PhD Fellowship in Communication and Leadership: Visual Communication in Times of Crisis

The School of Arts, Design and Media

The School of Arts, Design and Media is Norway’s largest higher education environment for creative and art-related disciplines, with more than 1,700 students and 130 full-time academic positions. The school offers education and research across film and television production, music and sound, performing and written arts, communication, design and computer arts. Research and teaching are closely connected to professional working environments and the creative industries, linking artistic practice with technological innovation and international collaboration.

About the position

Kristiania University of Applied Sciences is offering a fully funded fellowship on its PhD programme in Communication and Leadership. The fellowship is for a project on visual communication in times of crisis within the School of Arts, Design and Media. The successful applicant will be included in a team of researchers with ambitious plans to further develop research and pedagogical activities related to communication and leadership at the university.

The PhD project should address the theme of visual communication in times of crisis. Emergencies and other dramatic events are, and have been, experienced and communicated through visual means in a variety of media. Today, media ecologies are increasingly fragmented, rapidly evolving and filled with visual information and misinformation. Governments, organisations and businesses use visual communication to manage reputations in crisis situations, to contain the crisis in question or to prevent one from forming in the first place. Protest leaders use visual communication to influence people and shape public opinion in response to crises we face. The theme seeks to bridge the gap in scholarship between crisis communication on the one hand and design studies and visual culture studies on the other.

Proposals may be submitted on any kind of visual communication, within the framework of crisis and with reference to the leadership of design processes or the use of visual communication in leadership. Candidates may draw on theories and approaches from crisis communication, leadership, visual culture, design studies and other relevant fields. The type of crisis investigated can be chosen without restriction to geography or temporality. With this in mind, candidates may wish to investigate how visual communication has been used to contain or manage crises, or how it has aggravated or provoked crises. They may consider the impact of changing technologies, environments or ideas. They are also free to choose their own angle.

The candidate must have: 

• Master’s degree (120 ECTS or equivalent) in a relevant subject area with a grade B or better on the master’s thesis and for the master’s degree overall. The master’s thesis must be a minimum of 30 ECTS or equivalent. The relevance of the subject areas is dependent on the type of project proposed by the candidate
• Relevant 180 ECTS bachelor’s degree
• Proficiency in written and spoken English (interviews, and all communication will be in English)

• Curiosity and a strong motivation to carry out independent interdisciplinary research
• Good communication and cooperation skills
• The ability, desire and capacity to work independently, systematically and purposefully
• Orientation toward the completion of projects and the attainment of goals

Emphasis will be placed on personal suitability for the position.

Benefits: 

• High salary compared to international standards (NOK 550,800 per year)
• Equipment at your disposal during employment (e.g., high-end laptop, mobile and mobile subscription)
• NOK 50,000 per year to support travel to conferences and other running costs
• Free health insurance, travel insurance, and pension plan
• Strong labour laws (e.g., fully paid parental and sick leaves, 25 paid days of vacation and paid sick leave)

The application must include: 

• Motivation letter for the position
• Approved diplomas and transcripts (in Scandinavian or English language)
• CV
• At least two references
• Master’s thesis
• A project proposal of up to 4 pages (max. 2,000 words, excluding references), written in English, outlining the candidate’s intended PhD research in relation to the described PhD project, including background, relevant literature, objectives, methods and expected contributions

Admission to the PhD programme is a requirement for taking up a position as a research fellow. The application must be submitted to School of Doctoral Studies within three months of the start date. For more information, see the Regulations relating to conditions of appointment for research fellowships: https://lovdata.no/forskrift/2024-06-28-1392/§3-19.

The PhD fellowship period is 3 years, and the earliest start date is 01.09.2026.

Working place is the School of Arts, Design and Media. The school is located in Oslo, with numerous amenities, recreational spaces and urban fun right next door.

Kristiania University of Applied Sciences welcomes and encourages applications from diverse backgrounds. Women and persons with minority backgrounds are particularly encouraged to apply.

For more information about Kristiania, visit: https://www.kristiania.no. To learn more about the PhD in Communication and Leadership, visit: https://www.kristiania.no/en/research/phd.

If you have any questions regarding the PhD project, please contact Trond Klevgaard (Trond.Klevgaard@kristiania.no).

If you have any questions regarding the PhD programme, please contact Nigel Halpern (Nigel.Halpern@kristiania.no).

Application deadline:

02.02.2026.

Only applications received through our application portal will be considered.

We use Semac background checks in our recruitment process.

The employment is to be made in accordance with the regulation to Control of the Export of Strategic Goods, Services and Technology. Candidates who by assessment of the application and attachment are seen to conflict with the criteria in the latter law will be prohibited from recruitment to Kristiania.