What is art-practice-led PhD research?
The terms ‘art-practice-led’ or ‘art-practice-based’ serve to differentiate a relatively new approach from an older tradition of art history or art theory PhDs. Art-practice PhDs involve the making of artwork by the researcher, as a major part of the research process, and may be strongly related to other PhDs involving practice, such as engineering, or experimental science. Various institutions have defined them in different ways: ” research which is initiated in practice, where questions, problems, challenges are identified and formed by the needs of practice and practitioners; and, secondly, that the research strategy is carried out through practice, using predominantly methodologies and specific methods familiar to us as practitioners in the visual arts and design.” (CRIAD, 2000). Whereas others define what they are NOT: “The degree is not awarded as an expression of the aesthetic value, social worth or cultural significance of particular achievements, i.e. for high professional com
