PhD/Teaching Options in Ireland

GTE

Hi all,

I am posting this here in case there are any posters here who work in the Irish universities which offer music technology/audio production courses as advice from them would be fantastic.

I am finishing up a masters course soon and moving back to Ireland to have a break after a long 5 year stint through college, BSc and the MSc. I am thinking of doing a PhD at some stage in the future, but I am not quite sure when. My main interests at the moment are stereo and surround sound recording techniques and education in the area of music tech/audio production.

I have been in touch with NUI Maynooth as they would be the closest to my local area when I move back. They were quite friendly and helpful and said that I should get a basic research proposal together and send it to them but that their music tech research areas are not linked up to my own.

At the moment, I just need to get the end of this masters course out of the way before I want to really get into thinking about climbing further up the ladder. For now, I was wondering if anyone here who works on an Irish Uni course would know if their department would entertain PhD projects in the area of recording techniques and audio education.

Now, I am being exceptionally vague here with the interest areas which is probably down to how recently I have been seriously considering a PhD. Some background on the recording techniques is that I am currently doing research into comparing the Soundfield microphone with multi-microphone arrays with respect to end user preference. There is a possibility that some further work could come out of that though right now, I just want to get the project over with as I have had to get extensions for mitigating circumstances which have put me back a few months. This is why I have less to say about the recording techniques and a lot to say about the education below.

In terms of education, I read a fascinating paper recently on a persons PhD thesis about what employers say should be taught in recording school. The author went to employers in the USA and found out what their interns were performing and what was lacking. I have always wanted to get into education and when I got into recording I figured that these two passions of mine could be the best mix for a career. That paper I read sparked an interest about doing a similar PhD. For example, going out to education providers and employers and seeing how the output of one is satisfying the input of the other with an aim to outlining a set of basic requirements for an audio based uni course. (what should be taught, how it should be taught/assessed, what minimum facilities are required, educator backgrounds etc.)

Before this, the idea of doing a PhD was being forced upon me as if I want to teach in the UK as it seems that everywhere is asking for one. I have come across a lot of job postings which outright want a PhD with research interests.

I am not that kind of person. There is only so far I would want to go up the audio academic ladder before things got too focused for me. I do enjoy the recording techniques, and my project is getting fantastic results so far but focusing on two microphone arrays for a PhD would be overkill for me. Though perhaps I am biased due the duration issues I outlined earlier. Anyway, all of this is why the audio education PhD would appeal to me.

If I could get a teaching job in Ireland then that would be fantastic as I would want to be based out of Ireland. I could then go about considering a part-time course or PhD by publication from one of my old Universities. From what I gather, a PhD is not always required for a lecturing spot.

Through writing this, I guess I have managed to conclude my views in my own head that a PhD in the area of audio education would be quite cool and doing one in any other area just to meet UK minimum criteria would probably sap all my enjoyment out of it, especially if I am expected to do further research as part of the job.

So after all that, does anyone know if any Irish colleges/universities would cater these types of PhD subjects? I could understand why a recording technique one would be more specific and suitable to less Uni departments but I would have though one in the area of education could be more, well it's late, the only word I can think of is "doable-in-more-places-able". That is my signal for bed time!!

Thanks for reading,
bbk

TroutMask

Just a few thoughts meant constructively:
a) doing a Ph.D. for a piece of paper is the wrong motivation right there - you'll never last as it's hard enough to do a Ph.D. on a topic you really like;
b) your area is too broad - you'll need to focus in on a particular issue (that your thesis will solve, of course ) - this is why Ph.D.s have titles like 'The Effects of Efferent Feedback from the Super Olivary Complex on the Outer Hair Cells of Musicians with Mild to Moderate Sensorineural Hearing Loss' (I jest, but you get the idea);
c) I'm a bit wary of these 'edu' papers - often they're topics handed down by supervisors to Ph.D. students when they're out of ideas - I would only go this route if you, say, have a passionate love for epistemological techniques in the recording arts;
d) after you come up with a specific research topic, you'll need to assess it for feasibility (i.e., make sure it's do-able), write a preliminary literature review (i.e., make sure no-one has definitively dealt with it before, and also look like you know what you're talking about), and interview.
e) the best way to go about finding a home for a Ph.D. is to start reading - you'll find out who are the authorities in your area - and those people will form the list of potential supervisors that you will approach with a view to finding a place to research.

GTE

TroutMask wrote: »

Just a few thoughts meant constructively:
a) doing a Ph.D. for a piece of paper is the wrong motivation right there - you'll never last as it's hard enough to do a Ph.D. on a topic you really like;

Yeah, that is what puts me off seeing so many UK teaching jobs crop up looking for them. That would certainly be looking for the piece of paper situation if I was to go down that route in a short space of time from now. I'd only ever seriously consider this route with a topic I am very much interested in.

TroutMask wrote: »

b) your area is too broad - you'll need to focus in on a particular issue (that your thesis will solve, of course ) - this is why Ph.D.s have titles like 'The Effects of Efferent Feedback from the Super Olivary Complex on the Outer Hair Cells of Musicians with Mild to Moderate Sensorineural Hearing Loss' (I jest, but you get the idea);

Yeah, I understand that. Tied in with your later reading point, focus may (or may not) develop from these initial idea areas I had recently when I finish up the current course and get to thinking about it more.

Thanks for the reply

madtheory

Why don't you just contact every institute and see what they offer? If it is really a PhD you want- doesn't seem like it is, but you seem undecided? You seem to have an issue with topic focus. It's a tough call, that only you can make.

bbk wrote: »

If I could get a teaching job in Ireland then that would be fantastic as I would want to be based out of Ireland. I could then go about considering a part-time course or PhD by publication from one of my old Universities. From what I gather, a PhD is not always required for a lecturing spot.

Bear in mind that the ITs are state funded and there is currently a hiring freeze- so there are no jobs available in Ireland really, in this niche area. If you keep your eyes peeled on the website of every IT you might find a part time positions advertised starting next semester, but it's unlikely in the current climate of cutbacks. Unis do sometimes hire folk without a PhD, but you'd need to bring something else to the table such as years of industry experience, or teaching experience. ITs don't usually require a PhD, but again you will need the experience- however I would still apply if a post came up, if I was you.

Just a thought- is there anything you've learned in your research that would translate into a startup?

GTE

madtheory wrote: »

Why don't you just contact every institute and see what they offer?

On the PhD front, I am in the process of that when free during my current workloads. On the job front, for now I am browsing vacancies sections.

madtheory wrote: »

If it is really a PhD you want- doesn't seem like it is, but you seem undecided? You seem to have an issue with topic focus. It's a tough call, that only you can make.

That may have something to do with the thread being created less then a week of me beginning to think about it during a tea break :pac: I can see where you and Trout are coming from on the focus front, but this thread is a way of getting the ball rolling while I read up some AES papers in my free time.

madtheory wrote: »

Bear in mind that the ITs are state funded and there is currently a hiring freeze- so there are no jobs available in Ireland really, in this niche area. If you keep your eyes peeled on the website of every IT you might find a part time positions advertised starting next semester, but it's unlikely in the current climate of cutbacks. Unis do sometimes hire folk without a PhD, but you'd need to bring something else to the table such as years of industry experience, or teaching experience. ITs don't usually require a PhD, but again you will need the experience- however I would still apply if a post came up, if I was you.

The hiring freeze was something I hadn't considered till now, interesting point.

madtheory wrote: »

Just a thought- is there anything you've learned in your research that would translate into a startup?

Startup in what sense?

Overall the plans which result in me coming back to Ireland changed fairly recently. When home, placements between here and shorter ones in the UAE will be things getting applied for left right and centre though there is no need to go into too much detail on that front.

With time on my hands planned sometime after April, what free time I have now is going into investigating possible areas so thanks for the contributions so far. That and proof reading

Thanks all