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Practice-based PhD Programme

The Practice-based PhD Programme consists of a core curriculum of six Skills Workshops as well as a Seminar, Lectures and an annual Student-Led Conference. The aim of the programme is to bring together researchers from across different disciplines, opening up a space to share and present work as a community of practice and learning.

Originally developed for practice-based doctoral students in the arts at Royal Holloway, this year the programme extends to include all practice-based research students and academics across the AHRC TECHNE Doctoral Training Partnership. This includes Royal Holloway, Brighton, Kingston, Roehampton, Surrey, Royal College of Art and University of Arts London.

All are welcome! Please see specific details about this year's activities below, including information on how to get involved.

The Programme Director is Dr Melissa Blanco Borelli.

Skills workshops

Co-presented by Royal Holloway academics from arts departments and/or another TECHNE institution, a series of Skills Workshops run across Terms 1 & 2. All workshops are held in Central London.

Topics covered in Term 1 are both common and central to all academic research, and here we look at these specifically in relation to practice-based research. In Term 2 we look at key elements of practice-based research, continuing to situating it within the wider academic context while exploring its uniqueness and transformative potential.

Students interested in attending any of the the Skills Workshops should email pgrtraining@royalholloway.ac.uk, including your:

Name
Institution
Full list of workshops you plan to attend

** Please note that there is a cap on student numbers for the workshops, but not for any of the other events listed below. **

'The Research Question' - Wed 17 Oct 2018, 2pm-4pm

Workshop Leaders:

Reader Adam Ganz (Royal Holloway) & Professor Katie Normington (Royal Holloway)

Date: Wednesday 17 October 2018
Time: 2.00pm-4.00pm
Venue: Bedford Square, Room 1-03, 11 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3RA

What is the relationship between the ‘question’ and research? How do questions frame and drive the research process? To what extent do particular kinds of questions call for corresponding methods? How do we go about formulating questions, and what kind of language do we use to do so?

Reading Preparation

Nelson, Robin. ‘Introduction: The What, Where, When and Why of ‘Practice as Research’. Nelson, R. (ed.) Practice as Research in the Arts: Principles, Protocols, Pedagogies, Resistances. Basingstoke, HANTS.: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013, pp 3 – 19.

Available from Royal Holloway library as an ebook - sign in here with your College username and password.

'Contribution to Knowledge' - Wed 24 Oct 2018, 2pm-4pm

Workshop Leaders:

Dr Will Montgomery (Royal Holloway)

Date: Wednesday 24 October 2018
Time: 2.00pm-4.00pm
Venue: Bedford Square, Room 1-01, 11 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3RA

This workshop will comprise a preliminary discussion of the notion of how 'knowledge' is concieved within academic research, generally, and practice-based research, specifically. Different types of knowledge will be examined, and the means whereby such knowledge is constituted and embodied in a research project. Participants will be invited to identify the contribution to knowledge that their research aims to make, the fields to which it will contribute, and the originality of contribution.

Reading Preparation

Nelson, Robin. ‘Conceptual Frameworks for PaR and Related Pedagogy: From Hard Facts to Liquid Knowing’. Nelson, R. (ed.) Practice as Research in the Arts: Principles, Protocols, Pedagogies, Resistances. Basingstoke, HANTS.: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013, pp 48 – 70.

Available from Royal Holloway library as an ebook - sign in here with your College username and password.

‘Methodology & the Role of Practice’ - Wed 14 Nov 2018, 2pm-4pm

Workshop Leaders:
David Bullen (Royal Holloway)

Date: Wednesday 14 November 2018
Time: 2.00pm-4.00pm
Venue: Bedford Square, Room 1-03, 11 Bedford Square, WC1B 3RA

This workshop will examine the relationship between research methods and methodologies. Participants will describe their methodological intentions, identifying the different modes of research they are or will be using, and how these will contribute to a coherent process. They will explicitly refer to the role of practice and of theory in their research.

Reading Preparation

McAuley, Gay. "Writing about rehearsal: some preliminary observations." Not Magic But Work: An Ethnographic Account of a Rehearsal Process. Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 2012. 2-29. (Click to downlaod PDF)

‘Mobilising Theory / Theorising Mobility’ - Wed 18 Jan 2019, 2pm-4pm

THIS SESSION HAS BEEN CANCELLED.

Workshop Leaders:
TBC

Date: Wednesday 18 January 2019
Time: 2.00pm-4.00pm
Venue: 11 Bedford Square Room 1-01, London WC1B 3RF

This workshop examines inter-relation between theory and practice in practice-based research. Participants will be invited to think about how their practice is informed by – and informs – their theoretical concerns. Emphasis will be placed on the ‘doing’ of both theory and practice.

Please prepare for this workshop by reading the following, which should be accessible via your institutions library catalogue or via the open access links below:

Nelson, R. 'Practice-as-research and the Problem of Knowledge’, Performance Research. Vol.11(4), 2006. pp.105-116 (URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13528160701363556)

THIS SESSION HAS BEEN CANCELLED.

‘Modes of Critical Writing’ - Wed 6 Feb 2019, 2pm-4pm

Workshop Leaders:
Dr Katerina Paramana (Department of Theatre, Brunel University)

Date: Wednesday 6 February 2019
Time: 2.00pm-4.00pm
Venue: 11 Bedford Square Room 1-03, London WC1B 3RF

This workshop explores different modes of critical writing practice. Here we will look at the different kinds of writing one engages with as part of a practice-based research project. We will also examine the role and formal conventions of standard academic writing. And we will explore more creative forms of critical writing practice including performance-writing, art-writing, site-writing and lyric essay. Participants will engage in writing throughout the workshop and will be invited to think about critical writing as, itself, an element of practice.

Reading Preparation

Hughes, Rolf. “The Poetics of Practice-Based Research Writing.” The Journal of Architecture, vol. 11, no. 3, 2006, pp. 283–301.
https://doi-org.ezproxy01.rhul.ac.uk/10.1080/13602360600930906

Rendle-Short, Francesca. “How the How: The Question of Form in Writing Creative Scholarly Works.” New Writing, 2014, pp. 1–10.
https://doi-org.ezproxy01.rhul.ac.uk/10.1080/14790726.2014.983526

Sempert, Mattie, et al. “Methodologically Speaking: Innovative Approaches to Knowledge and Text in Creative Writing Research.” New Writing, vol. 14, no. 2, 2017, pp. 205–222.
https://doi-org.ezproxy01.rhul.ac.uk/10.1080/14790726.2017.1284868

On Resistance through Ruptures - Katerina Paramana

In Memory of Little Things - Adrian Heathfield

‘Documenting Practice' - Wed 6 Mar 2019, 2pm-4pm

Workshop Leaders:

Dr Cristina Rosa (Department of Dance, University of Roehampton)

Date: Wednesday 6 March 2019
Time: 2.00pm-4.00pm
Venue: 11 Bedford Square Room 1-03, London WC1B 3RF

This training session will address both the limitations associated with the use of technology, especially audio-visual recording devices, in documenting practice and a range of complementary methods and strategies to bridge this identified gap. Departing from the centralised role of the practitioner/researcher/interpreter, this session will address the following topics: a) presence, perception and awareness; b) environment, positionality and scale; and c) transcription, translation and communication.

In preparation to this session, please review the following resources. An extended bibliography will be provided during the session.

Reading Preparation

Cohen, Bonnie B. (2011) The Dynamics of Perception: Workshop with Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen at HZT Berlin [video]. Available @ http://dance-tech.tv/videos/the-dynamics-of-perception-workshop-with-bonnie-bainbridge-cohen-at-hzt-berlin/

deLahunta, Scott and Shaw, Norah Zuniga (2006) “Constructing Memories Creation of the Choreographic Resource.” Performance Research 11 (4), pp.53–62. Available @ http://www.sdela.dds.nl/choreoresourcespdf/choreo_resoures_no1.pdf

_____. (2008) “Choreographic Resources Agents, Archives, Scores and Installations.” Performance Research, 13:1, pp. 131 — 133. Available @ http://www.sdela.dds.nl/choreoresourcespdf/choreo_resources_no2.pdf

Flusser, Vilém (2014) “The Gesture of Searching.” Gestures. Minneapolis and London: Univ. of Minnesota press. Available @ https://jpgenrgb.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/338252667-flusser-gestures.pdf

Haseman, Brad (2007) “Rupture and Recognition: Identifying the Performative Research Paradigm.” Practice as Research: Approaches to Creative Arts Inquiry. London and New York: I.B. Tauris press, pp. 147–57.

Katz, Helena (2002) “The Dancer is a DJ.” BalletTanz. Available @ http://www.helenakatz.pro.br/midia/helenakatz31164811165.jpg

Miller, Bebe and Hauert, Thomas (2013) Two: Encounters with the Dancing Mind and the Thinking Body. Motion Bank project [website] Available @ http://motionbank.org/en/content/two-bebe-miller-thomas-hauert.html

Santos, Boaventura de Sousa (2018) “The Deep Experience of the Senses.” The End of The Cognitive Empire. Durham and London: Duke University Press.

Seminar series

Providing a forum for the presentation and discussion of research, each seminar session is focused around a particular theme. The themes are chosen by an established researcher/creative practitioner who, invited to discuss his/her work, will present for 30 minutes at the start of each session. This initial presentation will be followed by 2-3 student presentations of 15 minutes each. All of this will then become the basis for a group discussion lasting the remainder of the seminar. All seminars will be held in Central London.

Students interested in doing a 15 minute seminar presentation of your research in relation to the themes listed below should email Dr Melissa Blanco Borelli, including your:

Name
Institution
Name of the seminar you wish to present at

** Presentation slots will be allocated on a ‘first come, first served’ basis.**

Below are the details of workshops during 2017/2018. Save these dates; the material will be revealed in due course.

TBC

Lecture and Symposia series

A series of lectures and practice-based research lectures and symposia are being prepared across the year. Please watch out for more information on this as speakers and artists are confirmed.

TBC

Student-Led conference

An annual research conference is organised by practice-based doctoral students in the arts at Royal Holloway. This day-long, interdisciplinary event provides a space for creative dialogue between practitioners and academic researchers by foregrounding practice as a means of creative exploration and academic enquiry.