PhD-in-Practice

About this programme

The PhD-in-Practice is a doctoral program for research in artistic practice, set up by the Institute of Fine Arts and the Institute of Art Theory and Cultural Studies. The program provides participants with the opportunity to pursue their individual research projects in a collective environment with a strongly transdisciplinary and international focus. It provides a concept of arts-based research built upon critical epistemologies, as developed in the context of feminist, queer, postcolonial, ecological, post-Marxist and other political and emancipatory projects. The PhD in Practice programme is designed for a study period of four years. During this time the participants develop and implement their projects analytically and experimentally in coordination with the academic and artistic team of co-participants and faculty. Course work in the first two years of study is offered in the context of so-called focus weeks, which in the course of the semester takes place one week per month. During these weeks the participants and the PhD in Practice team meet for tutorials, seminars, lectures, workshops, excursions and other research and learning events. In year three and four the participants focus on their artistic research PhD project. The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna implemented the Center for Doctoral Studies for the purposes of developing competencies of PhD candidates, and of making young researchers and artists more visible. Regular events such as the Graduate Conference and the International Spring Symposia are organized by the Center for Doctoral Studies. Moreover, the Ce