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3rd cycle program:.

PhDArts offers an international, high-level doctorate in art and design. The four-year PhDArts research trajectory consists of two elements: individual research and participation in the doctoral study program.

The doctoral study program, which consists of monthly lectures, seminars, training, and workshops, is an essential part of the research environment in which the student undertakes his or her research. Participation is mandatory. An appropriate team of supervisors is sought for each doctoral student. The supervising team consists of the Directing Supervisor and one or two assisting supervisors. The role of the supervisors consists of helping students to develop a suitable research environment.

The requirements to apply are:

• A Master’s of Arts degree or proof of study at a comparable level.
• Proficient in both speaking and writing in English
• A strong and independent artistic practice as a visual artist or designer.

PhDArts does not award any scholarships or grants, but there are no tuition fees for PhDArts, for EEA and non-EEA students alike.

For more information, visit the website .

PhDArts, international doctorate program in art and design, is a collaboration between Leiden University Academy of Creative and Performing Arts and the Royal Academy of Art (KABK) in The Hague.

autonomies practice design English visual arts

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T: +31 (0)70 315 47 55 [email protected]

expertmeeting 3rd cycle models in Europe – 28.06.2021

expert meeting on third cycle models in Europe In the online expert meeting on June 28th, 2021 we looked into the differences and similarities between (artistic) PhD’s and PD’s in Europe, and the insights from the international Creator Doctus project – and what we can learn from this as a community. The meeting was attended […]

Research platform GRASP (Groningen Research Arts and Society Platform) is a collaboration of Hanze University (UAS) and the University of Groningen. Artistic research yields unique knowledge and methods within the research domain of art and society, this can be of value for research practices in other domains. Participants can obtain a PhD in GRASP and it is part of the Graduate School for Humanities (GSH) of the University of Groningen in cooperation with the Research Centre Art&Society of Hanze UAS.

MERIAN (the Maastricht Experimental Research In and through the Arts Network) is an environment in which selected PhD candidates from all art and scientific disciplines can do a PhD trajectory in ‘Maastricht style’ artistic research. MERIAN, is a collaboration in the field of artistic research between Zuyd University of Applied Sciences, Maastricht University and the Jan van Eyck Academy.

facilitating program:

THIRD is a twoyear program to prepare theatre, choreography and performance artists for 3rd cycle research. THIRD aims to bridge the gap between master and 3rd Cycle education.

Creator Doctus

Creator Doctus is a three-year research trajectory for visual artists and designers. It is a relatively new trajectory within the third cycle and was set up by the Gerrit Rietveld Academy. When the three-year trajectory is completed and judged sufficient by the evaluation committee the participant will be awarded the title Creator Doctus (CrD).

docARTES is an international inter-university doctoral program for practice-based research in musical arts, designed for musician-researchers. It is primarily intended for gifted musicians in the fields of performance and composition, whose artistic work raises questions or problems that can only be addressed through research

research platform:

ARIAS was established as a research platform by five higher education institutions in Amsterdam based on the conviction that merging academic and artistic research by unlocking new perspectives, can contribute to important 21st-century research questions about issues like digitalization, technologization, and internationalization.

Erasmus+ program:

Adie – artistic doctorates in europe.

Artistic Doctorates in Europe: Third cycle provision in Dance and Performance (ADiE) project is investigating Practice as Research (PaR) inquiries within research level degrees in Dance and Performance.

Advancing Supervision for Artistic Research Doctorates

Advancing Supervision for Artistic Research Doctorates is an Erasmus+ program that produces intellectual outputs ready to use for those involved in doctoral supervision across all art disciplines. Innovative formats like an interactive mindmap, exhibitions and essays, a non-normative guide book, a web based tool kit and a prototype for a training module deal with all […]

• About PhDArts
• The PhDArts Doctorate
• PhDArts Doctorate Programme

VIII Art of Research Conference

PhDArts candidates will attend and present their research at the eighth Art of Research conference from 30th November - 1st December 2023 at Aalto University,…

Public Defense Spiritual Corporeality: Towards Embodied Gnosis through a Dancing Language

Dancer and choreographer Suzan Tunca publicly defends the research project entitled 'Spiritual Corporeality: Towards Embodied Gnosis through a Dancing Language'. On 31 October…

PHDARTS SPRING PROGRAMME 2024

This semester, the PhDArts doctoral study program will consist of lectures and workshops by PhDArts staff and invited guests, as well as presentations by doctoral…

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• SHARE Conference Aarhus 2014
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Academy for Creative and Performing Arts

Leiden university and royal academy of art (kabk).

• the Master Photographic Studies and the Master Media Technology
• research projects of the staff of the Academy and the promovendi
• programmes for training and coaching of PhD-candidates: DocARTES (music) and PhDArts (art and design)
• Rietveld academy
• Utrecht School of the Arts / MaHKU

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Academy of Creative and Performing Arts (ACPA)

The Academy of Creative and Performing Arts (ACPA) is a research institute within the Faculty of Humanities at Leiden University, where it offers composers, performing artists, visual artists and (graphic) designers the opportunity to perform research in and through artistic practice.

ACPA also offers education in the arts for Leiden University students, and provides academic electives for students of the University of the Arts The Hague.  

• Academy of Creative and Performing Arts

• 28 Apr Lecture | Conversation In the Making #5: Barbro Scholz and Li Lorian, Experiencing Text and Textile
• 26 May Lecture | Conversation In the Making #6: Anna Scott, Jed Wentz, Laila Neuman, Emma Williams, Art Without Soul?
• 26 Nov 26 May Lecture | Conversation In the Making - afternoon sessions on research in the arts

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PhD projects

• AI-SUPPORTED SYNTHESIS OF SHEPARD-RISSET FREQUENCY SETS
• Philosophy in sound: The aesthetic theories of Moses Mendelssohn and Johann Georg Sulzer in the Berlin salon music of the 1750–80’s

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Art History

Doing a Phd

If you have completed your Master's programme, and you are enthusiastic about doing research in your field, then maybe doing a Doctorate (PhD) might be something for you. A Doctor’s degree is the highest academic degree awarded by a Dutch university. You start as 'assistant in training' (aio) or 'researcher in training' (oio).

At Utrecht University

At Utrecht University you take part in education in one of the Graduate Schools and often also teach students. During the four-year PhD programme you work under the guidance of a professor on creating a research project that results in a dissertation or a series of articles in scientific journals. You can search for positions on research projects on offer or a position whereby you are free to submit your own research proposal. Read more on doing a PhD at Utrecht University. 

Other options

The best way to find a PhD position is through networking with the professor in the field you wish to specialize. Another option is to search via www.academictransfer.nl . Here you can also find more information on doing PhD research in the Netherlands. 

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Doctorate in the Arts

ARIAS advises post-MA researchers on the possibilities for doctoral degrees in the ARIAS network, usually on the basis of a written research proposal. ARIAS can’t appoint doctoral degree positions. On this page: > What is doctoral research in the arts? > Possibilities for 3rd cycle trajectories > Further reading

What is doctoral research in the arts? Definitions of what a doctoral degree (PhD, or alternative degrees like Creator Doctus) in the arts is, and understandings on how it should be implemented and assessed, still widely differ since it got introduced in Europe by the Bologna declaration in 1999. The definition ARIAS is using is as follows: A doctoral degree in arts is a degree awarded based on research conducted through the arts – by the means of art / art practice – on the highest level. It is an artistic research doctorate that gives a remarkable and extraordinary contribution to the field of art, and proposes (a) different insight(s) to existing ways of knowing. Artistic Research Research conducted ‘through the arts’ means that an artistic discipline is used as the field that provides ways of thinking and knowing; using the art practice’s methods, tools, materials, and so forth to do research. Artistic Research is an extraordinary realm of research particularly suited to engage with a diversity of subject-fields and thus for addressing inter- and trans-disciplinary issues. Doing Artistic Research is therefore concerned with experimental processes of knowing and their articulation. Ways of knowing Artistic Research brings with it an embrace of particular ways of knowing and of thinking about knowledge. It is therefore more about enacting processes of knowing than it is about the accumulation of knowledge. It uses a diverse range of approaches and methods from for example science, arts, and social embodied practices. As such artistic research problematizes the demand for knowledge production by entering and generating different ways of knowing as spaces for thinking.

Possibilities for 3rd cycle trajectories As mentioned above, ARIAS does not have its “own Doctorate-in-the-Arts trajectory”, although it acts in the role of mediator in between WO (Academic Education) and HBO (Higher Professional Education) institutions within the ARIAS network for post-MA researchers interested in obtaining a doctoral degree in the arts. Below is an overview of different trajectories for: pre-PhD’s and third cycle trajectories; PhD’s with artistic component; and doctoral degrees in the arts, within the ARIAS network. To obtain a doctoral position the general requirements follow: 1. Have an MA-degree (exceptions can be made – check the Universities promotion regulations.) 2. Write a +- 1000 word summary of a research proposal.

(See for example the ASCA guidelines ). 3. Find a ‘promoter’ (supervisor) willing to supervise. 4. Be accepted by one of the research schools or centers of the University, for which a PhD-proposal has to be prepared following the rules dependent on the chosen research school. Tip → Ask the supervisor about their understanding of a doctorate in the arts. It’s crucial that the promoter is willing to stand behind the research and help make way for it in the institution. Especially when bringing in artistic methods into academic contexts; specific conditions are needed and some institutional ideas challenged.

WO Partners The University of Amsterdam and VU Amsterdam do not offer practice-based doctoral degrees in the arts as defined above. Enrolling into a promotion trajectory at either of these universities demands the writing of an academic dissertation. It is however possible to set up a connection with one of the art academies and give shape to a PhD with an artistic component. We are here to think along about the particular conditions your research might need and mediate in making suitable connections within our network. The possibilities at UvA and VU differ:

University of Amsterdam | UvA Since 2017 at the University of Amsterdam, it is possible to obtain a PhD degree with an artistic component which asks the candidate to write an academic PhD dissertation and to also produce a “high quality artistic performance”. An advisor from the field of arts can be added to the commission on a motivated request. In the promotion regulations of the UvA a supplementary regulation on ‘Doctorate in Arts’ can be found that describes the conditions further in detail. Find here the download links for the Doctorate Regulations. Find here more information about doing a PhD at the UvA. Find here step-by-step overviews from admission to completion. Find here information on obtaining a position with or without employment.

VU Amsterdam | VU In 2019 the VU Amsterdam adapted their PHD-regulations on two points, with regards to practice-based components as part of the academic doctorate.

1. The doctoral thesis can be combined with an artistic or technological component included in the theses as being crucial to knowledge development; one could think of an exhibition, dataset, or artistic work. The commission acknowledges this as part of the overall doctoral thesis and reviews it as such, the artwork will thus not be examined separately as the product of research in and of itself. (See article 16.2 of their promotion regulations.) 2. Usually a commission consists of members that have obtained the PhD title themselves. On a motivated request of your promotor the dean can decide to add an advisor without such title to the commission because of the needed expertise they bring: from for example the arts, the industry, civil society.

(See article 13.7 of their promotion regulations). Find here general information about doing a PhD at the VU. Find here the promotion regulations of the VU (in Dutch). Find here info about the Graduate School of the Humanities. Interdisciplinary research schools and LAB’s at the VU: Hybrid Forms CLUE+

HBO Partners Within the Dutch educational system art schools are not considered Universities, they can’t grant PhDs. Gerrit Rietveld Akademie (GRA), Amsterdam University of the Arts, (AHK), and Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (HvA) offer higher professional education in the arts and applied sciences. These knowledge institutions have the potential to be collaboration partners in setting up a doctoral degree in the arts between WO and HBO. ARIAS assists potential PhD candidates in creating a connection between such institutions. On some occasions these HBO’s offer other interesting third-cycle education (meaning studies on doctoral level) trajectories or research programmes – listed below. Find an overview of research groups (lectoraten) in the academies here .

Gerrit Rietveld Academie | GRA Creator Doctus (CrD) Creator Doctus (CrD) is set up by the Gerrit Rietveld Academie as a pilot for a whole new doctoral degree in the arts (equal to but not the same as PhD*). It is a three-year research trajectory within the so-called third cycle of higher education for doctorate embodied artistic research. The promotion results in a series of artworks that answer research questions formulated by the artists within the context of a framework provided by a commissioning societal partner. At the end of the three years the results are presented to an evaluation committee, the involved partners and the public. If judged sufficient the artist will be awarded the title Creator Doctus (CrD). The title will serve to help promote the degree of profession and skill of the artist. To obtain European recognition the title is developed in collaboration with several European partners. Read more about CrD here and here .

Amsterdam University of the Arts | AHK docARTES docARTES is an international inter-university doctoral programme for practice-based research in musical arts, designed for musician-researchers. The Conservatorium of Amsterdam (part of AHK) participates in docARTES. Read more about admission to docARTES here . DAS Research | THIRD – 3rd Cycle DAS Graduate School (AHK) houses several MA programmes besides a department for research for post-graduates called DAS Research. DAS Research leads a 3rd Cycle programme called THIRD that facilitates artists interested in pursuing post-graduate education. Since 2016, THIRD has hosted cohorts (research groups) of each seven fellows exploring research opportunities for artistic research at the PhD or PhD equivalent level. This peer-to-peer learning environment takes place over the course of 3 years with four quarterlies (meetings of 4 days) per year. Currently, few programmes in Europe cater to performing arts research in higher education. Though DAS Graduate School cannot bestow a terminal degree of PhD yet, they support performing artists who wish to expand their knowledge(s) by supplementing PhD candidatures in the Netherlands and abroad. The aim of the THIRD is to prepare, coach, and facilitate individual artists working in or in relation to the performing arts in articulating a long-term research project for enrollment in a university PhD or Research Fellowship programme. Read more about DAS Research / THIRD here .

Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences | HvA The HvA is one of the largest schools of the Benelux, connected to ARIAS through its faculty of Digital Media and Creative Industry (FDMCI). The research groups (lectoraten) related to design, digital media, and visual culture based there are vivid and engaged actors in our network. These lectoraten bundled in CREATE-IT, the department for applied research, work together with other in-school Labs and external partners from different industries. After being taken on as a doctoral candidate by a supervisor at one of the universities, PhD researchers can be co-promoted by the HvA and hosted within their research department. Find more information in our network & research group overview. Find more information about CREATE-IT .

Further Reading For further reading on artistic research we refer to our library . Specifically recommended: The E-flux article “ The Academy is Back: On Education , the Bologna Process, and the Doctorate in the Arts” by Dieter Lesage (2009), for a more historical and contextual understanding of doctoral degree developments for the arts (in relation to the Bologna agreement). “ ANTI THESIS ” by Janneke van Leeuwen (2020), an insightful view of a recently promoted researcher on embedded artistic research. Find an overview of research groups on our network page.

Tip → This page aims to guide you in your orientation and consideration of what is best suitable for the kinds of research you want to conduct. Ask yourself if doctoral research – both artistically and scientifically – is actually what you want to be busy with for a longer period of time (3 – 4 years at least). Maybe there is an answer to doing artistic research as either a PhD at one of the Universities in collaboration with an art HBO, or rather in another form or degree at one of the alternative routes.

In exploring possibilities and creating your own way, stretching the limits of how research is thought, you help pave the road for others that come behind. At ARIAS we help you to try and find those new possibilities. Doctoral degrees in the arts ‘are young’, yet we remain hopeful for the future in that exciting and innovative ways are developing through our collaborative efforts.

Left with questions after reading this page? Please contact us!

ARIAS focus in on Amsterdam. If you want to make a connection between one of our partner’s institutions and another Dutch knowledge institution, the platform kunst = onderzoeks provides a shortlist of third cycle options. If you want to connect with an international partner refer to this overview by ELIA is a good start. See also the Artistic Doctorate in Europe website for more info, case studies, and insights on research other possibilities.

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Embodied Lines: Movement as a method of inquiry for imagined, perceived and temporal bodily lines

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PhD Programmes

Phd vacancies.

Both Dutch and international students can enroll in PhD programmes at Utrecht University. All our PhD programmes are offered fully in English. The degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) is available from all faculties. Every year, some 550 Utrecht PhD candidates complete their research and PhD theses.

To be admitted to a PhD programme, applicants must meet stringent academic requirements. You need to have a solid background in the theory and methods of your field, hold a recognised master’s degree (or equivalent) and demonstrate a good knowledge of English.

Browse our vacancies to find available PhD positions at Utrecht University. Note that this page lists all university-wide vacancies. The Search function allows you to distinguish between academic vacancies (which include PhD positions) and support and administrative vacancies.

Apart from applying for one of the available PhD positions, students and professionals with graduate degrees may also submit PhD-research proposals of their own.

More information

Utrecht University Heidelberglaan 8 3584 CS Utrecht The Netherlands Tel. +31 (0)30 253 35 50

Art History

Medieval miniatures, still lifes from the Golden Age, the painting atelier and art dealership, architecture and video art: Art History at the UvA encompasses the complete history of Western art, and deals with Amsterdam both as it was in the 17th century and in its modern form. A close relationship with local and international museums, archives and art academies offers many research possibilities.

Kunstgeschiedenis

Art and Performance Research Studies

Curating Art and Cultures (Heritage Studies)

Kunstgeschiedenis (kunst- en cultuurwetenschappen).

Art, Freedom, and Decolonisation in the Global South

Hanneke Grootenboer appointed professor of Early Modern Art and Visual Culture

The Aesthetics of Geopower: Imagining Planetary Histories and Hegemonies

Mixtape No. 2: Practitheorising Counterinstitutions

Economic elites increasingly shape the art we see

ConNext 2023

Call for Papers - Urban Lives: Amsterdam Diaries and Other Stories of the Self

New ASCA Member: Assel Kadyrkhanova

Humanities Labs: innovative research and education under one roof

Relational subjects, objects and institutions: Artistic Convergences between Latin America and Europe in the Postwar

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Art programs in Netherlands

Level of studies:.

Industrial Engineering and Management

University of Twente

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings is the only global university performance table to judge research-intensive universities across all of their core missions: teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook.

Integrated Product Design

Delft University of Technology

Strategic product design, arts and culture: design and decorative art studies.

Leiden University

Graduate school of architecture and the built environment, game technology.

Breda University of Applied Sciences

Industrial design.

Eindhoven University of Technology

Industrial product design.

Fontys University of Applied Sciences

Design cultures.

Free University Amsterdam

Design for interaction, industrial design engineering.

The Hague University

Graphic design.

Avans University of Applied Sciences

Game design.

Hanze University of Applied Sciences

Arts and culture: design, culture and society, crossmedia design.

ArtEZ University of Arts

Product design.

Utrecht School of the Arts

Spatial design, fine art and design in education, media design.

Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences

Illustration design, illustration, interaction design, visual art and design management, lifestyle transformation design, media, art, design and technology, international game architecture and design, moving image, comic design, globalisation and development studies.

Maastricht University

Interior design, interactive toy design, deadline information, best universities with art in netherlands.

Bachelor Art programs in Netherlands

Master Art programs in Netherlands

Most Popular Art programs in Netherlands

PhD Art programs in Netherlands

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