The University of Stavanger invites applicants for a three-year position as PhD Fellow in Documentary Production and Ethics at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Media and Social Sciences.
The position is available from 1 January 2027. This is an educational position primarily intended to provide promising documentary practitioners with the opportunity for professional development through education in the PhD programme in Artistic Research.
The successful applicant will be admitted to the PhD programme in Artistic Research, established by the University of Stavanger in collaboration with the University of Agder.
The programme represents the artistic disciplines’ equivalent of doctoral research education, with documentary production serving as the central component of the doctoral work.
The production must be accompanied by explicit written reflection and analysis.
More information about the doctoral programme in Artistic Research can be found on our website.
As a PhD Fellow at UiS, you will receive supervision and support for your academic and professional development through mentoring, skills development, and career planning.
In accordance with good academic practice and research ethics standards, the doctoral education shall qualify candidates to conduct artistic research at an international level, as well as to undertake other work in society requiring a high level of artistic insight and competence.
Research topic We are seeking a documentary practitioner working in film or audio who, through artistic research, wishes to investigate, develop, and critically reflect on their own artistic practice in relation to documentary storytelling, ethics, and new technology.
The core focus of the project is ethical issues in documentary practice and how these are challenged and transformed in response to new technologies.
Fact-based storytelling raises fundamental questions concerning, among other things, truthfulness, authenticity, and trust.
Technological developments have long influenced how documentary practitioners engage with such questions, both through new possibilities for production and dissemination and through the emergence of new ethical dilemmas.
Developments in artificial intelligence (AI) have brought renewed attention to and intensified many of these issues, including those related to verification, production, dissemination, and audiences’ encounters with documentary forms of expression.
The PhD project shall investigate ethical issues in documentary practice in light of technological developments and consist of documentary production and written reflection and analysis.
The artistic production shall constitute the primary and most substantial component of the project.
Central questions concern how documentary truthfulness and ethical principles are challenged, and how the documentary field can respond to these challenges through the development of knowledge, practice, and critical reflection.
Possible approaches may include exploring how AI influences the ethics of documentary representation, authenticity, and trust;
how documentary practitioners relate to new technological tools;
or how ethical issues manifest themselves within various relevant societal contexts.
Ethical dilemmas emerge and become visible in concrete production processes and artistic choices, where questions of fact, authenticity, trust, and technology must be addressed in practice.
Through the combination of documentary production and critical reflection, the candidate may investigate these dilemmas from within the artistic process itself and develop knowledge about how they arise, are negotiated, and are managed in documentary work.
The specific research question shall be developed by the candidate within this thematic framework of documentary practice and ethics in a new technologically changing environment.
The project must be grounded in the candidate’s own documentary practice and may include both national and international perspectives.
The candidate is expected to be at the forefront of knowledge regarding current developments, practices, approaches, and discussions in the field of documentary production.
Upon completion of the programme, the candidate should be able to develop, articulate, and realise documentary projects of high complexity and professional relevance, and to communicate their work in ways that generate attention and engagement around the issues addressed.
Through the doctoral education, the candidate shall be able to identify and address relevant ethical issues and pursue their artistic practice with professional integrity.
The candidate will be affiliated with the Documentary and Ethics Research Group.