SPHM Infos

Date limite : 2 avril 2018

Description and Rationale

The International Federation of Television Archives (FIAT/IFTA) provides a forum for exchange of knowledge and experience between its members, to promote the study of any topic relevant to the development and use of audiovisual archives and to establish international standards on key issues regarding all aspects of audiovisual media archive management. Within FIAT/IFTA, the Media Studies Commission promotes academic research of the holdings of member audiovisual archives.

While researchers have had more and more access to audiovisual archives, have produced scholarly knowledge of archival material and have written histories of broadcast institutions, this knowledge is predominantly used and disseminated in academic circles and hardly circulated back to they archive institutions where researchers conduct their studies.

At the same time, collaboration between academics and archivists in research has been minimal and television histories produced by academics do not necessarily include the expertise of archivists.

To enhance collaboration between research and archive communities and ensure the valorization of academic knowledge for archival practice as well as to promote research of holdings of member television archives, the Media Studies Commission of the International Federation of Television Archives has set up the Media Studies Grant.

This programme offers support for research done at member audiovisual archives with the aim to study archival material or archiving practices from these institutions. Priority is given to projects that research topics that are relevant for the history of the archive institution, for European media history or for archival practice.

Objectives

The Media Studies Grant makes available a maximum of €5000 for projects that aim to carry out small-scale research at a FIAT/IFTA member archive.

Research should aim to :

produce historical knowledge of archival material or archiving practices ; collect and disseminate historical sources that complement and enhance our understanding of the archived material studied. Examples of complementary historical sources can include : documents from other archives, press material, oral interviews, etc. ; enhance our understanding of topics, programmes, events, personalities, production and archiving practices, etc. that are relevant for the history of the archive institution where the study takes place and/or for European television history. valorize and disseminate academic knowledge of archive collections by means of publications and conference presentations.

Requirements

Candidates are required to send in their application in PDF format by 2 nd of April 2018.. Applications should be emailed to : Herbert Hayduck, archiv@orf.at Candidates are required to present their findings at a FIAT/IFTA public event to be agreed between the Media Studies Commission of FIAT/IFTA and the successful candidate and send in a written report outlining the research they conducted and the main findings of the research. All results, publications and presentations derived from the study should mention the support of FIAT/IFTA Media Studies Commission and should be made available to FIAT/IFTA. FIAT/IFTA reserves the right to make accessible the output of funded studies on its own website. Proposed studies can be part of a bigger project (e.g. master thesis, PhD dissertation, book project, etc.) or can be stand-alone research initiatives that the candidate wishes to pursue.

Budget

Applicants can ask for a budget of €2500 up to a maximum of €5000 to support their travel and accommodation costs for the purpose of the proposed study, including travel to FIAT/IFTA-event (see below under “output”). Researchers affiliated to a research institution who also have teaching responsibilities can use (part of) the allocated budget to buy themselves the research time needed for the proposed study. In this case, they should specify the research time that will be charged on the budget.

Eligibility

Master and PhD students and researchers affiliated to a university are eligible to apply for a Media Studies Grant with FIAT/IFTA Media Studies Commission.

Master and PhD students applying for a Study Grant need to send in together with their application a letter from their thesis supervisor showing support for the proposed study.

How to apply :

Applicants must send in an application for a Media Studies Grant. The applications needs to include :

A project description. This should outline the rationale of the project, the main research question(s), a description of the topic being researched, indication of the archival material to be studied and an explanation of the relevance of the proposed study for the research as well as archive communities. In case the project is part of a larger project, the candidate needs to specify how the proposed study contributes to the overall project. Output. Candidates should specify the output resulting from the proposed study, including publications, presentations and any other forms of knowledge utilization (e.g. virtual exhibitions, video essays, etc.). At the end of their study, successful candidates are required to present their findings at a FIAT/IFTA public event to be agreed between the Media Studies Commission and the successful candidate and send in a written report outlining the research they’ve conducted and the main findings of their research. This report will be made available on the FIAT/IFTA website. Workplan. Applicants should detail as much as possible all the research activities they plan to carry out as part of the proposed study and the time allocated for each of these activities. Please be aware that the Media Studies Grant only supports small-scale projects of 6-8 months. Budget. Only travel, accommodation and secondment costs can be covered by the Media Studies Grant. Applicants should detail how the budget will be used. In case the proposed study is part of a bigger project, the applicant should specify any additional funding he/she may have received. Researchers asking for a secondment grant, should specify how their allocation of teaching and research time is divided and how much research time they wish to allocate to the proposed study and charge on the budget. Communication and dissemination activities. Applicants should present a communication and dissemination plan of how they intend to publicize and make available the findings of their study for the research and archive communities. Applications should not exceed 1.000 words and should be sent in PDF format by 2 April, 2018 to : Herbert Hayduck, archiv@orf.at.

Master and PhD students wishing to apply for a Media Studies Grant should also send in a letter of support for their proposed study by their study supervisor.

All applications will be assessed internally by the members of the Media Studies Commission. Selected candidates are expected to present their study at the International FIAT/IFTA Conference in Venice, in October 2018.