[iDC] Praxis-based Ph.D.s

[Simon Biggs]

In the UK there are very few practice based only PhD's available. The idea
of a taught PhD, common in the USA, is also very rare. Whilst PhD's will
follow and most likely have to accrue credits in a program of research
methods modules in the first year of their research the following two or
three years are dedicated to their research. They will continue to
participate in seminar programs, deliver their own research in this forum
and meet with their supervisors every couple of weeks. However, they are not
required to follow any credit bearing courses unless they stated in their
initial program of research that they intended to follow remedial studies of
some kind in order to facilitate their research.

I have only worked on conventional (60,000 word thesis) or hyrbid PhD's,
where practice and theory are complementary. This basically means the
candidate produces a body of creative work, a final major exhibition,
documentation, a 35,000 word thesis and an oral viva defending their work,
assessed by one internal and one external assessor. The terms under which
they approach their research is the same regardless of whether they are
pursuing a conventional or hybrid PhD. They need to have a clear research
question, be able to answer it, to frame it in a research context, explain
their research methodologies, determine which other researchers will likely
benefit from their research and establish the originality of the outcomes of
the research.

The first question I ask an artist who wishes to undertake a PhD is why they
want to put their practice in the back seat and choose to situate their work
as academic research. If they answer that they feel they need some space to
focus on their work I suggest they are better off working in their studio
and maximising the diffusion of their work. I try to point out that the
function of a PhD is not to produce artists, nor is it a safe place in which
artists can find some sort of refuge when their carreer is not quite working
out the way they wish.

If the candidate answers that they wish to establish a new approach to
creativity, where academic research becomes a central element in their
working practice and they wish to contextualise significant aspects of what
they do in that environment then I assume they appreciate what a PhD is for.

However, what is happening in the UK is that even relatively junior
lectureships in practice based subjects, such as visual arts, theatre, dance
or creative writing, now require that you have, or are nearing completion
of, a PhD. The effect of this is that more and more people are applying for
PhD's simply to be able to get these jobs. Whilst this means that the
academic standard of new faculty are improving significantly it is the case
that this is leading to an academicisation of artists, with mixed outcomes.
That public funding for the arts is drying up whilst academic research funds
for practice based work are expanding rapidly compounds what is now clearly
a sea change in how artists work, are funded and interface to society.

Personally I find it rewarding supervising PhD's and helping to create
appropriate contexts for them to work within, but I am happy myself not to
have, nor desire to have, a PhD. I do not see what value it would add to
what I do as an artist. I can see it would be of value to me as a PhD
supervisor as it would allow me an inside view of what it is like to do one
- however UK regulations mean that if I was to undertake a PhD I would have
to stop supervising for the duration. My institution would not be very happy
about this as a primary reason they employ me is that I am an experienced
supervisor and they need me to do just that.

There is an advantage in my not having a PhD as I can always point to myself
to illustrate why it isn't necessary to do a PhD to get where you want to
be. This makes it easier to discuss all the options and determine whether a
potential PhD really is best off undertaking what is an extremely demanding
program of work which will likely compromise their professional practice in
favour of academic demands.

Regards

Simon



On 12/1/07 00:53, Tom Sherman <twsherma at mailbox.syr.edu> wrote:

> While the boundaries between roles in a digital culture are fast
> disappearing, the gap between the street and the university is certainly
> getting wider. My question is are these PhD studio programs closing more
> doors than they are opening?


Simon Biggs

simon at littlepig.org.uk
http://www.littlepig.org.uk/
AIM: simonbiggsuk

Research Professor, Edinburgh College of Art

s.biggs at eca.ac.uk
http://www.eca.ac.uk/