| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Artists with PhDs: On the New Doctoral Degree in Studio Art |
| Editors | James Elkins |
| Place of Publication | Washington, USA |
| Publisher | New Academia |
| Pages | 3-30 |
| ISBN (Print) | 978-0-9818654-5-4 |
| Publication status | Published - 2009 |
Bibliographical note
Author's note: This is the first chapter in this book which was intended to offer a range of perspectives on the development of doctoral activity in the visual arts to contribute to the debate on the development of study at this level in the USA. The invitation to contribute to the book came about following a discussion with Elkins about the Art & Design Index to Theses (ADIT) and my intention to carry out analytical work on the material in the database to determine whether there were discernable patterns in the focus or methodological orientation of UK PhDs to date. The work subsequently included in the chapter comprised a systematic analysis of the level of activity by subject in doctoral activity and outputs submitted to Research Assessment exercises, and a discussion of the methodological approaches taken to the doctoral studies. The shifts in approach are discussed in relation to the development of new institutions, benchmarks and of the research infrastructure within the UK context.The book appears to be making a significant contribution to debate particularly within the US and Canadian context with reviews in C: International Contemporary Art and references on several blogs and discussion lists. My chapter has provided a touchstone which usefully reminds people of the relatively short history of activity to date, a ‘practical inventory of the disconnects’, and of the institutional developments which have accompanied the development of work in this field. The analytical work was framed as a starting point for systematic enquiry of such a dataset. The work did require a significant level of data cleaning and additional coding to enable the analysis of data from the Research Assessment Exercise submissions, building on work undertaken on that data for the AHRC-commissioned Review of Practice-led Research in Art, Design and Architecture (2007).