Research involving Practice writing a proposal - personal perspective Rachel Cooper

Researchinvolving Practicewriting a proposal - personal perspective

Rachel Cooper

‘The AHRCs starting point is to insist that there is a distinction between creative activities and practice in

themselves on the one hand, and research on the other.

Not all creative activity and practice, even of the highest quality, constitutes research, and much research in the

creative and performing arts involves no such activity at all.

Nevertheless, there is much high-quality research in these subjects and disciplines that can be undertaken effectively only if it is firmly embedded in and involves the pursuit of

creative activities, performance, and practice.’AHRC 2003

The RAE and Research in the Creative & Performing Arts Review of Research Assessment

RESEARCH IN THE CREATIVE AND PERFORMING ARTS

Since 1999, the AHRC has required all applicants for research funding to specify clearly:

• the research issues, problems, or questions that will be addressed;• the context in which those issues, problems, or questions are located (what is known or understood in the general area of the proposed research already, and how addressing or answering the issues, problems, or questions specified will enhance the generally-available knowledge and understanding of the area in question);• what research methods will be used to address the issues, problems, or questions that have been specified; and• how the results of the research will be disseminated to the research community and to others who might be interested in them.

“The key requirement is that the work should bring

about enhancements in knowledge and

understanding in the discipline, or in related

disciplinary areas”.

Output….

……as part of the obligation the researcher owes to the academy and the scholarly community, it should incorporate a scholarly apparatus that

enables other researchers in the discipline - and those in other related disciplines - to assess the

value and significance of the results of the research, and the methods through which they

were achieved.

A Personal Perspective…• 5 years 2000 -2005• 30,000 applications/3000+ • PM, RM, doctoral, fellowships etc

– Applied arts and crafts– Fine art – Communication, graphics,photography– Three- dimensional design– Film, digital and other media– Fashion textiles– Interior design– Art and design management– Conservation of art and textiles, – Cultural studies– History of art, architecture and design– Subsidiary assessment to all other panels

Also….

my experience of:

Writing applications

Refereeing ApplicationsAs a member of a AHRB research

grant committees and ESRC, EPSRC review panels

Postgraduate research

Doctoral research is also training

Research Master provides a basis

Both can employ practice

Doctoral

Fine Art – While some applicants were attempting to push the boundaries, some applications exhibited a lack of understanding of doctoral study in fine art.Design –The panel did note that few were aspirational or pushed the boundaries of the subject.Applied Arts and Crafts - nothing which displayed outstanding qualities

Research Masters

Fine Art - these statements were not necessarily convincing and demonstrated a lack of awareness of the nature of such further study. The framing of the applicants work proposal was in many cases clearly within the realms of the criteria for the professional rather than research masters scheme. Design - Very few RM applications, the design discipline still has not recognised the possibilities, however where there are applications, the standard is high.

2005

2004.

Doctoral competition

Fine Art –The best applications in this area were able to describe practice as part of their research in a more effective manner, having a better understanding of the context and their own research area and/or questions. Still there were other weaker applications that tended to dress up their application with jargon, to ‘academicize’ it without any real understanding of research in the field.

Film and digital media –many were still quite professional in their orientation, i.e. they were professional dressed up as research. Here there was also a concern that applicants were moving into an area of practiced based research without any prior experience of working in practice, i.e. any knowledge of film or video making, which in effect makes it difficult to judge their ability to conduct a practice based piece of research.

Research MastersFine art –There were applications that were clearly professional

practice, dressed up as research

“””interesting area, description is disorganized, research methods

unclear”Fashion and Textiles

“Good theory, if rather impenetrable use of language, I

understood it towards the end, the research method was clear,

although I am not sure what the objective really is”

Applied Arts and Crafts

“Interesting, well structured statement, but little reference to

existing body of work” Applied Arts and Craft

Examples

Applied artsThe identification, evaluation and demonstration of useful principles for multimedia learning support where there is a substantial element of tacit knowledge.Nicola Wood, Sheffield Hallam University

Supervisor Chris Rust

CraftsArticulating the Crafts in the 21st CenturyPaul Harper, LMU

Supervisor Chris Smith

Two images of the first part of the Salford 7 project, at The Lowry ( Jan 05).Using my own family photos, enlarged to AO size and pasted to the walls of the gallery and also inserted into found calendar and postcard display stands ( critiquing heritage/consumerism).The second part uses family snaps gathered from 10 families in Salford to make a large exhibition for the PhD , with theoretical content on analysis of family snaps, heritage, spatial theories,

Director of studies MIRIAD Jim Aulich; supervisor Nick Mansfield, from the Peoples History Museum

Fine Art Salford 7: The representation and reclamation of a lost working class communityLawrence Cassidy, MMU

Fine Art Interrogating negotiated meanings: the visual in Black British Fine Art creative PracticeAbdul Hakim Onitolo, UWE

Supervisors Steve Hoskins & Nigel Hurlstone

DesignArtefacts in the ideation process for user-centred product developmentSimon Bowen, Sheffield Hallam University Wood

Supervisors Chris Rust/ Paul Chamberlain

Performance

photograph: Manuel VasonUntitled Collaborations 2004

Hancock& Kelly would like to acknowledge that due to the positive and visionary attitude of the dept of Film, Television and Theatre at The University of Reading, and its collaboration with dept of Fine Art, our unorthodox PhD methodology/research is now underway.

Richard Hancock & Traci Kelly, Reading University

Performance

Richard Hancock & Traci Kelly

Traci ‘my thesis will consider the politics of vision and speech in personal and public representation and the attribution of value in live art’

Richard ‘ My specific area of enquiry is the performance aspects of representation . Drawing on Queer Theorists such as Judith Bulter and Jose Esteban Munoz, I will study how bodies are articulated, identified and presented and represented through performance and performativity’

Clarity & expertise

Preparation for Research Application

You need:

To start with a passion

To have an indication of some knowledge of the area in which you are intending to do research

(Find appropriate supervisors or colleagues)

Research the existing knowledge and any other people/groups who are doing similar work

Spend time developing a set of clear aims and objectives

(Look up grants already awarded by that body to ensure you are not covering work already funded)

Preparation for Research Application

Preparation for Research Application Be clear about the research methodology you plan to use

Decompose the elements of the work

Develop a plan of work and a schedule of deliverables/targets

Writing the application

• State the aims and objectives clearly at the beginning• Provide a context for the work• Provide details of existing knowledge and research to

illustrate the novelty of your proposal • Explain the methodology and how it was determined • Describe the research process, the plan of work,

milestones

Writing the application

• Explain how the project will be managed• Explain the new knowledge, you hope to achieve• (Explain the beneficiaries)• Explain how it will be disseminated and exploited

• Spend time on the layout, typography, use of headings,

• Short sentences, short paragraphs and space

Writing the application

Can I use visual images?

There is nothing to stop you.. as long as you are happy for it to be read/interpreted…

Is “Is it Research… does it employ some sort of

enquiry?

Does it involve practice…how…why and what for..?