The King’s College London Afro Beats And Afro Bytes PhD Studentship is a unique opportunity for doctoral research in the field of music, culture, and technology, with a specific focus on Afro Beats and Afro Bytes. This interdisciplinary program aims to explore the intersection of African musical traditions, digital innovation, and contemporary cultural expressions.
Through this studentship, King’s College London seeks to support innovative research projects that examine the global impact of Afro Beats music and the digital technologies shaping its production, distribution, and consumption. The program encourages applicants to investigate topics such as the influence of Afro Beats on popular culture, the role of digital platforms in promoting African music, and the socio-economic dynamics of the Afro Beats industry.
The successful candidate will have the opportunity to work closely with leading scholars and practitioners in the fields of musicology, cultural studies, digital humanities, and related disciplines. They will receive mentorship and support to develop their research proposal and undertake a comprehensive study that contributes to academic knowledge and public discourse on Afro Beats and digital culture.
Moreover, the King’s College London Afro Beats And Afro Bytes PhD Studentship offers a stimulating research environment and access to state-of-the-art facilities, including libraries, archives, and digital labs. The selected student will become part of a vibrant academic community and have the opportunity to present their work at conferences, workshops, and public events.
This studentship represents an exciting opportunity for doctoral candidates passionate about exploring the rich cultural heritage and technological innovations shaping contemporary African music. By supporting research in this dynamic field, King’s College London aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of Afro Beats and its global significance in the digital age.
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.
Centring the creative economy makes a forward-looking intervention in considering economic, social and cultural development in Africa and globally. This rapidly growing sector with outputs outpacing other industries, is steered by digitisation, urbanisation, youth and South-South trade, and could reach 10% of GDP globally by 2030 (Buchkolz 2021; UNDP 2023). In Africa it is also prioritised as a key context for examining contemporary and future socioeconomic transformation (World Bank 2021; Africa Export Import Bank (Afrexim) 2021).
This project seeks to understand how musicians and music producers in West Africa engage with digital technologies and platform economies to shape new social, economic and cultural development in domestic and global markets. The project engages with the theoretical framework of ‘lead firms from below’ to challenge, deepen and enrich debates on Global Value Chains/Production Networks in the music industry. It also explores how knowledge, technology and capital are deployed and intertwined across scales (urban, national and beyond).
It will look specifically at the intermediary role played by digital platforms to consider how they might enable or hinder new business models in the creation, distribution and revenue generation/capture from creative content. The project moves beyond visions of Africa as resource-constrained to focus on creativity, ideas and innovation.
The key research question will be: What processes and platforms underpin creation, distribution and revenue generation for West African music producers in domestic and international markets?
The project is connected to the establishment of the new Africa Europe CoRE (Cluster of Research Excellence) on Creative Economies at King’s College London, with interdisciplinary collaborations being established across African partners. This project can also benefit from an established collaboration already in place with the University of Lagos (Nigeria).
Benefits
This award will cover your full tuition fees, provide an annual stipend and offers a Research, Training and Support Grant per year.
Requirements For The King’s College London Afro Beats And Afro Bytes PhD Studentship
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
Desirable criteria
- Professional experience in the music industry in a West African country
- Professional or personal networks in the music industry in an African country
- Prior research or publication experience
Application Documents
- CV
- cover letter explaining your interest in the project and how your prior experience is relevant
- a sample of written work (i.e MA thesis)
- an academic reference letter (from a previous supervisor or personal tutor at MA level).
Please ensure that you send in all relevant documentation with your online application, as otherwise delays will occur in processing your application. Usually this includes:
- A personal statement
- A research proposal and/or project approval form
- Transcripts of your previous qualifications (with official English translations if not originally in English)
- An academic reference. Please note you may be required to obtain a second academic reference at the request of the department
- Any English language qualifications that you have (if your first language is not English).
Some courses require specific additional documents to be submitted with the application, such as a sample of previous academic writing. Please check the ‘Entry requirement’ section in the course’s entry on the postgraduate course finder for further details.
Please note that some research degrees will offer up to four entry points (September, January, April and July). Please check our online prospectus for details.
Method of Application
Visit The Official Website to Apply
Please email these documents to Prof. Comunian (Roberta.Comunian@kcl.ac.uk) by 19th of March 2024.
If selected, this will be followed by an invitation to an interview (the interview will take place online in week commencing 22nd of April 2024). If successful at the interview, an offer will be made for PhD study and scholarship funding.
The selected candidates must then apply via King’s Apply online application system. Details are available at:?https://www.kcl.ac.uk/study/postgraduate-research/how-to-apply?
Please apply for CMCI (MPhil/PhD) and indicate?Prof. Comunian and Dr Ikpe?as your desired supervisor and the project title in your application and all correspondence.?
Details on the PhD programme are available at: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/study/postgraduate-research/areas/culture-media-and-creative-industries-research-mphil-phd
Application Deadline: March 19, 2024.
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