Hi Andreas
In the UK we tend not to have PhD programmes. PhD's are tailored to the researcher's individual objectives. In the USA and Europe programmatic approaches tend to be common. That said, various institutions have their specialities. When it comes to project based PhDs, this generally depends on who has what funding for which project.
Simon Penny has historically had funds for art, technology and engineering programmes and Paul Dourish, who is also at Irvine, has recently gained substantial funding (eg: tens of millions) to undertake work in this area, including a cohort of PhDs. So, California remains a destination in this area. Here at Edinburgh our funding is mostly in other areas, such as art, technology and literature; design, social media and co-creation; or the internet of things. These depend on specific funded research projects.
As for patent-like approaches, this is almost an ideological question. The patent is at the root of a knowledge framework based on the ownership of knowledge. Given your background, I doubt this is a platform you would really wish to engage. But I understand what you mean by this, as a form of shorthand. Again, I'd point towards the States for this approach.
Engineering PhDs also write a thesis, usually of around 40-50,000 words, sometimes more. It is important that the knowledge is shareable, not buried in the indecipherable. A PhD is a contribution to (a making of) a community, not just a personal journey.
best
Simon
On 20 Aug 2012, at 18:12, Andreas Broeckmann wrote:
> dear simon,
>
> thanks for the hints. the model that you describe is familiar from a number of practice-based art PhD programs (Malmo Art Academy at Lund University run something similar). this is useful, though i had hoped to aim my question in a slightly different direction:
>
> are there PhD programs that are open for artists and more clearly placed in the field or on the border of *engineering*? to be honest, i have no idea what engineering PhDs look like these days, but i fantasise about a PhD project that is akin to a technical invention, the thesis looking more like a patent application than a philological monograph (the latter format can be impossible for artists who have the technical and conceptual but not the writing skills).
>
> just a dream?
>
> -a
>
>
> Am 20.08.12 18:56, schrieb Simon Biggs:
>> Our PhDs can do something like this, although they still need to deliver
>> 50% of their output in the form of a thesis. However, our focus is
>> research through practice (rather than research into practice) so the
>> practice is where we hope to see the main research being undertaken. In
>> this case the thesis is used to articulate the context of the research
>> (both practice and theory), the analytical framework, the criteria for
>> evaluation, an outline of the research methods and a detailed
>> description of the work undertaken, with a concise outline of the final
>> outcomes. We have students undertaking PhDs co-supervised between
>> art/design/architecture and computing/informatics/engineering, as well
>> as crossing over into the humanities and social sciences. We also have
>> some working in bio-engineering as creative practice, which is a growth
>> area (sorry about the pun).
>>
>> The key thing with a PhD, as with all research, is that it has to
>> deliver novel insights of value to others, not just the person doing it,
>> and to do this the outcomes have to be articulated in a public context
>> where others can readily access and understand the work. That is a
>> challenge for any researcher, not just a PhD.
>>
>> Aside from here at Edinburgh I'm aware that Newcastle, Queen Mary,
>> Lancaster and Goldsmiths support such PhDs, as do MIT, UC Irvine and
>> Carnegie Mellon in the USA. There are others as well, including in
>> Australia and Canada.
>>
>> best
>>
>> Simon
>>
>>
>> On 20 Aug 2012, at 17:17, Andreas Broeckmann wrote:
>>
>>> dear friends,
>>>
>>> over the last weeks i've had two requests for advice from artists who
>>> are working with digital technologies and who feel that career-wise it
>>> might be good to do a PhD, even though they are both not the "i want
>>> to sit down, study a theoretical topic related to my practice, and
>>> work on a philological book for 3 years" types.
>>>
>>> rather, they are artist-engineers who build things and invent new
>>> usages of old and new technologies, their's is an artistic practice
>>> that is closely related to the construction and moulding of ideas in
>>> technical hardware.
>>>
>>> what i am wondering is whether for artists like this, rather than
>>> going into heady art&research PhD programs, it would not be better to
>>> try and find a *technical* department that understands the cultural
>>> significance of their work. if they have to submit a phd-thesis about
>>> their work as techno-cultural-artistic devices, incl. technical and
>>> artistic explanations and contextualisation, that might be more
>>> realistic - and possibly more appropriate - to achieve?
>>>
>>> do people have experiences with such "engineering PhDs for artists"?
>>> and can you name schools that are open to such research, possibly in
>>> cooperation with a partner art school?
>>>
>>> best regards from a steaming hot berlin,
>>>
>>> -a
>>>
>>> --
>>> -------------------------------------------------------------
>>> Leuphana Universität Lüneburg - Leuphana Arts Program (LAP)
>>> Dr. Andreas Broeckmann
>>> Scharnhorststraße 1, C5.225, 21335 Lüneburg, Germany
>>> [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>>> http://www.leuphana.de/lap
>>> -------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>
>>
>> Simon Biggs
>> [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>> http://www.littlepig.org.uk/ @SimonBiggsUK skype: simonbiggsuk
>>
>> [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> Edinburgh College of Art,
>> University of Edinburgh
>> http://www.eca.ac.uk/circle/ http://www.elmcip.net/
>> http://www.movingtargets.co.uk/
>> MSc by Research in Interdisciplinary Creative Practices
>> http://www.ed.ac.uk/studying/postgraduate/degrees?id=656&cw_xml=details.php
>>
>
Simon Biggs
[log in to unmask] http://www.littlepig.org.uk/ @SimonBiggsUK skype: simonbiggsuk
[log in to unmask] Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh
http://www.eca.ac.uk/circle/ http://www.elmcip.net/ http://www.movingtargets.co.uk/
MSc by Research in Interdisciplinary Creative Practices
http://www.ed.ac.uk/studying/postgraduate/degrees?id=656&cw_xml=details.php
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