Curriculum
PHD Handbook
This three-year full-time or six-year part-time hybrid program requires an average work commitment of 30 or 15 hours per week, respectively.
Three-month terms of monthly weekend intensives are punctuated with month-long independent study periods, enabling students to pace themselves, gain perspective, acquire concentrated periods for reflection, investigation, field/lab/studio work, and balance work, family, and other obligations.
Requisite foundation year terms (or part-time 2 years) are organized by broader foci and the following elective years offer a more diverse range of topics for further enrichment.
Foundation
Each of these three terms begins with an initial introductory session, which provides an overview of term’s areas of focus, and subsequent classes are then taught from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, so as to ensure that candidates are exposed to a plurality of approaches to the content outlined here:
Term 1: Research Skills + Epistemologies
The first term’s Research Training classes will introduce the broad contemporary philosophical and methodological context within which creative transdisciplinary research takes place, as well as introducing some key research skills.
During these sessions, candidates should expect:
· To deepen their awareness of the ways in which new knowledge can emerge in and through hybrid forms of praxis
· To gain an understanding of the importance of rigorously contextualising their enquiry within a transdisciplinary research context which emerges from the consideration of the specific concerns of their project.
· To gain the practical research skills which will enable them to identify, locate and engage with resources which constitute their individual research context.
Term 2: Research Methods + Ethics
During the second term’s Research Training classes candidates will be introduced to a range of appropriate contemporary research methods and methodological approaches and also gain in-depth knowledge of current research ethics guidance.
During these sessions, candidates should expect:
· To gain an awareness of the epistemological value of the methods which are currently embedded in their individual praxes.
· To become confident in their ability to articulate both the methods and methodological approach(es) which inform their projects.
· To become able to assess, design and implement strategies which will ensure that their research is conducted in a rigorous and ethical manner.
Term 3: Articulation + Dissemination
During the third term’s Research Training classes, candidates will encounter and become familiar with a variety of approaches to articulating their research journey, both in writing and in presentations of various forms, as well as beginning to explore the wide range of options available for the documentation of their research process, and the eventual dissemination of their research findings.
During these classes, candidates will gain:
· An awareness of the variety of contemporary approaches to writing the thesis, their differences and commonalities and their respective strengths and weaknesses.
· An understanding of the importance of writing as a means of thinking about, understanding and communicating their research clearly and concisely, in written and verbal forms.
· The ability to understand and integrate current theories and theoretical perspectives on learning and reflection within their individual methodological frameworks.
· An understanding of the importance of documenting their research process in a rigorous, consistent and coherent manner.
· An awareness of potential channels for the dissemination of their ideas within the specific transdisciplinary research context within which their project is located.
1
YEAR ONE (OR PART-TIME YEAR 1-2)
TERM 1:
September - November > Research Skills + Epistemologies
December > Independent Research
TERM 2:
January - March > Methods + Ethics
April > Independent Research
TERM 3:
May - June - July > Articulation + Dissemination
Outcome: Confirmation of Route + Ethics approval
July > Residency
August > Independent Research
2
YEAR TWO (OR PART-TIME YEAR 3-4)
TERM 1:
September - November > Electives
December: Independent Research
TERM 2:
January - March > Electives
April > Independent Research
TERM 3:
May - June - July > Electives
Outcome: Dissertation draft
July > Residency
August > Independent Research
3
YEAR THREE (OR PART-TIME YEAR 5-6)
TERM 1:
September - November > Electives (optional)
December > Independent Research
TERM 2:
January - March > Electives (optional)
April > Independent Research
TERM 3:
May - June - July > Electives (optional)
Outcome: Dissertation + viva voce + publication
July > Residency + graduation