifying, touristifying, or deepening urban segregation; or, to analyze the tools, strategies,and instruments, policies or grassroots responses to these processes.

Drones, robots and big data are becoming important actors along the agricultural chain. This PhD thesis studies the turn towards an “agriculture 4.0.”, focusing on emerging power dynamics (e.g. between small and big farmers, ag companies and farmers, etc.). It will also question to what extent this institutionally-led plan really target farmers’ needs and how it addresses agriculture sustainability on its full breath, that is, considering economic, social and environmental factors. Which rationales sustain the introduction of such technologies in agriculture? What material aspects need to be considered (e.g. conditions, limitations that these technologies are tied to)? How labor dynamics are changed? How agrarian dynamics are shifted and to what effect? Can the digitalization be emancipatory for small-medium farmers?

The aim of this research area is to analyse the urban context from a critical and interdisciplinary perspective (law, urban planning, psychology, sociology, etc.) and to consider how urban processes are produced and developed in contemporary urban-social realities. In other words, we seek a deeper understanding of how cities work, not only as spaces for economic and financial production where specific forms of urban governance are developed, but above all as common and open spaces for the social and urban construction of visible or invisible phenomena (gender, care, vulnerabilities, etc.).

This research line investigates the reconfigurations of hydrosocial cycles -spanning both urban centers and larger territorial units- driven by the intensifying global climate emergency. Adopting a political ecology perspective, the focus is on analyzing the political and material processes that are reshaping water governance across the Global North and the Global South. This includes examining the deployment of new infrastructures (like desalination and reclaimed water), shifting political-economic debates (such as remunicipalization, financialization, and privatization), and the complex interplay with urbanization processes (like suburban fragmentation in the North and informality and contested access in the South).

Telecommunication infrastructure plays a key role in enabling the green transition. However, its deployment and renewal also entail significant environmental impacts, driven by high resource consumption and the generation of electronic waste. While energy efficiency has long been a design priority, the management of infrastructure waste remains a largely overlooked challenge. The growing densification and ubiquity of networks, together with the continuous replacement of legacy technologies, contribute to increasing volumes of electronic waste containing critical and hard-to-recycle materials. This research line seeks to study and reimagine telecommunication infrastructures (celullar/ambient IoT/fiber optics) through relational and situated approaches that attend to their material, political, and ecological dimensions.

This research area invites PhD candidates to critically interrogate how extreme heat -encompassing both intense heatwaves and chronic high temperatures- is fundamentally transforming everyday life. We see heat as a powerful, disruptive force that alters urban metabolisms by compounding existing pressures on energy and water flows, while also introducing new crises in social ties, labor conditions, and social reproduction. Crucially, we seek PhD projects that, from a political ecology and/or environmental justice perspective, investigate the complex links and trade-offs between water security and energy security, and how these create uneven vulnerability to heat across populations. A major focus is both on the diverse strategies for adaptation to heat in the urban space and social infrastructures (e.g. climate shelters), as well as on how heat challenges the presumed safety of the home.

This line of research explores how eco-social futures take shape both materially, in infrastructures, practices and everyday routines, and as circulating imaginaries in policy, media and culture. We welcome PhD proposals that trace latent futures already in the making and relate them with eco-social imaginaries to identify convergences, tensions and translations across scales and time horizons. Preferred approaches include infrastructural ethnography, analysis of policies, discourse and visual analysis, and mixed digital-qualitative methods, as well as ethnographies. Possible domains include energy transition and housing, water and coastal adaptation, mobility and logistics, agroecology and circularity, data and AI infrastructures, and, above all, care.

In the Global North, longevity is no longer solely a biological or social matter, but a project extensively mediated by technology. From assistive robotics to artificial intelligence in care and health tracking and social networking applications, digitalization has become the principal instrument for governing the "challenges and opportunities" of ageing societies.

We seek students interested in understanding the profound changes that digitalization is producing in later life and in the processes of ageing. We welcome thesis proposals that critically explore the development and impact of:

• Assistive robotics and "smart" systems in long-term care.

• Apps and monitoring systems in the promotion of anti-ageing lifestyles.

• Mobile media and digital platforms in the prevention of loneliness and social isolation.

• Smart surveillance systems designed to protect older adults from climatic, social, and public health risks.

The ideal candidate profile has a background in Sociology, Anthropology, Media Studies, Science and Technology Studies (STS), or related disciplines within the Humanities.

The project analyses how social media and artificial intelligence tools shape the ways adolescents and young adults with cancer express, share and manage their emotions. Using digital and qualitative methods, it examines the tensions between support, exposure and control that emerge in these contexts, and how these technologies contribute to the contemporary redefinition of care, health and vulnerability.

Drawing on the conceptual and methodological work done by STS and techno-feminist approaches, this subline of research interrogates the more naturalized, technology-driven and accelerated approaches to disasters, crises and emergencies. By using ethnography and participatory methods, we aim to make visible, engage and think with undervalued and minimized voices, geographies, temporalities, and intersections in disasters, crises and emergency situations. We also pay special attention to the social dimensions and public contestations of new digital arrangements and infrastructures for disaster risk reduction and disaster management. What is the actual role of these technologies in the (re)shaping practices, norms and cultures of preparedness and resilience? How do they intervene in the (re)configuration of disasters among policymakers, responders and/or communities?

The focus on innovation is pervasive in contemporary societies. Most institutions – particularly companies, but also public administrations and universities – have explicitly included innovation in their strategic plans and their missions. Many of them have even restructured themselves and built new units in order to make innovation their main driver and goal. Innovation has become both a buzzword and a God term. However the innovation imperative is not neutral. It fosters a very particular vision of technology and specific ways to fit it in society; it also shows clear neoliberal traits; and it is severely damaging many social institutions. We seek PhD students willing to carry out research – using mainly STS (science and technology studies) concepts and theoretical frameworks – on one of the following areas: (a) the roots of this ideology and its links to social and political stances; (b) the way it has spread to specific institutions, particularly universities, and how it has changed them; or (c) the specific vision of technology it is based on.

How are governance and social management shaped today? The recent SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, the rise of smart devices, the importance of algorithms, and datafication are some of the elements that underpin contemporary social management. This research proposal aims to inquire into these issues from the perspective of biopolitical conceptions and their new developments, as well as their sociotechnical effects on government and local practices.

As early sociologists such as Durkheim claimed, the study of deviance and deviant behaviour in any social institution – including society as a whole – is a useful way to understand its tacit norms, inner workings and key processes. Accordingly, the analysis of scientific fraud and misconduct may shed light on some fundamental aspects of science. For instance, the historical evolution of scientific misconduct and fraud, from traditional "epistemological" manipulation (data fabrication or falsification) to present-day "post-production" cheating (aimed at enhancing "impact" through artificial tricks), mirrors dramatic changes in the way science is now assessed and organized. We welcome research proposals willing to analyse some of the most distinctive features of this emergent new style of scientific misconduct and link them to structural changes in the organization, funding and evaluation of contemporary science. Different methods could be used, from quantitative studies on journal retractions to qualitative analyses of specific cases. We are looking to pay particular attention to some recent notorious cases of alleged misconduct in Spanish science and the way they have been handled by academic and governmental institutions, the mass media and peers.

As a result of both "alarmist demography" approaches and participatory governing processes and policies seeking to combat various forms of "ageism" (stereotyping or discrimination based on age), welfare states and market actors around the world have developed a wide range of age-friendly environments. Drawing on critical gerontology, disability studies, science and technology studies, and the anthropology of ageing, this sub-research line welcomes PhD proposals aiming to explore the design of age-friendly environments, with a particular focus on late-life urbanism and architecture, and the transformation of cities, housing and facilities in ageing societies. We are interested in ethnographies of urban equipment such as transport systems or pavement and public space designs; new housing facilities and communities such as co-housing and sheltered accommodations with services; assisted living environments such as home-like and open care homes; and leisure and wellness infrastructures ranging from cruise ships to thermal spas. We are looking for PhD candidates who are interested in exploring how urban and architectural designs inscribe specific notions of ageing, what role older people have in their management, and what capabilities they have to alter and change them.

Cities across the globe are grappling with the prospect of rising temperatures, which could make many urban arenas inhabitable, increase mortality and cause dangerous health effects. In places like Barcelona, heat has indeed become a major problem for the city's urban governance and climatology. In recent years, a wide variety of urban actors and the local government – together with public health, meteorological and civil protection agencies – have begun to experiment with forms of atmospheric care: from urban interventions to mitigate heat waves or cool down the city (climate shelters, nature-based solutions, shade infrastructures) to risk prevention campaigns and warning systems targeted at "vulnerable groups" (e.g. children, older people and people with disabilities), also including everyday practices of relating with growing heat. In addition, social movements regularly seek to activate existing alternative knowledge to address the multiple challenges. We wish to explore the relevance of more-than-textual ethnographic approaches, drawing on contemporary research in urban and environmental anthropology, feminist technoscience and geo-humanities, PhD proposals are invited to study the practices, infrastructures and experiments tackling urban heat, making practicable care as an atmospheric matter.

If interested, the candidates could join an ongoing case study in the city of Barcelona, focusing on shading infrastructures and practices.

According to authors such as Soshana Zuboff, Bernard Stiegler and Byung-Chul Han, datafication is one of the multiple consequences of the increasing use and normalization of algorithms, platforms and other apps to control, manage and monitor societies and groups through various dispositifs (Foucault). But what happens when these technologies reach students, teachers, schools or, more generally, educational communities? How are they received by these communities? Is there a process of resistance on the part of local educational actors? If so, what is the nature of this process and how is it reappropriated in each territory? Drawing on a wide range of authors and disciplines (sociology, social psychology, philosophy, politics, etc.) and adopting a biopolitical perspective, this line aims to address this type of question in a broad sense, in order to study and analyse the effects of educational management at the macro, meso and micro levels.

In contemporary Western societies, there is growing social unrest related to our ways of life. This increase raises questions about the adequacy/inadequacy of individual treatments, the limits and effects of mental health diagnoses, the lack of collective spaces to address suffering, and the most effective strategies for enabling spaces for health. In the field of psychiatry, biomedical hegemony, the misuse of diagnoses in society, pharmacocentrism, hospitalocentrism, gender bias, and the pathologization of vital discomforts are part of the problem of ways of dealing with mental suffering. In general terms, these ways of addressing suffering problematize individuals and leave unquestioned the structural and systemic elements that produce precariousness and suffering. This situation points to the need to broaden the methods of treating human suffering and overcome the limitations of a psychiatric model that is insufficient and problematic in many ways. In this direction, we promote doctoral proposals focused on producing new epistemologies of care that are an alternative to current models of managing human suffering. We also accept proposals aimed at analysing and discussing the difficulties of understanding and managing other human diversities, the logics promoted by social inclusion policies and their effects, as well as work aimed at generating hermeneutic openings on psychosocial disabilities.

The topic of this proposal is the experience of the human exception. This concept may refer both to a) the disabled subject whose body is reified as an exception, and b) humanity itself as an exception relative to its wider world. The goal is to critically examine this lived experience, in terms of its own praxis, focusing on its materiality and its transformative episteme. The methodology is grounded in aesthetic experience, employing the language of art as a method of critical inquiry. In debates on inclusion, the disabled subject/body is reified as a human exception; there is a need for radical ways of breaking away from this objectification (which we consider to be cultural, at least in Western societies). The paradigm of diversity, for instance, has not managed to break from this cultural reification precisely because it has not managed to escape the biopolitics of the exception, which is a cultural atavism that perpetuates discriminatory policies and social differentiation. Simultaneously, the entrapment of humanity within its semantic sameness – firmly established in urbanized societies – has prevented the construction of a collective 'us' that acknowledges its own vulnerability and exceptionality in a world undergoing catastrophe in slow motion. Without this, trapped in sameness, humanity generates violence against both internal othernesses (disabilities) and external othernesses (non-human life). Drawing on sensory studies and post-humanist theory, this researchwill critically analyse artistic materiality and aesthetic experience to vindicate these forms of 'being in exception' as experiences possessing transformative agency. The implications of these disruptions relate directly to aesthetic creations and the generation of new knowledge.

This research line aims to study food (as a transversal item), nutrition and gastronomy from biosocial perspectives linked to the digital world. It is interested in changes in eating habits and food structures, their embedded cultural patterns, and the influence of global and 'glocal' trends in the field of food and nutrition. 

This line of research explores the entanglements between culture and technology within a digital humanities framework. On the one side, we aim at analysing how technology offers new methodologies to study cultural phenomena; on the other side, we aim at studying how culture is produced and transformed with the use of digital technologies. In that respect, we will prioritize doctoral research on the use of big data, data mining and visualizations applied to the study of cultural phenomena, digital archives, and cultural histories combining quantitative and qualitative analyses. We will also propose a critical approach in the analyses of the digital humanities field in the Global North so that we can develop it too in the Global South. 

This research line proposes a comparative study of literary narratives from the margins of Europe, with a special focus on Southern and Eastern literary cultures. It examines narrative fiction and literary non-fiction from the 1990s to the present with the goal of reflecting on the ways these narratives reconfigure traditional imaginaries of Europe. As part of the research project “Narratives At the Margins of Europe” (NAME), we welcome PhD proposals that seek to contribute to the fields of European Studies, Comparative Literature, Narrative Theory and Global Literary Studies in at least three ways: 1) studying “minor” and “semi-peripheral” European literatures and the contested imaginaries about Europe that they produce; 2) digitally mapping the uneven circulation and consecration of these literary works within the world literary system; 3) crossing narratological, comparative, and digital approaches to a varied range of contemporary literary narratives beyond the novel. We also welcome proposals on diasporic, displaced, migrant, and border narratives within and outside the continent and their part in the destabilization of inherited notions about Europe and Europeanness.

More information about the project here: https://blogs.uoc.edu/name-project/

This research line builds on the study of sociocultural phenomena with a gender perspective. Prioritizing a transnational, decolonial, gender, and interdisciplinary perspective, we analyse the circulation of cultural goods and mediators that have been marginalized in the modern construction of Global North history. As such, we wield empirical, situated, and de-essentialized knowledge, understanding culture as a broad phenomenon that is transgressed by networks of global exchange. As such, we apply a decentred, politically and ethically accountable perspective to cultural history to unearth the role that women of the Global South, along with other invisibilized actants in Latour’s terms, have played in the establishment of various transnational cultures. Within a relational approach, we aim to use digital methods and a large-scale analysis in order to create networks and databases that we can make available digitally in turn. Likewise, tools and methods from different disciplines, such as literature, translation, other art forms, and anthropology, will prove key to this analysis, reconstruction, and rewriting of different cultural histories from multiple perspectives.

This line of research explores how specific imaginaries of the future (and imaginaries of the future in general) play a part in the shaping of social relationships. Hence we welcome PhD proposals that seek to analyse how these imaginaries are shaped and how they interrelate with the present moment. We welcome proposals that focus on specific imaginaries of the future and seek to analyse them from a sociological/cultural studies perspective. Examples of potential topics could be, for instance, imaginaries of future technologies, imaginaries of climate change, imaginaries of the younger generations, imaginaries of parenthood, romantic imaginaries. These imaginaries can be found either through qualitative and ethnographic analysis of everyday life, in films, in TV series, in novels, in the media, in social media. We also welcome projects that provide alternatives for where to look for these imaginaries.

This line of research proposes a relational analysis of emergent forms of popular culture from the perspective of cultural studies and/or sociology of culture. The aim is to investigate how the process of culture takes place in current times and through the strong mediation of technology, media and patterns of consumption related to the current forms of capitalism.

The methodological approaches can vary from ethnographic, qualitative studies, and action research through cultural practices to semiotic analyses of cultural products. The areas of research are preferably – although not exclusively – youth cultures, contemporary myths, nostalgia, (sociology of) emotions, imaginaries of love, science, technology, community, public sphere, or labour.

This proposal aims to study distorted economy- and technology-related notions, specifically those linked to centre-versus-periphery bias. Negative events such as debt crises in "peripheral" regions (Southern Europe, Ibero-America, Africa, etc.) are easily stored in the world's memory and labelled as something "usual" or "normal". Meanwhile, debt crises in "central" regions (English-speaking countries, Northern Europe, etc.) are seen as something "rare" or "exceptional" and are quickly forgotten. These distortions are often embedded, either consciously or unconsciously, in the established knowledge conveyed by educational systems and popular culture through fictional productions or documentaries. Similar centre-versus-periphery biases exist around other negative events, such as technological disasters and technological mismanagement. In short, the "center" is underrepresented when it comes to the memory and impact of negative events. In the same way, the "periphery" is usually underrepresented in positive events such as contributions to scientific advances and technological progress.

Methodologically, the proposal will first use techniques such as literature reviews, internet and database searches, and fact-checking to compile an exhaustive and objective database of past and present events. Secondly, a range of techniques will be used to gain insight into the impact of these events and the biases surrounding them, including automatic extraction, content analysis and sentiment analysis. The overall approach will combine qualitative and quantitative methodologies.

Neoliberal politics and practices have been causing the most significant transformation of contemporary science and academics since the mid-twentieth century. Neoliberal academic policies have placed more emphasis on the creation of commercial value than on achieving social well-being or better knowledge. The use of patents has been encouraged over the open dissemination of knowledge. Likewise, private investment has been promoted in universities and research projects in order to foster research lines with greater commercial applications and, therefore, more prospects of financial return. Most of the existing literature on these matters focuses on STEM fields, such as biomedicine, whilst areas such as the humanities and social sciences have been understudied. In this research line, we first seek to analyse this almost unexplored terrain, drawing on specific cases in the digital humanities, which has been regarded as the leading non-STEM domain in research commodification. This is because it favours turning research outputs into commercial products (such as digital visualizations and other computer-based items), promotes the increased involvement of private firms in research processes, supports a naïve use of "neutral (big) data" and fosters the uncritical use of technology as the ultimate methodological trick. Additionally, we aim to identify and study initiatives and experiences of resistance inside and outside academia, both in terms of content and organization. 

Media archaeology has been an innovative research method in media and technology studies over the last two decades since Friedrich Kittler's book Discourse Networks. Following Michel Foucault's theory on the formations of knowledge (The Order of Things: An Archaeology of Human Sciences; The Archeology of Knowledge), media archaeology 

has attempted to understand new and emerging media by analyzing those breaks and continuities through close examination of the past. Taking a step forward, this research line aims to focus on the relations between past and future through a close and contextualized study of our current times dominated by the internet and the big data.

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, vulnerable groups already participated substantially less in leisure and cultural activities than other population segments. During the public health emergency, participation in cultural activities among older people, people with disabilities and other vulnerable groups declined further because they are more susceptible to the COVID-19 virus (e.g. older people and people with certain medical conditions) and may be more reluctant to take part in cultural activities due to the perceived increased risk. In light of this, tourist attractions such as museums have a responsibility to address the challenges of accessibility and digitalization themselves, responding to the UNWTO (2020) call to address the major challenges of the pandemic by creating transformative solutions for accessible, safe and inclusive experiences for vulnerable groups. Accessibility is the promotion of personal autonomy, which includes having access to the physical environment, transport, information and communication (including information and communication technologies and systems), and other facilities and services open to or provided to the public. However, research on the participation of vulnerable groups in culture and tourism during the COVID-19 pandemic has been slow to emerge (with some notable exceptions). The impact of digitalization is rarely studied, but is important to consider in inclusive culture.

Design-based futures studies, also known as "design futures" or "prospective design", are methodological approaches that use design tools and techniques to explore and create desirable future scenarios. These studies focus on understanding and anticipating changes and trends in social, economic or environmental domains in order to design innovative solutions and strategies to meet the challenges of the future.

This research line seeks to unravel the complex ties between contemporary art initiatives and their placement within rural landscapes. Three pillars are central to our exploration: the depth of community participation, the economic repercussions on rural structures, and the synergy (or lack thereof) with prevailing public policies. By understanding these dimensions, we aim to shed light on the transformative potential of art in the countryside. We cordially invite PhD candidates to submit proposals that can provide deeper insights into this multifaceted relationship.

This research program seeks projects aimed at advancing knowledge at the intersection of social and cultural dimensions within contemporary rural areas, exploring how these factors contribute to the reconceptualization of ruralities and the construction of wellbeing.

This proposal aims to investigate the long-term socioeconomic impact of transport, combining historiographical perspectives with quantitative modelling techniques. It seeks to explore how transport infrastructures and policies have shaped regional development, inequalities, and social transformations over the centuries. It is also interested in understanding how current transport models can be designed to anticipate future effects on the economy, organizations, and territories. The research will combine archival fieldwork, historical data analysis, and the development of simulation models with multiple scenarios to understand transport dynamics as a driver of social change.