Programme overview

PhD (doctoral) studies at Vilnius University aim to train scientists capable of conducting independent scientific research and experimental development, as well as solving scientific problems.

Vilnius University PhD programme in Communication and Information offers the following:

• Scholarships and employment possibilities.
• Lectures by high-level researchers.
• International experience with workshops, academic projects, conferences, and internships abroad.

The programme can be studied full-time or part-time. Full state funding with scholarships or self-funded studies is available. The duration of a full-time doctoral programme is four years, and part-time studies can take up to 6 years.

Annual Tuition Fee

Doctoral students studying at a non-state-funded doctoral place pay for their studies in accordance with the procedure established in the doctoral study agreement.

• Full-time studies – €12,449  (per year);
• Part-time studies – €8,299 Eur (per year).

Admission Requirements

The Faculty of Communication at Vilnius University (VU) , holding the most institutional experience in communication and information sciences in Lithuania, invites applications for a PhD scholarship. We are looking for highly motivated, excellent doctoral candidates with a strong interest in information and communication field research, willing to join the research community at Vilnius University.

The PhD programme provides state-of-the-art research training and teaches advanced professional skills in communication and information research. Besides providing a solid foundation in the disciplines, including a broad range of quantitative and qualitative methods, the programme places strong emphasis on theoretically driven empirical communication and information research. The programme is open to proposals on all kinds of topics related to communication and information research. Particular attention will be paid to proposals fitting in the following research areas highlighted in the description of the PhD programme, among them (but not limited to):

Sustainability & corporate responsibility:

• increasing public/consumer awareness and perception in the context of sustainable development;
• corporate social responsibility;
• green consumer/employee behaviour;
• communication tools and technologies for promoting responsible and sustainable development;

The origin, formation, management, information and communication of documentary heritage:

• memory narratives and the representation of documentary & cultural heritage in contemporary media;
• communication challenges of documentary heritage;
• digital, intellectual, bibliographical and other reconstruction of dispersed collections;
• the changing relationship between documentary heritage user and document in the digital space;

Research on information and communication practices, mechanisms and impacts:

• information behaviour, norms and needs;
• digital social networks and social media communication;
• digital publishing, digital reading, digital transformation in the cultural sector;
• information and digital literacy, digital exclusion and inequalities in society;

Information management in a digital transformation context:

• integration of artificial intelligence into information and communication management processes;
• ethical and legal aspects of artificial intelligence technologies;
• performance of new technologies for data analytics, information, and knowledge management;
• building the digital reputation of the organization on social media;

Scholarly and scientific communication and information:

• communication of the humanities and their social impact: humanities and the cultural prestige of the country;
• open science, citizen science and its communication;
• science communication;
• artificial intelligence technologies in scholarly and science communication;

Research on digital mediation, narratives and storytelling:

• semiotics, discourse and narrative in digital creative media and performance;
• cultural heritage and museum communication;
• discourse and narrative in political communication and social media;
• cognitive, affective, technological, educational, and gamification aspects of digital storytelling;

Digital and traditional publishing, advertising and reading in the system of media:

• publishing in the creative industries sector;
• the origins and system of the secondary book market;
• e-books from a resource and reader perspective;
• user (reader) perceptions when reading on screen;

Journalism, media and political communication in Lithuania and Europe:

• Media ecosystems and their dynamics;
• Political and social communication;
• The reception of media content and the media audience research.