Research Students
Past and Current Research Students
Current Research Students
Ms Elain Dafydd
S4C (1982-1985) I intend to research into broadcasting history in Wales, concentrating specifically on the Welsh language broadcaster S4C, and it’s first few years of broadcasting. I will look at how the channel was established, why it was needed and who were the key figures in the campaign to secure its existence. I will also look at the first few years of the channel’s history and will consider the challenges that faced the staff, the early policies and how the campaigners and audiences responded to the first programmes broadcast. My PhD supervisors are Dr Gwenno Ffrancon and Professor Rob Stone.
S4C (1982-1985) Bwriadaf ymchwilio i hanes darlledu yng Nghymru, gan edrych yn benodol ar S4C a blynyddoedd cynnar y sianel. Byddaf yn edrych ar hanes sefydlu’r sianel gan edrych ar pam yr oedd ei hangen, sut yr aethpwyd ati i’w sicrhau a phwy fu’n allweddol yn y fenter. Bwriadaf hefyd edrych ar flynyddoedd cynnar y sianel, gan ystyried y sialens a’i hwynebai, beth oedd polisiau cynnar y sianel a hefyd beth oedd ymateb y gwylwyr a’r ymgyrchwyr i’r rhaglenni cynnar a ddarlledwyd.
Mr Faustin Chongombe Djongana
My research (supervised by Professor Kevin Williams and Dr. David Berry) will discuss the role of the media in managing conflict in Congo-Kinshasa. My main research question would therefore be; what is the role of the media in managing the ongoing conflict in the country? The rationale to study media and conflict management is to investigate the role that the local media plays in Kinshasa (the capital city) to manage the current conflict. My research will help Congolese people to understand the role that local media plays in helping them solve their differences.
The main objective of my study is to analyze the contents of the main Congolese dailies and magazines to find out the role the media plays to support peace activities in the country. To carry out this study, I will analyze the contents of the main dailies and Magazines for a certain period of time before and after the first election which took place last year in the country since its independence. My study will investigate the assumption that the print media play an important role in solving conflict in a country torn apart by civil war and conflict. The subject of my study will be limited to an analysis of the main dailies and magazines based in the capital city, Kinshasa, which is safer and not badly damaged by lootings like other regions in the country. My fieldwork will also be limited to Kinshasa because of the infrastructure and insecurity in other parts of the country.
Mr Leighton Evans
In my Masters degree I explored the phenomenological effects of the use of social networking. I argued that social networking frames humans as resources to be used despite allegedly facilitating relationships. My current project seeks to further this investigation by identifying what “being-online” is and what its affects on human beings are, drawing on Heidegger’s philosophy of technology. My project (supervised by Dr. David Berry and Dr. Ieuan Williams) will identify what “being-online” constitutes through a detailed analysis of online communication. This will be done through a genealogy-based discourse analysis of communications in social networking. This analysis will then be used to develop a theory about the phenomenology of disclosure of identity in technologically-mediated fields of communication. My research project therefore fuses the abstract and the concrete and provides an answer to a genuine question of significant current importance.
Philosophically, the project seeks to question whether social networking points towards an intensification of Gestell (or Enframing, Heidegger’s term for the way modern technology limits our view of the world) or whether there is an alternative model for understanding our relationship with technology. This project aims to contribute to Heidegger scholarship as well as being a philosophical examination of a contemporary social and cultural phenomenon.
Mr Ioannis Kotsonis is currently undertaking doctoral research on the subject of tragedy and the cinema under the supervision of Professor Rob Stone and Professor John Morgan of Classics. Key to his thesis is the cinema of contemporary European filmmakers such as Lars von Trier, Michael Haneke and Lukas Moodysson. He graduated in Classics from the University of Wales, Swansea and received his MA in Ancient Greek Drama from the University of Nottingham. In addition to his research, he is employed as a teaching assistant on several modules relevant to his research interests and lectures on the subject of his thesis.
Ms Sian Rees
Today’s consumer is wary of spin, understands that stories can be manipulated and questions the validity of much that he or she hears and sees. Within this context, the management of communications within organisations has become increasingly important. What are the most important factors which influence people’s perceptions of image, honesty and genuineness? Is it possible to close the gap between media image and genuine, sustainable, profitable corporate identity by providing organisations with models and tools which can be used to ensure their reputation is authentic? The research programme itself will encompass four stages:
- intelligence gathering of existing data and theory on corporate reputation and image
- a matrix questionnaire targeted at 100 communications officers
- an analysis of company financial and productivity results
- interviews with Chief Executive Offices to test theories
The final document should be a relevant and thought-provoking guide, providing research-based theories and rules for how to incorporate authentic image within organisational planning and structure. The research will be supervised by Mr William Merrin and Professor Kevin Williams
Past Research Students
Dr. Daisy Hasan
Dr. Daisy Hasan completed her PhD thesis on media globalisation and regional identity in North-East India under the supervision of Prof. Kevin Williams in 2007. She is currently a Postdoctoral Assistant at the School of English, University of Leeds where she is collaborating on an AHRC Knowledge Transfer Fellowship for the project entitled 'Home, Nation, Body: South Asian Women Artists Respond to Conflict'. In 2007 she was awarded a Senior Media Fellowship by the Public Service Broadcasting Trust (PSBT), New Delhi. This has allowed her to extend her research into the local media and visual cultures of North-East India and examine their implications for democracy and citizenship in India today. She also offers an online course on Bollywood at the Centre for Lifelong Learning (Cardiff University). Daisy has worked in both the commercial and independent sectors of the Indian media. She is also a creative writer and her first novel The To Let House, set in North-East India, is due for publication by Tara Publishing, Chennai in June 2008.
Dr Helen E. Jones
Dr Helen E. Jones completed her PhD thesis on Basque literature under the supervision of Professor Rob Stone in 2006. She currently lives and works in Madrid as a freelance journalist and media consultant. Amongst many other activities, she has supervised marketing campaigns for international publications, reported on Spanish and Basque affairs for BBC Wales and specialist journals, contributed to the Time Out Guide to Madrid and collaborated on documentaries produced by the Spanish-Basque filmmaker Julio Medem. She is currently preparing her PhD manuscript for publication and completing an interactive text book, co-written with Esther Santamaria Iglesias of the Department of Modern Languages at Swansea entitled En Activo: Practical Business Spanish which will be published by Routledge in 2008.
