Afro Beats And Afro Bytes PhD Studentship 2024 For African Students – King’s College London

Summary

The researcher will be based in the Department of Culture, Media and Creative Industries (CMCI), King’s College London and co-supervised by Professor Roberta Comunian (Professor of Creative Economies in the Department of Culture, Media & Creative Industries) and Dr Eka Ikpe (Director of the African Leadership Centre and Reader in Development Economics in Africa). This project seeks to understand how Afro-beats music producers in West Africa deploy productive forces (knowledge, technology, capital) and inputs to create social, economic and cultural value for domestic and global markets and how this influence socioeconomic change. Creative economies enable broader readings of value across economic, social and cultural spheres, presenting opportunities for conceptual innovation in this project. Current debates on global production such as with global value chains have tended to neglect ideas of lead firms in Africa due to narrow understandings of value. The project, therefore, aims to move beyond visions of Africa as resource-constrained to focus on creativity, ideas and innovation, including in sustainability, emerging across the continent.

Benefits:

This award will cover your full tuition fees, provide an annual stipend and offers a Research, Training and Support Grant per year.

Eligibility:

Essential Criteria

• An African national and permanently resident in an African country; 

• Liable for tuition fees at the higher international/overseas rate (fees are covered funding for four years); 

• Plan to commence a full-time MPhil/PhD programme at King’s College London in the 2024-25 academic year (Ideally the candidate will start in October 2024). 

• Meet the academic requirements for enrolment for the PhD degree in the Faculty of Social Science and Policy at King’s College London.  

• You should hold or expect to obtain a High Merit or Distinction at Master’s level (or equivalent) in any subject. Subjects of particular relevance would include but not be limited to: International Political Economy; Political Economy; Business; Development Studies; Culture, Media & Creative Industries; Policy; Sociology; Geography; Social sciences.   

• A strong interest in music and the creative economy (academic, professional, personal)  

• Good team-working, observational, organisation and communication skills.  

• Experience of qualitative and quantitative methods  

Deadline: March 19, 2024

Click here for more details.