Open University Business School, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom

Sept 9 – 12 2010

Funded by ‘The New Transparency’ Major Collaborative Research Initiative and ‘Living in Surveillance Societies’ EU COST Action

The New Transparency (‘NewT’) and the Living in Surveillance Societies COST action (‘LiSS’) is jointly calling for paper proposals for a workshop on ‘The Political Economy of Surveillance’.

One of the key driving forces behind the Surveillance Society is the interests and strategies of governmental and corporate organizations and their members. Whether these organizations are concerned with the control of crime, the administration of health or welfare, selling goods or managing risk, the collection, analysis and application of personal data is at the core of many of their activities. Marketing techniques designed to profile desirable ‘lifetime’ customers are the same as those used to detect ‘undesirables’ through their financial transactions and travel movements. Technologies developed by the military to control populations in times of war, diffuse into civilian usage in times of peace. Responses to government calls for surveillance and security provision, are responded to by consultancies and technology companies, backed by international capital, at the very forefront of scientific innovation and development.

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The final ESRC Seminar on Surveillance will take place at the ICOSS Building, University of Sheffield, on Wednesday 24th of February.

Title: ‘Exclusion, Inclusion, Differentiation’

The speakers include:

• Andrew Balmer (University of Sheffield) ‘Inclusionary and Exclusionary Aspects of Lie Detection’
• Michael McCahill (University of Hull), ‘The social impact of ‘new surveillance’ technologies: An ethnographic study of the ‘surveilled’’.
• Claire Corbett (Brunell University) ‘Vehicile (and Driver) Surveillance: should we care?’
• Emmeline Taylor (Probation Service) ‘Surveillance in Schools’

More information

The New Transparency: Surveillance and Social Sorting research project seeks to fill one post-doctoral fellow position, starting summer 2010 based in the Department of Sociology at the University of Alberta. This is a one year term position with the possibility of renewal.

The fellow will perform research in the area of the New Transparency’s Integrated Research Sub-Project (IRSP) on the Surveillance Consequences of 9/11, led by Professor Kevin D. Haggerty (University of Alberta) and Professor Arthur Cockfield (Queen’s University).

In particular, this will involve embarking on a program of productive research on some aspect of surveillance and security, taking a lead role in organizing an international research workshop on ‘Security and Surveillance: Ten Years after 9/11,’ grant application writing and generally contributing to the New Transparency and related projects.

The successful applicant will have the opportunity to work with a number of scholars and students associated with the New Transparency project at the University of Alberta, Queen’s University, the University of Victoria, and the Open University in the UK. In addition, the post-doctoral fellow will find a wide range of programs at the University of Alberta that provide opportunities for enrichment and collaboration.

Applicants should be recent recipients of a doctoral degree in a relevant social science, with demonstrated interest and expertise in critical approaches to surveillance and security. Areas of specialization and disciplinary approaches are open.

Salary is competitive and includes benefits. Subject to availability of funds, and depending on areas of teaching expertise, the successful applicant may be eligible to obtain a part-time contract teaching position with the Department of Sociology. Modest funds will also be provided for conference travel, equipment and other research expenses. The fellow will be expected to be in residence in Edmonton, Canada, for the duration of the position and be an active colleague within the University of Alberta and the New Transparency project.

Application deadline is March 31, 2010. Please send application materials in electronic form to Curtis Champagne, Assistant Chair, Department of Sociology; curtis.champagne at ualberta.ca.

Applications should include a CV, a letter describing suitability for the fellowship, a statement outlining the proposed research project(s), three writing samples and full contact details for three individuals who would be willing to write letters of reference.
For more information, please contact:

Kevin D. Haggerty, Department of Sociology, University of Alberta. Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. T6G 2H4. 780-492-3297. kevin.haggerty at ualberta.ca

This fellowship is made possible through a Major Collaborative Research Initiative (MCRI) grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.