Ph.D.

The “Space, Image, Text, Territory” Doctoral School (SD SITT) – The Center of Excellence in Image Studies (CESI) at the University of Bucharest, Faculty of Letters, offers interdisciplinary doctoral programs in the fields of “Cultural Studies” and “Philology” (contemporary theories) and interdisciplinary master’s programs in the field of “Cultural Studies,” with a focus on the arts, architecture, and complex cultural phenomena.

The primary goal of the SITT/CESI Doctoral School is to train internationally competitive researchers with transdisciplinary scientific portfolios relevant to the professional fields in which they will enter (or are already active), capable of critically engaging with contemporary visual culture and acting as advocates for the consolidation of the cultural field and its democratic values. Doctoral students and graduates of the SITT/CESI Doctoral School are employed in teaching and research, in major cultural institutions, in associations and foundations that are highly active at the national and international levels, and in the creative industries.

The doctoral thesis advisors at the SITT/CESI Doctoral School have trained and taught or worked as researchers at European and North American universities and institutions, with significant achievements and highly regarded portfolios in their fields of expertise. These experiences are primarily responsible for the quality of the course program, the international composition of the advisory and academic integrity committees, and the quality of the doctoral students’ research programs—which are guided and institutionally supported with great care—as well as for the high grades received by the final doctoral theses and their successful publication.

The training program, based on advanced undergraduate studies for the doctoral program (first year), includes courses on modern and contemporary theories of the text-image relationship, contemporary cultural studies, image science, and visual studies, as well as tutorials on research methods (project management, integrated and interdisciplinary research, research ethics) and tutorials on literature review.

The research activities of doctoral students (in their first through fourth years) are supported by the following institutional programs: the annual scientific symposium for reporting on research progress; national and international interdisciplinary co-supervision; ERASMUS research agreements (with Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Università di Pisa, and within the CIVIS European University Alliance) and ERASMUS internships for research documentation (contracted individually); annual grants for participation in national and international scientific events; its own library and multimedia laboratory; CESI scientific publication series (Images. Journal of Visual and Cultural Studies; “Text and Image,” a collection of monographs and anthologies, published by the University of Bucharest Press).

Director of the Doctoral School:
Professor Laura Mesina, Ph.D.,
laura.mesina@litere.unibuc.ro

Scientific Coordinator of the Center for Doctoral Studies and Director of CESI:
Prof. Sorin Alexandrescu, Ph.D.,
sorin.alexandrescu@litere.unibuc.ro

Doctoral School Council:
Professor Laura Mesina, Ph.D.
Prof. Ioan Pânzaru, Ph.D.
Ph.D. student Cristian Drăgan

The doctoral program in Cultural Studies was launched by the “Space, Image, Text, Territory” Doctoral School (SD SITT)/CESI in Romania in 2016 by integrating the international history of the field, Romanian cultural studies, as well as recent theories in the field and contemporary research directions, including: postcolonial studies and identity-cultural studies; visual culture; intermediality (digital photography, cinema, technologies in art, video games, and the virtual environment); studies on cultural memory and heritage; mediology, cultural-artistic imagination, and eco-art; modern and contemporary museology; cultural and curatorial policies; urban space – cultural space – virtual space; society and cultural communities. The SD SITT/CESI doctoral program includes Erasmus+ research internships (at over 10 universities in the European Union), Fulbright scholarships, courses, summer schools, co-supervision, and international advisory committees, the route Doctor Europaeus/Europaea.

Ph.D. advisors in the field of Cultural Studies:
Professor Caius Dobrescu, Ph.D.
Prof. Laura Iliescu, Ph.D.
Associate Professor Ileana Marin, Ph.D.
Professor Laura Mesina, Ph.D.

The doctoral program in Philology is part of the “Space, Image, Text, Territory” (SD SITT)/ CESI, where the study of literary texts is integrated with the study of the visual image in all its forms of expression (painting, photography, performance, film, art installations, multimedia, etc.) and with the philosophical or aesthetic analysis of the various media used in ancient, modern, and contemporary art. Another form of integration involves the analytical tools: in addition to approaches from hermeneutics, phenomenology, or the semiotics of art, recent methodologies and theoretical frameworks are also employed. This strong and consistent emphasis on current theory—regardless of the historical period in which the text or object of study is situated—from the major Western countries and from diverse yet interconnected fields within the humanities and arts, distinguishes the PhD programs in Philology at this School, endowing them with a strong multi- and interdisciplinary character.

Ph.D. advisors in the field of Philology:
Professor Sorin Alexandrescu, Ph.D.
Professor Mihai Moraru, Ph.D.
Prof. Mădălina Nicolaescu, Ph.D.
Associate Professor Alexandra Vrânceanu, Ph.D.