Program Notes
- No GRE
- Full tuition + stipend for 5 years. No additional application required.
- Designed for students who already have a master’s degree
Be Ready for What’s Next—Emerging Media Studies PhD
First of Its Kind. Fully Funded. Highly Influential.
Use big-data tools, eye-tracking labs, and strategic thinking to decode how AI, robots, social platforms, and more reshape people, policy, and profit. Graduates of this fully funded Emerging Media Studies PhD program land coveted research roles everywhere from Meta to the UN. Ready to make scholarly contributions to emerging media?
Lead the Future of Emerging Media
World’s first Emerging Media Studies doctorate—founded in 2014 to bridge social science theory with media practice, this program has led the way to zero in on all types of emerging media, from AI and extended reality (VR/AR/MR) to platform politics and beyond—long before they hit the mainstream.
Quant + interdisciplinary power—master computational text analysis, psychophysiology, and network science in optional Computing & Data Sciences courses. Or select from electives, labs, and certificates across business, health, policy, engineering, and Boston’s wider ecosystem—no extra tuition.
Year-long industry lab—in EM 777, you and a sponsor (academic institutions, nonprofit organisations, media and entertainment companies, tech- and consumer-focused businesses, and public interest and advocacy groups) will design original, data-driven research to answer questions no one else can—and then present and publish the findings.
What Can You Do with an Emerging Media Studies PhD?
Design data-driven insights that guide tech giants, governments, and think tanks—or launch a research career that reshapes media policy worldwide. You’ll go beyond the content of a typical communications PhD to dig into the impact of media on the leading edge of innovation.
Employers of PhD in Emerging Media Studies Alumni
Because of our interdisciplinary focus, our PhD students land prestigious postdocs at places like University of Michigan, Penn, Georgetown, and Harvard. They’ve also gone on to work for:
- NIH
- NSF
- Organization for Social Media Safety
- Meta Reality Labs
- UN Development Programme
- Hariri Institute
- MIT Media Lab
- Nielsen
- University of Vermont
- Syracuse University
Roles of PhD in Emerging Media Studies Alumni
- Research Scientist
- AI Ethics Lead
- Data-Insights Director
- Assistant Professor
- UX Researcher
- Policy Analyst
Hear from PhD in Emerging Media Studies Alumni
“The doctoral program provided me with a strong training in both theory and research methods. But perhaps more importantly, EMS showed me the importance of a respectful, collaborative, and kind learning community. I consistently felt supported, encouraged, and heard by the faculty and my peers.”
—Dr. Sarah Krongard (’19)
Vice President of Programs, Organization for Social Media Safety
Comparing Programs
Unlike generic communication PhDs, BU’s Emerging Media Studies PhD offers:
- Small, mentorship-heavy cohorts of about 3–5 so you co-author, co-teach, and co-present with faculty who publish in New Media & Society, IJHCI, and more.
- Optional built-in data-science crossover. EMS PhDs can cross-register in BU’s Computing & Data Sciences offerings and tap its high-performance clusters—an unusual bridge between social science and hard tech.
- Full-ride funding for up to five years (tuition + stipend + health insurance) in exchange for research and two teaching-fellow appointments.
Choose an Emerging Media Studies PhD with Real Experience
Test theory against practice—running eye-tracking studies, scraping millions of tweets, and pitching data stories to Fortune 500 partners. The PhD in Emerging Media Studies allows you to go deeper into the digital side of communication, sociological, and media leadership than a typical communication PhD. You’ll be equipped to demystify any black box so you can lead research on the next big platform.
EM 777 Collaboratory
Three-semester lab where you scope, execute, and present a full study for a client—academic institutions, nonprofit organizations, media and entertainment companies, tech- and consumer-focused businesses, or public interest and advocacy groups—ranging from TikTok to the Boston Globe.
Communication Research Center Lab
Access biometric sensors, VR rigs, and a focus-group theater to capture real-time media effects. See research groups and more.
Zimmerman Family Social Activation Center
COM’s social media “war room,” outfitted with pro-grade analytics software that lets you mine live TikTok, Instagram, X, and YouTube data to spot trends, gauge sentiment, and pitch real-time consumer or news insights.
Center on Media Innovation for Social Impact
Prototype tech for health, climate, or civic engagement projects.
Conference Presentations
Our students present to scholars, investors, and journalists. Here’s a small sample of presentations from the International Communication Association (ICA) 2025 conference:
- Crissman, J. (June 2025). How European Union Media Frames the Challenges of the Artificial Intelligence Act.
- Jia, Y. D., & Wang, Y. (June 2025). Predictors and Effects of Short-Form Video-Induced Procrastination Among College Students.
- Mays, K. & Novozhilova, E. (June 2025). AI Humanizers, Pragmatists, Skeptics: A Cluster Analysis of Normative Attitudes for AI’s Capabilities and Roles.
- Yang, J., Wang-Sun, J., Wang, Y., & Lin, J. (June 2025). Don’t Browse It, Experience It: Spatial Presence Mediated the Effect of 3D Marketing Websites.
- Xu, K., Chen, Y., Li, J., Chan-Olmsted, S., & Liao, T. (June 2025). Tracked but Not Trapped in VR: Negotiating Body Tracking Technologies for Embodiment and Privacy Protection.
How to Get a Job in Emerging Media
The key to getting a job you love in emerging media is building your own research expertise to match your interests. For example, graduate with code-level fluency in R and Python, advanced statistics, grant-writing chops, and a publication pipeline—exactly what employers and tenure-track committees want.
Curriculum Overview
BU’s Emerging Media Studies PhD probes how emerging media shape people and organizations—think of it as a future-focused communications PhD. Mentored, independent projects hone advanced research skills. Recent dissertations span robot perception, binge-watch effects, and media framing of direct-to-consumer genetic tests.
Candidate Highlights
Project Snapshot
How self-tracking wearables reshape identity and VR social life.
Journalism Ethics for the Algorithmic Era—interviews with US editors on AI-curated news.
Uses X/Twitter corpus to map agenda-setting around video game backlash and trans rights.
Eye-tracking and biometric data reveal partisan differences in ad processing.
Funding Support for the Emerging Media Studies PhD
All EMS PhD candidates receive up to five years of support—full tuition, health insurance credit, and stipend—because the program is full time and immersive. Fellows teach or research to earn funding.
Learning and Teaching in Emerging Media
Study under top EMS scholars who use cutting-edge theory and methods to probe social media, streaming, XR, big data, and AI. You’ll master social science research on emerging media and teach at least twice as a funded doctoral fellow.
Connect with Scholars and Industry Practitioners
Work side by side with faculty publishing in top journals and advising policymakers.
Faculty like Joan Donovan, who founded the Critical Internet Studies Institute to weapon-test disinformation countermeasures and advise Congress on networked incitement. Or James Katz, who co-created the Robot Rights & Responsibilities Scale—the first metric quantifying public support for granting robots civil rights. Or James Cummings, who has lab studies showing how VR presence and task switching influence empathy and persuasion—reshaping design standards for XR storytelling. Or Ayse Lokmanoglu, who investigates how supremacist ideologies are propagated online by state and nonstate actors and has received funding from the Global Network on Extremism and Technology (GNET) and the National Institute of Justice (NIJ).
Dalton Family Professor in Communications and Director of the Division of Emerging Media Studies
“Students leave saying the program was more intense than they expected and that they feel transformed in profound ways.”
Study Emerging Media in the Heart of Boston’s Media & Tech Hub
Step outside COM and you’re minutes from venture capital on Newbury Street, newsrooms in the Seaport, and robotics labs in Cambridge—perfect for data partnerships and internships.
The Boston University PhD program in Emerging Media Studies is the nation’s first doctorate program in emerging media and its critical, daily role in modern life.
COM’s unique program prepares its doctoral students to become sophisticated researchers and critical thinkers who are ready to advance the fields of communication, sociological, and media leadership. Designed for students with a master’s degree, this program helps candidates gain a comprehensive understanding of the role of emerging media in society and organizations and hone their research skills through independent, innovative, and mentored research.
Recent and upcoming dissertation topics address a wide array of topics, such as social perceptions of robots, the effects of television binge-watching, and media framing of direct-to-consumer genetic testing.
Three earn doctorates in emerging media studies
Three COM students successfully defended their doctoral dissertations and were each awarded a PhD in emerging media studies: Sejin Paik…
Learning and Teaching
EMS graduate students are taught and mentored by some of the leading researchers and thinkers in the field. The faculty make full use of the most advanced theories and methods to examine communication phenomena — from social media, streaming content, and AR/VR to Big Data and AI. Under their guidance, students learn how to conduct and analyze social science research concerning all types of emerging media.
As a doctoral student, you’ll serve as a teaching fellow while enrolled in the program. On average, you should expect to serve as a teaching fellow a minimum of two times during the program.
Resources for Research
COM graduate students get ready for careers by rolling up their sleeves for hands-on research.
All Emerging Media Studies students contribute to COM’s annual #ScreentimeBU conference, an opportunity to present their research in the field of digital communication and society as well as exchange their views with peers and field leaders concerning important contemporary issues. By showcasing the fruits of your research, you’ll share their ideas with the general public and industry leaders. Additionally, the conference provides an opportunity for you to develop your public communication capabilities and receive input from industry experts in a professional setting.
EMS students also take advantage of research opportunities at COM’s Communication Research Center, COM’s primary research hub, and the state of-the-art technology offered at the Zimmerman Family Social Activation Center, that puts in-depth social media analytics at your fingertips.
Funding Support
Because the doctoral program is immersive and requires full-time participation for a number of years, all PhD students in Emerging Media Studies are funded for the duration of their study, up to a maximum of five years. Funding includes a full tuition scholarship, health insurance credit, and stipend in return for teaching and research obligations. Students with their own funding for the program (through the Fulbright Commission, government funding or other source) will still be required to serve as a teaching fellow for at least one semester. Compensation will be provided.
Benefit from Boston
One of BU’s greatest resources is its location. Consistently ranked among the most livable cities in the world, Boston is “America’s college town,” a city rich in history while remaining on the forefront of culture and innovation. Boston is a Top 10 U.S. media market, and home to some of the world’s best creative agencies, media companies and leading employers — offering boundless opportunities for internships and careers.
COM FACT
More than 80%
of our graduate students receive scholarships.
Purpose Driven
COM stands out from our peers. Our faculty offers a mix of researchers and practitioners who endorse a cross-discipline, hands-on approach to learning. Our location lies at the heart of an electric, media-savvy city.
But it may be COM’s shared values that matter most. We believe that communication requires diversity, critical thinking, and creative expression. We believe that communication must be grounded in truth, authenticity, effectiveness, and purpose. We believe that communication builds understanding among people and across society.