PhD programme in Visual Art and Design

PhDArts offers an international, high-level doctorate in artistic research for visual artists and designers. PhDArts is a collaboration between the Academy of Creative and Performing Arts (ACPA) at Leiden University and the Royal Academy of Art (KABK) in The Hague, The Netherlands.

The PhDArts research trajectory consists of two elements: supervision of individual research and participation in the doctoral study programme. The doctoral programme includes seminars, trainings, lectures, and workshops by PhDArts staff and guest lecturers, as well as presentations of their individual research projects by fellow doctoral candidates. PhD candidates are expected to attend this program as it constitutes an essential part of the research environment in which the candidates undertake their research.

Artistic research
In artistic research, research is conducted within or through artistic practice and comprehensively argued in a discursively written text. The research question corresponds to the possibility of making an original contribution to knowledge, artistically and discursively. The outcomes of the research contribute to an aesthetic understanding of the world, to the growing body of artistic academic discourse, and are of societal relevance.

Admission
Applicants must have a Master’s degree or proof of study at a comparable level. As PhDArts is a practice-as-research doctorate, applicants must first and foremost demonstrate that they are highly accomplished practitioners in some aspect of the visual arts and/or design. On a theoretical level, applicants have to demonstrate that their ideas are already quite well-formed and that they can position their contribution within the context of a particular field of research. The applicant will need to be able to justify the urgency of the research proposal.

The application process consists of two phases. The first phase comprises the assessment of a research dossier that is uploaded via the online application form on our website. In the event of a positive assessment, the applicant enters the second phase of the application process and is invited for an Entrance Examination in May 2024. The Entrance Examinations take place at the Academy of Creative and Performing Arts in Leiden. The final decision on admission rests with Leiden University, which will also award the PhD. Please visit our website for more information about admission requirements, the admission procedure, and the online application form.