RESEARCH STRATEGY
CMT Board
1 (5)
School of Communication, Media and Theatre
28.2.2013
1
1. Focus areas of the research (in 2015)
The multi-disciplinary composition of the School of Communication, Media and Theatre
(CMT) in itself provides a distinctive combination of research opportunities, encouraging cooperation between its four disciplines, i.e. journalism and mass communication, speech communication, theatre and drama research, and theatre arts. From this multidisciplinary base, including collaboration with disciplines outside the School, our mission is to develop inter-disciplinary approaches to communication, media and theatre, including scholarly, artistic and practice-based research. Multi- and interdisciplinary approaches will be developed through the School’s joint doctoral programme, joint
2. research design and participation in joint projects and publications.
Core areas of research, cutting through all disciplines of the School, include: a) Transformations of communication, journalism and theatre; b) c)
Mediatization of society;
Interaction in the changing world; and d) Performing the human and the social.
In addressing these four core areas and linking their study with central issues in contemporary society, CMT’s research efforts promote the strategic goals of the
University of Tampere (UTA).
In its research CMT aims at advancing research ethics and complies with the ethical principles as documented in the guidelines of the Finnish Advisory Board on Research
Integrity.
Societal and scholarly impact of the research (in 2015)
With its research, CMT’s goal is to make an impact on all four fields that are essential: 1) national and international research community; 2) national and international policy making field; 3) professional field and industry; and 4) civil society.
CMT’s top priority during 2013–2015 is to increase its recognition in the international research community. This presumes an increased presence in international research networks and projects, emphasising both the theoretical and applied function of scholarship. Specifically, the School aims at increasing significantly its number of internationally published refereed articles.
1 Prepared by a task force of Director Heikki Hellman (chair), Professor Pekka Isotalus, Professor Greg Lowe, Professor
Seija Ridell, Senior Lecturer Riku Roihankorpi
, Professor Janne Seppänen, and Senior Research Scholar Katja Valaskivi.
Mailing address
CMT
Visiting address
Kalevantie 4
FI-33014 University of Tampere Main Building, D Wing
Tel. +358 3 355 111 registry@uta.fi www.uta.fi

RESEARCH STRATEGY
CMT Board
2 (5)
School of Communication, Media and Theatre
3.
28.2.2013
This goal is achieved by 1) supporting international networking and publishing, 2) organising article writing workshops and 3) supporting financially the language-check of the articles.
Research done in the School will continue to contribute to policymaking processes within Finnish society through official statements and other expert services and to participate in policy deliberations in other countries when invited to contribute on the basis of our research community’s expertise. CMT endeavours to increase understanding of mediatized society and culture as well as professional and industry practices in the fields of communication, media and theatre, thus contributing to the cri ticism and development of these practices. CMT’s role as a leading educator of journalists, communication experts and actors is essential to this impact. Teaching incorporates the results of research done in the School as well as the latest findings published on contemporary scholarship. The research topics and approaches CMT pursues are relevant for the well-being of civil society at local level. The research interacts with people’s life-worlds by enhancing various forms of civic involvement and thereby contributes to the diversity and strengthening of public agency.
Resources
In terms of size and resources, CMT is a major player in the academic research of communication, media and theatre in Finland and a mid-sized research institute in
European terms. Through benchmarking and sharing good practices within the School and with other Schools, it aims at capitalising on its strengths. By continually integrating teaching and research, CMT strives for dispelling the division between teachers and researchers, thus creating synergy for research. Teachers are encouraged to network and take part in research projects through increasing the share of research in their work plans and devoting every fourth period to research. Financial support is given to both teachers and researchers for presenting papers in scientific conferences and for finalising scientific articles. Dissertation supervision responsibility is divided across all professors and docents working full time in CMT.
The School aims at strengthening its position in the acquisition of funding from external sources, increasing its share of the School’s turnover from 36 to 40 per cent. This calls
4. for an increased emphasis on the applications to the Academy of Finland and TEKES and improved expertise in the preparation of EU and other international projects. In addition to established private foundations and firms, also new repositories of financing and donations are actively searched for. Financial support and time is given for the preparation of projects.
Research Organisation
The preparation, organisation and administration of research projects is concentrated on the two research centres, Tampere Research Centre for Journalism, Media and
Communication (COMET) and Research Centre for Theatre as Practice (T7), both being leading players in their field. Four of the senior researcher posts and two of the researcher posts at COMET are on permanent basis.
Mailing address
CMT
Visiting address
Kalevantie 4
FI-33014 University of Tampere Main Building, D Wing
Tel. +358 3 355 111 registry@uta.fi www.uta.fi

RESEARCH STRATEGY
CMT Board
3 (5)
School of Communication, Media and Theatre
5.
6.
28.2.2013
Due to experienced lack of research time and urgent need to internationalise, CMT aims at developing its research organisation and interdisciplinary research community. In order to support its research centres it will engage its senior teachers in the preparation and accomplishment of their projects and encourage all forms of cooperation with the
School and its research centres. The role of the centres in the doctoral programme of the School will be increased. In addition, links between scholarly, artistic and practicebased research will be strengthened.
The goal is achieved by launching a three-year development project which aims at analysing critically its present research organisation and providing a proposal of a new arrangement with required resources, supporting infrastructure, ethical principles and good research practices.
Recruitment policy
In recruitment policy, CMT has three main goals: 1) increasing the variety of its research skills, 2) increasing the number of post doc posts and 3) supporting research careers.
These goals are achieved by 1) using international calls and considering tenure tracks in recruitments, 2) searching for new external sponsors in order to finance post doc researcher posts, and 3) minimising the number of short-term assignments and establishing more permanent research posts.
In recruitments, attention is paid not only on publication profile but also on merits in teaching, acquisition of funding and services to the academic community. The majority of CMT’s staff are women, but among the School’s 10 professors 7 are males. This bias will be corrected gradually as the number of female doctoral students and female postdoctoral researchers is continuously increasing. The development is supported by applying non-discrimination policy as approved by the UTA in every recruitment process at CMT.
Publication plan
As the research at CMT endeavours to be world class, an increasing number of articles and books are published as internationally refereed books and articles. At the same time, however, the School attaches importance to involvement in the domestic debate, thus emphasising the need to publish articles, books and reports in Finnish. Reviewing the past few years, the total number of publications at CMT shows fluctuation. The number of internationally published articles is on the rise and so is the number of monographs, most of which, however, are published in Finnish.
Although CMT’s goal is to publish more both nationally and internationally, its top priority is increasing the quality of its publications. Peer-reviewed journals are favoured and international forums are prioritised. Also, increasing joint publications with international partners is encouraged. CMT will continue to publish research reports, but monographs and edited anthologies will be published through commercial or scientific publishers recognised for their quality either nationally or internationally. In 2015 the School aims at increasing its overall number of publications from the present average 115 to 150 and internationally published refereed articles from 30 to 50 per year. The School will
Mailing address
CMT
Visiting address
Kalevantie 4
FI-33014 University of Tampere Main Building, D Wing
Tel. +358 3 355 111 registry@uta.fi www.uta.fi

RESEARCH STRATEGY
CMT Board
4 (5)
School of Communication, Media and Theatre
7.
28.2.2013 improve its performance in publishing books through national and international quality publishers.
The goals set for publishing are achieved by 1) devoting more time in work plans for preparing articles and monographs, 2) organising workshops in order to improve the writing skills of teachers, researchers and doctoral students, 3) co-financing arrangements required by national and international publishers, and 4) covering the language check costs of international publications.
Doctoral studies
CMT’s doctoral programme was launched in January 2012. Until 2015, CMT also hosts the national Doctoral Programme of Communication Studies (VITRO), funded by the
Doctoral School of the University of Tampere, and contributes to the Doctoral School of
Audio-visual Media (ELOMEDIA). CMT will develop co-operation between these two programmes and continue to take advantage of its nationally unique capacity of pursuing the training in dialogue among the School’s four main subject areas. One of the more general goals of doctoral training within the School is to bring together a theoretically ambitious orientation and innovative elements of practice-based research.
CMT will assess possibilities to continue national networking in organising doctoral studies after 2015. In addition, the doctoral programme is developed in order to assist the fully funded doctoral candidates to accomplish the degree in four years.
CMT aims at decreasing the overall number of its doctoral students slightly in order to improve their supervision. The School’s ambition is to engage the best doctoral candidates in its programme and encourage them to choose a career in which they can employ their expertise and research skills. An increasing share of doctoral students will be international. In order to develop scholarly and team work skills, doctoral students and their supervisors are encouraged to co-author articles. When appropriate, doctoral students are encouraged to write article-based dissertations. At the same time, the option for a monograph-based dissertation is equally maintained.
8.
A special attention is paid to supporting the enhancement and supervision of doctoral studies in theatre arts and integrating it in creative ways in
CMT’s doctoral programme and in research projects of T7. Standards of artistic research are refined in cooperation with the Theatre Academy of the University of Arts Helsinki and the School of Arts,
Design and Architecture of the Aalto University.
International networking
CMT has an established tradition of international networking, including university partners from the Nordic Countries, Europe, Asia, Africa, Oceania and Northern
America. The School aims at revitalising and reorganising its international relations.
Unlike in teaching, in which UTA has dozens of exchange agreements, networks and co-operation in research tend to be on an individual basis. The present academic tendency to define ‘key partners’ institutionally is vulnerable since it ignores the individual nature of scholarly cooperation in social sciences and humanities. In order to
Mailing address
CMT
Visiting address
Kalevantie 4
FI-33014 University of Tampere Main Building, D Wing
Tel. +358 3 355 111 registry@uta.fi www.uta.fi

RESEARCH STRATEGY
CMT Board
5 (5)
School of Communication, Media and Theatre
28.2.2013 improve its international cooperation, recognition and funding position, CMT continues its cooperation with existing networks and establishes new ones actively – encouraging this both among individuals and between institutions.
In order to increase its international participation, CMT aims at 1) increasing international research cooperation, 2) participating actively in international scholarly associations and research networks, 3) actively organising and participating in international conferences, 4) encouraging international researcher exchanges (in particular at post doc level), 5) mapping and sharing individual research contacts, 6) attracting internationally renowned visiting scholars by applying actively for Fulbright and
FiDiPro funding, and 7) organising annually international scholarly seminars on topical issues in its research fields.
Mailing address
CMT
Visiting address
Kalevantie 4
FI-33014 University of Tampere Main Building, D Wing
Tel. +358 3 355 111 registry@uta.fi www.uta.fi