The Routledge Companion to Research in the Arts

eva Luating quaLity in artistiC researCh

Taught doctorate there is a greater integration of the candidate with the research
community than in the supervised Research model for example.
in response to the demands of the arts community for something distinct from the
phd that would facilitate modalities more common in the arts, one can find various
non- phd doctorates such as dart, dmus, etc. a doctor of music degree will usually
require a portfolio of works, with or without accompanying analyses, reflections or
comments, but generally does not imply or require a research supervision. such awards
allow institutions to create bespoke structures that reflect professionally- led interests.
For example, the dmus degree in piano playing at the sibelius academy requires five
concerts and a written thesis discussing themes related to the performed repertoire.
one example of a non- phd doctoral- level course is the norwegian Research
Fellowships in the arts. This is a unique three- year programme ending with the exam
title “First amanuensis” which is claimed to be equivalent to the phd and qualifies
the holder for an academic post as senior lecturer/associate professor (Chapter 2).
in addition, a new artistic doctorate programme will be launched in sweden from
september 2010 as an alternative to the already existing phd degree.

The conflict between academic and professional criteria

These different types of doctoral or third- cycle programmes and awards reflect a range
of approaches to what is being delivered. owing to the phd being an award and a
training that is available across disciplines, art departments that seek comparability
with other subjects prefer this award. such comparability has been described as the
situated position (Biggs and Büchler 2008b). Conversely, departments that adopt the
isolationist position, in which comparability is neither sought nor deemed possible,
prefer awards that are not available in other subjects, such as non- phd doctorates. The
lack of comparability has an impact for the candidate, in some cases putting them in
apparently advantageous positions as a subject specialist, but in other cases putting the
relative value of the award in question.
professional criteria can be fully met by programmes that do not aim to also fulfil all
the academic criteria inherent in the phd. Thus the norwegian Fellowships, for example,
can measure the quality of their output against professionally derived criteria such as the
ability of the candidate to secure exhibitions, etc. indeed some systems have a crossover
between these criteria, as is the case in Finland. in Finland it is part of the programme
of studies leading to the dart degree that the candidate should have three professional
exhibitions. however, the reason why this is a relevant criterion is not explicit, except to

Figure 23.2 The ‘new paradigm’ approach in which arts research emerges as a distinct and separate
field from the existing fields of arts practice and academic research.