media phd programs

PhD in Emerging Media Studies

New media poses challenges for society and complexities for researchers. Are you ready to tackle both?

Academic Bulletin

• 01/15/2025 Priority deadline
• Degree Requirements
• PhD Students
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The Boston University PhD program in Emerging Media Studies is the nation’s first doctorate program in emerging media and its critical, daily role in modern life.

COM’s unique program prepares its doctoral students to become sophisticated researchers and critical thinkers who are ready to advance the fields of communication, sociological, and media leadership. Designed for students with a master’s degree, this program helps candidates gain a comprehensive understanding of the role of emerging media in society and organizations and hone their research skills through independent, innovative, and mentored research.

Recent and upcoming dissertation topics address a wide array of topics, such as social perceptions of robots, the effects of television binge-watching, and media framing of direct-to-consumer genetic testing.

Meet COM’s First Doctoral Recipient, Sarah Krongard

It seems there’s always something to celebrate at COM, and the 2019 fall semester marked one particularly noteworthy achievement — PhD…

Learning and Teaching

EMS graduate students are taught and mentored by some of the leading researchers and thinkers in the field.  The faculty make full use of the most advanced theories and methods to examine communication phenomena — from social media, streaming content, and AR/VR to Big Data and AI. Under their guidance, students learn how to conduct and analyze social science research concerning all types of emerging media. 

 As a doctoral student, you’ll serve as a teaching fellow while enrolled in the program. On average, you should expect to serve as a teaching fellow a minimum of two times during the program.

Resources for Research 

COM graduate students get ready for careers by rolling up their sleeves for hands-on research.

All Emerging Media Studies students contribute to COM’s annual #ScreentimeBU conference, an opportunity to present their research in the field of digital communication and society as well as exchange their views with peers and field leaders concerning important contemporary issues. By showcasing the fruits of your research, you’ll share their ideas with the general public and industry leaders. Additionally, the conference provides an opportunity for you to develop your public communication capabilities and receive input from industry experts in a professional setting.

CENTER FOR MOBILE Communication Studies

Laptops, smart phones, and tablets have been transformed from novelties to necessities. But we’re only beginning to understand how they have transformed us.

EMS students also take advantage of research opportunities at COM’s Communication Research Center , COM’s primary research hub, and the state of-the-art technology offered at the Zimmerman Family Social Activation Center, that puts in-depth social media analytics at your fingertips.

Funding Support

Because the doctoral program is immersive and requires full-time participation for a number of years, all PhD students in Emerging Media Studies are funded for the duration of their study, up to a maximum of five years. Funding includes a full tuition scholarship, health insurance credit, and stipend in return for teaching and research obligations. Students with their own funding for the program (through the Fulbright Commission, government funding or other source) will still be required to serve as a teaching fellow for at least one semester. Compensation will be provided.

Benefit from Boston

One of BU’s greatest resources is its location. Consistently ranked among the most livable cities in the world, Boston is “America’s college town,” a city rich in history while remaining on the forefront of culture and innovation. Boston is a Top 10 U.S. media market, and home to some of the world’s best creative agencies, media companies and leading employers — offering boundless opportunities for internships and careers.

More than 80%

of our graduate students receive scholarships.

Purpose Driven

COM stands out from our peers. Our faculty offers a mix of researchers and practitioners who endorse a cross-discipline, hands-on approach to learning. Our location lies at the heart of an electric, media-savvy city.

But it may be COM’s shared values that matter most. We believe that communication requires diversity, critical thinking, and creative expression. We believe that communication must be grounded in truth, authenticity, effectiveness, and purpose. We believe that communication builds understanding among people and across society.

Emerging Media Research

Agenda setting in the wizarding world: computationally examining attribute agenda and….

Abstract: This study investigates the complex dynamics of public discourse on Twitter/X concerning the transgender-related controversy surrounding the video game…

Physiological response to political advertisement: Examining the influence of partisan and…

This study investigates voters’ physiological response to real political advertisements that are issue focused and sponsored by three different political…

Does world system theory rein in social media? Identifying factors contributing…

This article examined how social media content has shaped the representation of countries for publics around the world. Based on…

The Robot Rights and Responsibilities Scale: Development and Validation of a…

The discussion and debates surrounding the robot rights topic demonstrate vast differences in the possible philosophical, ethical, and legal approaches…

Meet the Emerging Media Faculty

Ayse Lokmanoglu

Assistant professor, emerging media studies.

Chris Chao Su

Chris Wells

Associate dean of faculty development; associate professor, emerging media studies.

Feld Professor of Emerging Media Studies

James Cummings

Associate professor, emerging media studies.

Maria Elizabeth (Betsi) Grabe

Dalton family professor, emerging media news, com’s new dalton professor knows disinformation from personal experience.

When Robots Deliver the News

Joan Donovan, Nationally Recognized Expert in Misinformation and Disinformation, Joins COM Faculty

Upcoming Emerging Media Events

Crc december colloquium lecture: taking images seriously.

George Sherman Union Auditorium (GSU AUD)

Emerging Media Studies

• SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION

The PhD in Media, Technology, and Society (MTS) program is an innovative, interdisciplinary, and flexible curriculum focusing on the dynamic media and technology environment and its impact. The program encourages students to pursue their passion by designing individualized programs of study that incorporate relevant classes from across Northwestern University. The program faculty are internationally renowned for their research in areas such as:

• Digital media use and effects
• Health and well-being
• Human-computer interaction
• Innovation and change
• Media institutions
• Networks and organizing
• Social media

The MTS faculty undertake research in these areas using a wide array of traditional and innovative research methods. In addition, they actively pursue opportunities to make positive economic, cultural, and social impact through their research in businesses, nonprofit, and government agencies.

Search NYU Steinhardt

Doctor of Philosophy Media, Culture, and Communication

Grounded in an interdisciplinary approach to the study of media and culture, our doctorate draws from a rich array of disciplines and theoretical frameworks. Department expertise spans the globe: the Middle East, East Asia, the Global South, Africa, and Europe. Our faculty generate some of the most original scholarship in their respective fields, creating a stimulating environment in which to pursue graduate work.

Degree Details

Official degree title.

PhD in Media, Culture, and Communication

Research Focus

Alumni placements, funding for full-time phd students.

Five research areas operate as guiding frameworks for intellectual inquiry across the department: Global Communication and Media, Technology and Society, Visual Culture and Sound Studies, Media Industries and Politics, Interaction and Experience.

Your work as a doctoral student will be shaped by our faculty's commitment to:

• Engaging with theoretical concepts from a range of disciplines—media and cultural studies, visual culture, history, science and technology studies, anthropology, sociology, disability studies, sound studies, political science.
• A multi-methodological approach to research—from semiotics, global ethnography, gender and queer theory, critical race theory, qualitative and quantitative discourse analysis, to political/cultural economy, among other critical frameworks.
• A global perspective—conceiving of the global mediascape as transnational and transcultural.
• Recognizing media and technology’s long history and antecedents.

Read some sample dissertation abstracts .

After graduating, alumni join academic departments of media and communication, with placement in the social sciences and interdisciplinary humanities becoming increasingly common. MCC PhDs who graduated in the past ten years are now tenure-track or tenured professors at the University of California, Berkeley; University of Washington, Seattle; Cornell University; Stanford University; UCLA; Rutgers; Fordham; University of Michigan; George Mason University; University of North Carolina; University of Arizona; College of Charleston; Memorial University of Newfoundland; University of San Francisco; Scripps; Pratt; University of Maryland; American University of Beirut; American University of Paris, Ryerson University; Trent University; St. Joseph’s College.

Over the past decade, our PhD graduates have received numerous prestigious postdocs, including a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Humanities in the Department of Comparative Media Studies/Writing at MIT; Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship at MIT's Center for Art, Science, and Technology; Postdoctoral Fellow, Berkman Klein Center, Harvard University; Postdoctoral Researcher, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science; Postdoctoral, Center for Information Technology Policy, Princeton University; Postdoctoral Fellowship at Rice University in Technology, Culture, and Society; Research Associate, Center for Digital Humanities, Princeton University; Postdoctoral Fellow, Media, Inequality & Change Center, University of Pennsylvania.

If you are accepted as a full-time NYU Steinhardt PhD student without an alternate funding source, you are eligible for our competitive funding package, which includes a scholarship and tuition remission.  Learn more about our funding opportunities .

Graduate Leadership

Associate Professor of Media, Culture, and Communication; PhD Director

If you have additional questions about our degree, please contact us at [email protected] .

Alumni Profiles

Jacob Gaboury (PhD 2014)

Jacob is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Film & Media at the University of California, Berkeley. His dissertation "Image Objects: An Archaeology of Computer Graphics, 1965-1979" investigated the early history of computer graphics and the role they play in the move toward new forms of simulation and object oriented design.

Xiaochang Li (PhD 2017)

Xiaochang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at Stanford University. Her teaching and research interests include the history of computing and information systems, AI and algorithmic culture, speech and language technology, and software/platform studies. Before joining Stanford, she was a postdoctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin.

Hatim El-Hibri (PhD 2012)

Hatim is Assistant Professor of Film and Media Studies at George Mason University. His research examines media technologies and urban space in the Middle East. His dissertation traced the history of the visualization of Beirut, from the politics of aerial photography and mapping during the French Mandate, to the visual economy of postwar construction, to the materiality of Hizballah's live satellite television.

Liz Koslov (PhD 2017)

Liz is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Urban Planning and the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at UCLA. Previously, she was a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at MIT. Her research examines the cultural, political, and sociological dimensions of climate change adaptation. Her first book project, Retreat: Moving to Higher Ground in a Climate-Changed City , is under advance contract with the University of Chicago Press.

Devon Powers (PhD 2008)

Devon is an Associate Professor in the Departments of Advertising, Media & Communication at Temple University. Powers' research interests include popular music, 20th century history, and cultural intermediation – the people and processes that operate "in between" the production and consumption of culture. Powers completed a fellowship at the University of Leeds in 2014, and was recently elected Vice Chair of the Popular Communication Division of the International Communication Association.

Matthew Powers (PhD 2013)

Matthew is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Washington-Seattle. His dissertation "Humanity's Publics: NGOs, Journalism and the International Public Sphere" examined reporting roles assumed by international NGOs as legacy media outlets cut their foreign news budgets, and received the Gene Burd Outstanding Dissertation in Journalism Studies award from the International Communication Association. 

Media, Culture, and Communication

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Cinema & Media Studies Ph.D.

The Cinema and Media Studies Ph.D. program explores the intricate histories, aesthetics, and cultural impacts of visual media.

The Cinema & Media Studies (CMS) Program at UCLA has played a central role in the development of the field, notably through scholarship grounded in critical theory, cultural studies, close textual analysis, archive-based history, digital and interactive media studies, industry studies, and transnational media studies. The program supports a broad array of critical interests, from the media arts to commercial entertainment, from historical research to contemporary practices, and from formal analysis to the social mapping of media. In the last few years the research profile of the faculty has concentrated on three main areas of research: The Politics of Race, Ethnicity, and Indigeneity (particularly, Chicana/o, African American/African Diaspora, and Asian), Queer Cinema/Gender and Sexuality Studies, and Critical Theory (particularly, moving image art, aesthetic, affect, computational media, and decolonial).

The Ph.D. program focuses on refining research skills in an individualized study plan, with a mission to produce research of unparalleled quality. Graduates often transition into esteemed teaching and research roles in academic institutions. Backing their research endeavors is the UCLA Library Film & Television Archive, offering vast resources, 35mm classroom screenings, and state-of-the-art digital technology facilities.

World-Class Faculty

Amy Villarejo

Ana Isabel Fernández

Sean Metzger

Requirements.

The Ph.D. program is intended primarily for students who wish to build a career around excellence in university teaching and research. The Ph.D. program requires successful completion of a minimum of seven core courses and at least seven elective courses (not counting those completed at the masters level) and successful completion of the Intellectual Statement, Third Quarter Review, Sixth Quarter Review, Comprehensive Exam, Prospectus Review, Foreign Language Requirement at level three or higher, and successful submission and defense of the Dissertation.

Year One/Academic Year: Four Core Courses

• FTV 495A Teaching Assistant Training (does not need to be repeated if taken during M.A.)
• FTV 210 Common Course
• FTV 211 Historiography
• FTV 215 Theory and Method
• Academic Progress Report
• Begin taking courses toward language requirement

Year Two: Two Core Courses, Written Exams and Completion of the Ph.D. Study Plan

• FTV 274 Research Design A (Bibliography and Exam Prep)
• FTV 274 Research Design B (Exam Prep with advisors)
• Ph.D. Comprehensive Exam
• FTV 274 Research Design C (Writing the Prospectus)
• Continued progress toward language requirement (must be completed by the end of the 3rd year)
• Prospectus Review

Year Three/Academic Year: Nomination of Doctoral Committee and Advancement to Candidacy

• Advancement to Candidacy/Nomination of Doctoral Committee (Fall Quarter, contingent upon language requirement completion)

Ph.D. PROGRAM REMINDERS

Required During Years One-Three: Six additional graduate seminars, at least five of which must be approved cinema and media studies seminars.

Required During Years One-Three: Language Requirement Courses & Petition . Completion of level 3 language training or higher (as determined by Dissertation Committee) must be provided prior to student Advancement to Candidacy.

Recommended During Years One-Three: Colloquium. Students are encouraged to enroll in or attend Colloquium during all quarters to participate in screenings, research presentations and discussions. May be repeated for credit.

• FTV 212 CMS Colloquium

Year 3 and Beyond: Dissertation Research

• Submit an Academic Progress Report (on a yearly basis)

World-Class Students

Krystal Ledesma

Scott Brockman Varnado

Fengyun Zhang

Emmelle Israel

PhD Media Studies

The doctoral program in Radio-Television-Film emphasizes critical and contextual approaches to the study of media objects, industries, and cultures. With globally recognized faculty specializing in a wide array of media studies subfields, you will study and research in your chosen field and be prepared to enter into a rapidly evolving media landscape. You will be trained in an interdisciplinary array of media studies methods centered in pedagogical and professional development.

Expert Faculty Mentors

Affordable Tuition and Fees

Graduate Student Support

Program of study.

The PhD with concentration in Media Studies is a scholarly degree incorporating coursework, comprehensive exams, and research culminating in a dissertation. Students are expected to present their work at conferences and produce original work that is worthy of publication. Students admitted to this program must have already earned an M.A. degree.

Learn more about the Program of Work .

Teaching and Research Areas

Digital Media

Analyze interactive and emergent media texts and platforms, participatory digital cultures, social media, and algorithmic culture.

Global Media

Study media texts, audiences, industries, and cultures from transnational, national, regional and diasporic perspectives.

History and Criticism

Examine the sociohistorical contexts of film and media and engage in aesthetic and critical analysis.

Identity and Representation

Explore media's impact on culture and identity through interdisciplinary courses that examine the politics of representation through gender, race, sexuality, citizenship, and more.

Media Industries

Engage in topics relating to creative labor, production, distribution, infrastructures, regulation, and exhibition.

Supporting Your Success

• Structured timeline for successful program completion
• Faculty mentorship
• Annual Review with detailed, constructive feedback
• High rate of success in job placement in the academy
• Pedagogy seminars and workshops
• Opportunities to teach stand-alone courses
• Internships with local media industry, festivals, policy institutions and cultural organizations
• Biannual professional development workshops
• Harry Ransom Center Film Research Collections
• Vast RTF resources at UT Libraries
• Editorial and organization roles for department-based journals
• Interdisciplinary and portfolio program  options (in areas such as African and African Diaspora Studies, Women's and Gender Studies, and more) 

Admissions Information

Meet our students, meet our faculty, see faculty and student scholarship, program contacts.

Area Head Media Studies

Caroline Frick

Graduate Advisor

Mary Beltrán

Graduate Coordinator

Teresa Warner

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Ph.D. in Information and Media

The interdepartmental Information and Media Ph.D. Program prepares students to become scholars, teachers and leaders. Three highly ranked academic units of MSU College of Communication Arts and Sciences participate in the academic training: the Department of Advertising + Public Relations , the School of Journalism and the Department of Media and Information .

Our Program

We invite you to join an exciting interdisciplinary field of study at the intersection of the social sciences, humanities, and technology. We develop and apply transformative knowledge about all media systems, society and evolving information and communication technologies. This STEM designated program (09.0702 Digital Communication and Media/Multimedia) engages students to become leaders in academia, government, and industry in the media and information fields.

Our approach is multidisciplinary, combining faculty members with degrees in communication, advertising, public relations, journalism, economics, information studies, sociology, law, marketing and computer science, all pursuing teaching and research opportunities in three participating departments.

Benefits to an interdisciplinary program vs. a traditional program

• Students are exposed to a wider range of theories and schools of thought which facilitates complex problem solving from multiple perspectives
• Students gain a broader toolkit of research methods and analytical tools, including both quantitative and qualitative research methods
• Enhances communication skills because students learn the “language” of multiple disciplines

Ph.D. Ranking

QS World University rankings place MSU 13th in the world and 8th in the U.S. in communication and media studies. The National Communication Association (NCA), in their most recent doctoral program reputation study, ranked MSU’s Ph.D. programs as No. 1 in educating researchers in communication technology, and in the top four in mass communication. Michigan State University ranked third in frequency of faculty publication in communication in a study reported in The Electronic Journal of Communication in 2012.

Faculty Research Areas

Faculty in the three participating departments have complementary skills and research interests. Students typically participate in one or more research groups and design a dissertation to take advantage of the interdisciplinary environment offered by the program. Research in our departments currently focuses on the following areas:

Advertising + Public Relations

• Media Psychology and Persuasion
• Neuroscience and Social Influence
• International Advertising and Public Relations
• Effects of Media on Child and Family Development
• Political Communication
• Social Media and Advertising
• Media Sociology
• International and Comparative Media systems
• Visual Communication
• Science, Health, Environment, and Crisis Communication
• News Content and Effects

Media and Information

• Social Media and Social Computing
• Human-computer Interaction, Games and Meaningful Play
• Management Info System (policy and economics)
• Health (media, ICT and development)

Learn more about the collaborative labs and learning spaces in our college

We're focused on many different areas of research, doctoral students and their work, gain insight into their studies, see what the students have been up to, here's where our doctoral students are working now.

Additional information about the Information and Media Ph.D. program may be obtained from:

Patricia Huddleston, Ph.D. Information and Media Ph.D. Program Director [email protected] (517) 353-9907 College of Communication Arts and Sciences 404 Wilson Road, Room 304 Michigan State University East Lansing, Michigan 48824