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How we help you

Whether you have a clear research direction or just some emerging ideas, we can help you shape and strengthen your proposal, connecting you with relevant supervisors. 

 

ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø School of Art has a long history of innovative practice-based PhDs in Art. Our research engages with new and emergent forms of knowledge production developed through practice. We recognise how practice shapes our understanding of artistic and curatorial research.

Our areas of expertise and specialism

We supervise research in: 

  • artistic research

  • curation

  • performance and publication projects

  • critical art writing

  • aritsts’ film and video

  • creative interdisciplinary research

  • collections and archives

 

These are all underpinned by an emphasis on critical art theory, art history and philosophy:

  • post-colonialism

  • de-colonisation

  • performance and subjectivity

  • ecologies 

  • embodiment and precarity

  • radical art pedagogy

  • participation and public sphere

 

Get in touch with the School so we can help you develop your proposal. Find out how to apply for a PhD

PhD Practice in Curating

PhD Practice in Curating is a ‘by distance’ programme that understands the doctoral cohort and faculty as a supportive environment of shared knowledge production. 

 

We especially encourage applicants with a track record of curating, who are already curatorial professionals working in museums and galleries. 

Doctoral candidates develop their curatorial research and writing skills, in conceiving, organizing, as well as carrying out independent and/or collaborative research in an environment that is dedicated to interdisciplinary exchange, and shared knowledge production.

The thesis and the projects are developed in close dialogue with the Programme Director - Professor Dorothee Richter and the second supervisor provided by research staff in Art.

PhD Practice in Curating is supported through regular reading groups, presentations, and exhibition tours. The doctoral cohort critically utilizes the editorships of the discipline leading journal OnCurating, edited by Richter, as well as the public symposia and conferences that the research platform supports with partners such as documenta, tba21 and ARCO Seoul. Recent iterations include conferences: De-Colonizing Art Institutions, supported by Kunstmuseum Basel; Curating in Feminist Thought, Migros Museum; Our Hegemonic Machines, Bucharest Biennial; Curating on the move, conference and workshop examining ecology and world-making with the Taipei Biennale in partnership City University, Hong Kong.

Published thesis from PhD Practice in Curating researchers or are retrievable from the British Library database .

For more information or to express your interest in applying, please contact Dorothee Richter at d.i.richter@reading.ac.uk

PhD supervision

Through the expert PhD supervision we offer, we seek to ensure that the time you spend with us as a doctoral student is as rewarding as possible.
Our academic staff are leaders in their areas of research and many have extensive experience as art practitioners.
Find out more about our staff and the areas of postgraduate research that they supervise

Our research

Art work by John Russell
The School makes a distinctive contribution to knowledge through practice-led, theoretical and art historical modes of enquiry.
Our doctoral students, academic researchers, research fellows and post-doctoral research assistants work on art research and knowledge transfer with everyday relevance.
Learn more about our research areas, and current and past projects

Student using tablet while drinking tea in a cafe
You can choose a PhD by Thesis or PhD by Published Works. 

Smiling student sitting in a library with a notebook and a stack of books
Our Department offers both part-time and full-time PhDs, so you can choose a mode of study that suits your circumstances. 

Student sitting outside a cafe with a laptop and a cup of coffee
Our PhD by Distance programme allows you to benefit from the expertise of a ºÚ¹Ï³ÔÁÏÍø-based supervisor, while conducting your research in a different location.