Social Science Phd Opportunity On Believable Mis/disinformation
5 days ago
**The Opportunity**
Professor Monica Whitty is a Maureen Brunt Fellow and winner of the 2025 cyberpsychology and cybersecurity lifetime award for her dedicated and excellent research into the human factors in cybersecurity. Professor Whitty holds a Professorship in Human Factors in Cyber Security and is an expert in cybersecurity and cybercrimes, having led large interdisciplinary projects focused on cyber scams, insider threats, online deception, cybersecurity practices, education, awareness raising, and detecting and preventing disinformation. She has been an expert witness on 10+ court cases for scam victims (especially victims who were unknowingly tricked into becoming a drug mule). She was a member of the Global Futures Communities for Cyber Security for the World Economic Forum. Prof Whitty is the author of 5 books and over 100 articles. Examples of her books include: _Cyberspace Romance: The Psychology of Online Relationships’_ (2006, Palgrave) with Adrian Carr, and _‘Truth, Lies and Trust on the Internet’_ (2009, Routledge) with Adam Joinson and Cyberpsychology: the study of individuals, society and digital technologies (2008, John Wiley & Sons) with Garry Young.
The minimum qualifications for admission into a doctoral course are:
- A bachelor’s degree of at least four years in a relevant discipline (i.e. psychology or social science), which includes a research thesis or project, with a minimum overall average grade of an honours degree equivalent to a first-class honours degree; or
- A master’s degree in a relevant discipline (i.e. psychology or social science) which includes a research thesis or project equivalent to at least 25 percent of one year of full-time study, with a minimum overall average equivalent to a first-class honours degree; or
- A qualification, or combination of qualifications and relevant professional experience, deemed equivalent by the GRC (or delegate).
Monash University strongly advocates diversity, equality, fairness and openness. We fully support the gender equity principles of the Athena SWAN Charter**.**
**The Project**
In this project, you will be expected to examine different types of mis/disinformation and conduct experimental studies to explore which are more believable to a variety of audiences. The research will need to be informed by psychological or social science theory.
The project is expected to generate new knowledge to understand the real impact of mis/disinformation.
**What is expected of you**
This reference may assist as a starter reference.
Whitty, M. T., & Ruddy, C. (2025). COVID-19 lies and truths: Employing the elaboration likelihood model (ELM) and Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) to gain insights into the persuasive techniques evident in disinformation (fake news). Computers in Human Behaviour Reports, 20, doi.org/10.1016/j.chbr.2025.100797
**This position has a two-stage selection process**:
Stage 1: Please submit an EOI using the Faculty of Information Technology _Research Project Enquiry _form here: supervisorconnect.it.monash.edu/enquire.
With the EOI please include the documents requested by the form - CV, academic transcripts and cover letter - **and**a research proposal of up to 5 pages, including a literature review, research questions, aim/objectives, and a brief summary of planned studies.
**Applications Close**:Thursday 20 November 2025, 11:55pm AEDT
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