Research statement
Background
This essay offered an examination of the PhD by creative practice in the contemporary context. As co-editor of the special issue of NITRO focusing on critical issues in relation to HDR creative arts degrees and specifically what is required to address these challenges, this introductory editorial/essay sought to map out the scope of the issue while offering new knowledge as to how to tackle these problems.
Contribution
This text sought to point to very specific problems that have arisen in relation to the practice-based PhD in Australia based on changing funding formulas, shifting opportunities for scholarships and crucially the absence of a mediating forum around which universally agreed governance and standardisation can be achieved. It argues for the formation of a sector-wide forum through which the PhD can be given a coherence around assessment criteria, thesis length and examination protocols. It also proffers an argument for why a new pan-institutional organisation is required to advocate for the creative-arts PhD within universities.
Significance
The research significance of this output is framed in its early stages by the standing of the commissioning body, the Australian Deans of Design and Creative Arts who publish NITRO. The editor of NITRO Jenny Wilson invited me to co-edit the special issuePublication classification
C2 Other contribution to refereed journalPublisher
NITRO
