This is a great opportunity for an SLA member to boost their qualifications, enhance their skill set and bring their school librarianship to the next level, while also contributing to valuable research that will undoubtedly aid advocacy for school libraries and the crucial part they play in children’s education. 

The CEMP Ed D is a four-to-six-year part-time doctorate designed for educational and information professionals in work. The Ed D is conducted entirely online, through a combination of asynchronous activities and real time conferences and workshops, tutorials and seminars. 

Doctoral researchers on the programme are required to attend 5 days a year of scheduled activities. The asynchronous activities, independent study and tutorials and seminars take up 1 day a week or equivalent. 

The programme is divided into a two year taught phase and a two to four year supervised phase. 

Through a partnership between SLA and CEMP, the SLA are funding a place on the programme to begin in October 2022, for an SLA member to study for a doctoral research project on the role of the school library as a third space for developing media and information literacy. 

Requirements to apply for this opportunity:      

• SLA membership;     
• A degree with 2.1 classification and masters or congruent educational experience;      
• Fieldwork access (to a school library);    
• The ability to devote one day or week or equivalent to the programme for 4-6 years;     
• An interest in media and information literacy   
• Understanding of the concept of ‘third space’    
• The ability to be available for the five synchronous days each year (2 days in October, 1 day in February, 2 days in June – all online). 

Ed D students become members of the CEMP research centre and access to a large international network of academics, researchers and a doctoral community.   

Expressions of interest, with a 1 page supporting statement, explaining how you are well suited to the opportunity, describing the fieldwork context you can access and an up-to-date CV, should be sent to Alison Tarrant via info@sla.org.uk by 22nd August 2022. 

The funding covers the costs of the programme for a maximum of four years. There are no other costs, as the programme is entirely online and travel to Bournemouth is not required. All resources are available through the university as e-resources, and there is a research student development fund for any conference applications to present your work. Any additional costs are not the responsibility of the SLA.

If you'd like to discuss the programme in more detail, please contact Julian McDougall, Professor of Media and Education at jmcdougall@bournemouth.ac.uk