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Meaningful Artistic Research and the graduate school

Meaningful Artistic Research (MAR) is a long-term collaboration between HKU University of the Arts Utrecht and the University of Humanistic Studies (UvH). MAR positions artistic research as a vital mode of knowledge creation for cultivating caring, just, and sustainable ways of living together.

MAR’s mission is threefold:

This mission starts from the understanding that artistic research may relate to research into, for, and reflection on the arts, but is first and foremost a mode of knowledge production through the arts – where making and thinking, theory and practice, perception and action exist in dynamic and reciprocal relation.

PhD trajectory

The Meaningful Artistic Research collaboration offers the possibility to pursue a PhD trajectory in artistic research. In this trajectory, the creative process is recognised as a fully-fledged research methodology, and artistic work forms an integral part of the dissertation. Artistic practice is therefore not treated as an illustration of academic insights, but as a form of critical and creative inquiry in which artistic and academic modes of knowledge creation iteratively and reciprocally shape one another.

The artistic PhD trajectory is embedded in the Graduate School of the University of Humanistic Studies. Doctoral candidates are supervised by an interdisciplinary team from both institutions and are part of a research environment in which artistic practice, theoretical reflection, and societal engagement are deeply intertwined. They participate in the research communities of HKU and UvH and contribute to seminars, workshops, and public presentations of research.

What is artistic research?

Artistic research is practice-based and practice-led research in the arts, in which knowledge is generated in and through artistic practice itself, with attention to the material, embodied, and performative dimensions of making and thinking. It opens space for critical experimentation, imagination, and creative transformation. By research through making – and making through researching – we learn to see and understand differently, opening new perspectives across artistic, academic, and societal contexts.

Artistic research is not the same as arts-based or aesthetics-based research as we know it in art education research and qualitative research methodology. While it shows similarities with these fields, it departs from them by radically placing artistic practice – and the connection between making and thinking – at the centre of knowledge creation. In artistic research, knowledge grows through creative practice in a wide range of artistic media, such as performance, theatre, dance, and choreography, drawing, painting, photography, video, and film, creative writing and poetry, sound and music, design, digital media, material and bio-based practices, installation, and other hybrid art forms.

Admission requirements

The MAR PhD trajectory is open to professional artists, designers, art educators, and creative practitioners with a Master’s degree from an accredited University of the Arts. Candidates are expected to demonstrate a well-articulated and clearly positioned artistic practice that can serve as the foundation for their research. Applications should be able to show that their creative practice has developed to a level at which it can meaningfully engage with artistic, academic, and societal questions.

A limited number of candidates can be admitted each year. Selection is based on the quality, originality, and feasibility of the proposed research, the strength of the artistic portfolio, and the degree to which the project aligns with the research environments of UvH and HKU.

Application procedure

Prospective candidates apply by submitting an initial artistic research proposal and an artistic portfolio. The proposal outlines the central concern or research question, the artistic-academic and societal relevance of the project, and its potential to develop into a doctoral trajectory. The portfolio presents the applicant’s artistic practice and offers insight into its research potential.

Alignment with UvH en HKU research

The MAR PhD trajectory is a joint initiative of HKU and UvH. Submitted proposals are therefore expected to align with the research foci of both institutions.

At HKU, research centres on artistic processes, practice-based and empirical methodologies, and approaches in which makers are active agents within the research. HKU’s so called guiding lights – healthcare and well-being; diversity and inclusion; and sustainability and circularity – provide important points of orientation for MAR projects.

At UvH, research is driven by urgent societal questions and aims to contribute to a just and caring society in which both human and more-than-human beings can lead dignified and meaningful lives. It combines philosophical, empirical, and practice-based approaches, pays explicit attention to ethical and existential dimensions of lived experience, and is developed in close dialogue with professionals and communities. For more information, see UvH’s research themes and the overview About our research.

Prospective MAR candidates are asked to articulate how they connect to these research orientations at HKU and UvH, and how their work addresses the shared concerns of both institutions.

Contact

For questions about the MAR PhD trajectory or the application process, prospective candidates may contact:

Please send your email to both Louis and Judith.