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Image from Kieran McBride
MA - Art in the Digital World graduate, 2004

Image from David Hayes
MA - Art in the Digital World graduate, 2004

Image from Fergus Kelly
MFA graduate, 2004

Postgraduate Study in Fine Art: MFA, MA - Art in the Digital World & PhD

PhD through practice in Fine Art

There are currently four artists registered on the PhD pathway in Fine Art, and this is an important area of focus for development in the Faculty. NCAD is active in the European Art Research Network (EARN), the European League of Institutes of Art (ELIA), and the Art & Design Research Ireland Network (ADRIN): each of these organisations is engaged with developing an interchange of research across diverse doctoral programmes.

The PhD through practice entails a practitioner producing a body of work within a critically reflective frame of enquiry with the intention of extending and developing a particular area of art practice. Currently there are PhD projects being conducted in the general areas of:

• Performance, the body and subjectivity
• Audio-spaces, four-dimensional design and “experience-design”
• Sculptural articulations in the wake of the demise of modernist urban utopianism
• Digital media and the economy of representation

The Faculty welcomes applications to pursue PhD work across many more areas of enquiry (the College Website contains information about the breadth of staff research interests and professional practice here). If you would like an opportunity to have a preliminary discussion of a proposed topic of research/practice then contact the College through postgraduate@ncad.ie.

Programme Structure

Each individual artist working on a Doctoral programme of study develops a unique structure of enquiry and delivery appropriate to the topic and area of engagement. Along side this individual programme structure, the College provides a range of research training, critical contexts and opportunities for testing practice against different audiences, debates and related international expertise. The overall pattern of work is developed in consultation with the supervision team. Artists on the Doctoral programme are expected to produce work and give public manifestations to their enquiry at different points along the PhD journey, again this will be worked out on an individual basis with the supervisory team.

Participation

PhD students normally have access to a primary supervisor and an extended supervisory team, which may or may not include practitioners from outside of the College specifically brought in to facilitate a given project. This team is developed in consultation and dialogue with the individual student. There are regular scheduled meetings with supervisors and this is the primary mechanism through which the work is progressed and critically challenged and supported. Artists working on the doctoral programme are required to participate in the interdisciplinary PhD research seminar which meets regularly throughout the year providing a forum for PhD students to exchange experience, information and to critically examine their work. The key aspect of the PhD experience is the critical re-examination of a given practice, providing artists with an opportunity to develop a sustained period of enquiry and questioning and to evolve a major project over a significant period of time.

Applications and Procedures

Applicants are expected to have already demonstrated a high level of achievement at undergraduate level, and to have a demonstrably dynamic and active practice, and will normally have already completed a masters programme of study. Applicants are required to submit a research proposal (minimum of 500 words) which indicates their reason for wishing to pursue the programme and what they hope to achieve, as well as examples of recent work in slide or digital portfolio form. Selected applicants, based on an evaluation of their applications, will be invited to attend for interview at the College. For further details about preparing a proposal and portfolio, and the criteria used to evaluate these, see the Guidelines for Applicants. The award is validated by the National University of Ireland, which appoints External Examiners to monitor the decision of the College examiners.

Want to know more?

Come to our Postgraduate Open Evening

View our Guidelines for Applicants

Print out an Application Form

Download: View this years’ Fine Art Postgraduate Student Handbook (PDF 304k)