Doctoral School of Film and Intermedial Studies

 Dear Colleagues, 

We are delighted to announce the launch of our new DOCTORAL SCHOOL OF FILM AND INTERMEDIAL STUDIES at the Sapientia Hungarian University of Transylvania, Cluj-Napoca. 

This has been a longtime dream of ours that has finally come true. Our university has been a vibrant hub for intermedial studies for years, specializing in research on cinematic intermediality conducted within our Centre for Cinematic Intermediality and Visual Culture (http://film.sapientia.ro/en/centre-for-cinematic-intermediality-and-visual-culture) and within a series of research projects (http://film.sapientia.ro/en/research-programs). The international conferences we have organized (http://film.sapientia.ro/en/conferences) attract participants from all over the world. We have regularly published selections of works resulting from these conferences in our international scientific journal (Acta Universitatis Sapientiae, Film and Media Studies) and in many edited volumes (most recent: Affective Intermediality. Moving Images Between Media, Sensation and Reality, Palgrave-Macmillan, 2026, https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-032-01749-9). 

Now, we have this exciting opportunity to enlarge the framework of our research through this dedicated PhD School, which connects film studies with the study of intermediality. We believe that researching intermediality in the digital and postdigital era – in which moving images have become an integral part of everyday existence – is not just an academic option for the study of film, but a critical necessity for understanding the hybrid media landscape of our everyday reality and the cognitive, aesthetic, and affective processes generated by the dynamics of media networks. Moving images have long since crossed the threshold of cinemas, entering art galleries and everyday life. We live in a social and cultural context in which life is constantly mediated and re-mediated, and cinematic experiences are ubiquitous. This Doctoral School aims to offer a vision of cinema and the dynamics of media in constant interdependence and change, connected to social practices. See further details on our website: https://sapientia.ro/en/education/doctoral-studies/doctoral-schools/doctoral-school-of-film-and-intermedial-studies. 

Enrolment starts in September. There will be 3 PhD positions with scholarships, 3 without a scholarship but tuition-free, and also some tuition-paying positions.

If you are interested in being part of such a PhD programme and would like to learn more about this, please write to the Director of the School, Ágnes Pethő, at this email address: petho.agnes@kv.sapientia.ro.