The ESRC Centre for Corpus Approaches to Social Science (CASS), in conjunction with Cognizant, is offering a suitably qualified PhD student the opportunity to work on a project focussed on Twitter usage and brand management. The successful candidate will work at Cognizant in Bangalore on a joint project looking at the role the social media may play in public perceptions of commercial companies. The project will be managed jointly by Cognizant and CASS Director, Professor Tony McEnery. Candidates for the post should be:

1. Currently undertaking a PhD in the social sciences;
2. Be able to undertake discourses analyses of large volumes of Twitter data, preferably using the methods of corpus linguistics;
3. Have an understanding of or interest in the analysis of discourse in the context of social networks;
4. Be a UK/ EU citizen;
5. Be able to spend three months in India;
6. Be a fluent speaker/writer of English.

The successful candidate will be briefed fully on the project prior to their departure to India. Also, if necessary, they will be provided with training in corpus techniques by CASS.

Candidates should be prepared to go to India as soon as possible, but no later than the end of April 2014. The successful candidate will be provided with: travel to India (plus visa costs), as well as serviced accommodation and daily travel expenses within India. In addition, a payment of approximately £1,000 per month will be made to the candidate.

To apply, write to Professor Tony McEnery by email (a.mcenery@lancaster.ac.uk). Applications should consist of:

• A CV (2 pages maximum).
• A statement outlining the applicant’s suitability for the opportunity (1 page maximum).
• A reference from the applicant’s supervisor supporting the application and commenting on the suitability of the student for this project (1 page maximum).

The closing date for the opportunity is the 20th March, 2014. The successful candidate will be contacted by 23rd March.