Project Partners

Project
Consortium

 




Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (Austria) Coordinator

The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna has been a leading European higher education institution for artists for more than 300 years. Conveying a complex understanding of art to a knowledge-based society is one of the main tasks of the Academy, apart from teaching students.

As a state funded public university, the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna is especially dedicated to teaching processes based on research and art alike, i.e. on scientific and artistic research, the findings of which are integrated into the curricula in different ways and communicated to a wider public through exhibitions, symposia, lectures and a publication series.

Core team member

Michaela Glanz
is Head of the Art | Research | Support department at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, where complimentary services from the working areas of the research service, of the Center for Doctoral Studies, and of knowledge transfer are provided. She is currently a member of the Executive Board of the Society for Artistic Research (SAR) and the Working Group for Artistic Research of ELIA.

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Academy of Fine Arts in Prague (Czech Republic)

The Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, founded in 1799, is the oldest university-level art school in the Czech Republic and has long-term experience in running renowned art practice based doctoral programs.

In almost 25 years it learned about difficulties and harvested the knowledge and experience based on local academic tradition and cultural distinctiveness within the East European culture and education area. AVU maintains its exclusivity by its renowned artists/teachers and admitting only a small number of students in a demanding talent-based competition.

Core team member

Maria Topolčanská
is senior lecturer in the Department of Theory and History of Art at Academy of Fine Arts in Prague (AVU). She holds a Master in Architecture and Urban Culture from Barcelona School of Architecture ETSAB UPC University of Catalunya, a Master in Architectural Design and a PhD in Theory of Architecture from the School of Architecture FA STU in Bratislava. In 2022 she has been appointed Rector of Academy of Fine Arts in Prague.

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European League of the Institutes of the Arts, ELIA (Netherlands)

ELIA is a globally connected European network that provides a dynamic platform for professional exchange and development in higher arts education. With over 250 members in 47 countries, it represents some 300.000 students in all art disciplines.

Its cross-disciplinary quality makes ELIA unique as a network. ELIA advocates for higher arts education by empowering and creating new opportunities for its members and facilitating the exchange of good practices. ELIA collaborates with partner networks around the world. ELIA members are higher arts education institutions from all artistic disciplines. ELIA’s offer is inclusive and diverse – it serves the needs of arts schools throughout all levels, from academic staff and international officers, to students and upper management.
In addition, ELIA has over 25 years‘ experience in representing higher arts education in Europe. The ELIA team, elected Board, working groups, specialist steering groups and members provide the organisation with a wealth of expertise that bolsters its advocacy and forms an extensive resource for research, the development of new projects and networks, policy review and future scenario planning.

Core team member

Maria Hansen
is ELIA Executive Director and brings more than 30 years of management experience and a vast international network to the consortium. She has served on many boards of cultural organisations, including that of the International Society for the Performing Arts (ISPA) and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra.

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Orpheus Institute (Belgium)

The Orpheus Institute, founded in 1996 in Ghent, is an international centre of excellence with its primary focus on artistic research in music.

Orpheus Institute hosts the international inter-university docARTES program for practice-based doctoral study in music, and the Orpheus Research Centre, home to around 30 artist-researchers involved in advanced artistic research. The close link between education and research within its facilities creates an inspiring environment where artists can experiment, exchange ideas and develop new knowledge.

Core team member

Peter Dejans
has been director of the Orpheus Institute since its foundation in 1996. He is currently the chair of both the AEC Polifonia Working Group ‘Artistic Research in Music’ as well as the ‘European Platform for Artistic Research in Music’ Working Group.

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School of Architecture Aarhus (Denmark)

Aarhus School of Architecture is an independent institution under the Danish Ministry of Higher Education and Science. The Doctoral programme at Aarhus School of Architecture is organised in a PhD School run jointly with the Kolding Design School.

The PhD School emphasises Research by Design, which the school understands broadly as a whole range on research methodologies that includes design and manufacturing processes as well as design and architectural project development as integrated components of the research process, including artistic research and practice-led research.

Core team member

Claus Peder Pedersen
is MSO Professor of Research through Design and Head of the PhD School at Aarhus School of Architecture since 2017 and Head of Research before. He has been actively promoting and developing artistic and design-based research since completing one of the first PhDs from AAA in 1999. He has been active in international and national research networks (ADAPTr, CA2RE and SHARE).

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The Glasgow School of Art (United Kingdom)

The Glasgow School of Art is one of Europe’s leading higher education institutions for education and research in the visual creative disciplines. The School of Fine Art (SoFA), has the largest community of doctoral students in GSA.

SoFA’s research strategy includes the reflection upon and reimagining of traditional research conventions from a practice-led perspective and multidisciplinary practices within artistic research. Whilst students gain an understanding of traditional research methods, techniques and methodologies, they do so whilst simultaneously devising their own unique strategies by identifying the most innovative approaches that become emergent through their own specific projects.

Core team member

Henry Rogers
is MFA Programme Leader and PhD supervisor with extensive experience (20 years) with regard to research and learning and teaching. He has been an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) panel member and has worked with doctoral students as Director of Studies.

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University of Art and Design Linz (Austria)

Based on excellent technical skills training in the individual courses, University of Art and Design Linz is above all committed to the interfacing of architecture, design, urban and regional planning, ecology and the media.

The PhD programme at University of Art and Design Linz expands the traditional scientific spectrum by adding themes and practices of artistic research (often also referred to as “practice-based research”). Reflective engagement in, and involvement with, specific methods and production processes in connection with students’ own artistic projects are thus integrated as key elements into the research work.

Core team member

Karin Harrasser
is Professor of Cultural Studies and Vice Rector for Research at the University of Art and Design Linz as well as Co-director of the IFK / International Research Center for Cultural Studies in Vienna. Besides research projects and numerous publications of books and essays, she is also Editor of the “Zeitschrift für Kulturwissenschaften” (Journal for Cultural Studies).

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University of Bergen (Norway)

The Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design (KMD) at University of Bergen offers BA, MA and PhD programmes based on an internationally recognised level of artistic research. Academic activities are organised across three departments with a joint administration: Fine Art, Music, and Design.

The University of Bergen (UiB) has just recently established a new PhD-programme in artistic research. Most of the research fellows at the faculty are affiliated with this artistic research programme, but there are also some fellows connected to other PhD programmes at UiB.

Core team member

Anne-Helen Mydland
is Professor for Clay and Ceramics at The Art Academy – Department of Contemporary Art, and previously Vice Dean of Research at Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design (KMD), University of Bergen. She has been project leader and artistic leader for the artistic research project “Topographies of the Obsolete” that has been financed by the Norwegian Artistic Research Programme.

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Zurich University of the Arts (Switzerland)

ZHdK is a major player in Research in the Arts in Europe with nine research institutes covering a broad, comprehensive variety of research in the arts.

The joint PhD programme “Fine Arts and Transdisciplinarity”, a collaboration of ZHdK with University of Arts and Design Linz (Austria) with focus on Artistic Research is the most elaborated one, the most robust one and the one with the most long-lasting experiences of all the PhD/Doctorate programmes at ZhdK.

Core team member

Giaco Schiesser
is Professor em. for culture and media theories and for artistic research, founder of the first artistic PhD programme at Zurich University of the Arts, jointly run by ZHdK and University of Arts and Design Linz (2011-2021), and a guest professor for PhDs at University of Arts and Design Linz. He was director of the Department of Art & Media at ZHdK (2002-2017) and a member and Vice-President of the Society for Artistic Research, SAR (2015-2020).

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Advisory
Board


Andrea B. Braidt

Andrea B. Braidt is a scholar of media and film studies with a research focus in gender/queer studies, genre research and artistic research studies. Since 2004 she is senior scientist at the Institute for Theater, Film and Media Studies at the University of Vienna. Braidt was Vice-Rector for Art and Research at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (2011-2019). She is chair of the board of trustees of the Albertina (Vienna) and President of ELIA European League of the Institutes of the Arts.

Klaus Jung

Klaus Jung is Head of Fine Art at the Royal Academy of the Arts in The Hague and has an established track record as art-school-manager. E.g. he headed the Art Academy in Trondheim, the Bergen School of Art and Design, the School of Fine Art at the Glasgow School of Art and the Academy of Media Arts Cologne.

Cecilie Broch Knudsen

Cecilie Broch Knudsen has been Chair of The Norwegian Artistic Research Programme (2015-2018) and has held a number of positions as a board member in both research and cultural contexts and institutions, e.g. board member at PEEK (Austrian Programme for Arts-based Research), member of board at Talent Norway AS Kunsthalle and member of representative board and the working group for artistic research at ELIA.

Kerstin Mey

Kerstin Mey is Professor of Visual Culture and assumed her role as Interim President of the University of Limerick in 2020 and President in October 2021. She has built a track record of successfully initiating and implementing pioneering academic and research initiatives and cultural projects in higher education. Her research interests are situated at the interface of art practice, theory and history, and include public pedagogies and cultural policy.