Welcome and introduction

Welcome! We are very pleased that you have joined us. We look forward to exploring what it means to do a practice-based PhD in the arts.

In this first video, our lead educators Dr Rachel Mader and Dr Axel Vogelsang will explain how this online course encourages artists, designers and filmmakers to turn their practice into academic research, to delve deeper into significant questions and to share their knowledge with society.

In the next 6 weeks, you will learn what the PhD process involves and start working on your PhD proposal. The course is designed with a strong focus on practice, so we have invited six experts to join us. They are artists, designers, filmmakers who have all done a PhD and will share their experience with you throughout the course.

You will engage with their work, but will also take a deep look into your own practice as a starting point for your PhD. We will ask you to share some of your interests and to explore the world of practice-based research in the arts. For this you will be using another online platform called Padlet. No worries, we will explain how to do that.

Course Structure

• In the first week we will give an introduction to the course as well as to the experts and their work. We will also address the important question of what it means to do a practice-based PhD.
• In the second week we talk about framing a research project. How do you start to define your topic and come up with relevant research questions?
• The third week is dedicated to the actual process of doing a PhD. This is not only about how projects progress but also about the challenges and even crises you might face and how to deal with them.
• In the fourth week we will have a closer look at methods and approaches for doing a PhD in fine art, design and film.
• The fifth week will focus on supporting structures. What kind of universities offer practice-based PhDs in the arts? What is the role of supervisors and how can you build a support network for yourself?
• In the sixth and last week we will consider what you will have achieved when you finish your PhD. We will look at the role played by the dissertation as well as at the creative practice our experts delivered as part of their PhD.

Introduce yourself

Now please join the conversation and introduce yourself to the other learners in the comment section at the bottom of the page. Tell us about your expectations. Why are you here? What do you want to learn?