Faculty for Architecture and the Arts

K.U.Leuven Association / St. Lukas Brussels

(FAK, Geassocieerde Faculteit Achitectuur en Kunsten)
(formerly: Institute for Practice-based Research in the Arts (IvOK))


Location
Brussels, Belgium; associated institutes in Ghent, Brussels, Louvain and Genk.

Since
2006

Disciplines
Architecture, music, visual arts, media-art

Degrees offered
Doctoraat (PhD)
St. Lukas Brussels also offers the master-after-master TRANSMEDIA.

Number of third cycle students
38

Structure
The K.U.Leuven Association consists of 13 institutes of higher education in Flanders. Artistic research within the Association takes place at the K.U.Leuven, the FAK and five associated art schools:

• St. Lukas Brussels University College of Art and Design
• the Lemmens Institute, Louvain
• St. Lucas School of Architecture, Brussels/Ghent
• St. Lucas Visual Arts, Ghent
• Academy of Media & Design, Genk

It is coordinated from the FAK in Brussels.
Research at the FAK is facilitated by a Research Platform (OPAK) and a Network.
The aim of the Platform is to stimulate artistic research through the development of a coherent research strategy.
The Network consists of theatres, festivals and exhibition spaces that actively participate in research activities, and provide an extended research environment rather than a mere venue.
For the Doctorate in the Arts in Music, FAK cooperates with the Orpheus Institute Ghent in the international doctoral programme docARTES.

Requirements
Research proposals have to be submitted by an art institution of the K.U.Leuven Association. The prospective researcher can also be main applicant if (s)he is already employed at the K.U.Leuven Association. Projects need not be PhD projects: proposals should aim to engage researchers at various levels. Master students can take part in research projects as part of their master’s programme.
Projects must be relevant for contemporary arts practice and lead to an end result that can be shown to the public.

Publications and conferences
Research at the FAK is published in the Cahiers (formerly: Cahiers van het IvOK). This includes volumes for each research projects, yearbooks, and monographs. 19 Volumes have appeared to date. The FAK organizes a yearly Artistic Research Day.
The FAK site also provides an overview of upcoming and past artistic research events, and reports from conferences attended by FAK staff.

Supervision
Applicant institutions in a research project provide a supervisor and a co-supervisor, sometimes more than one. There are intensive three-day training programmes for researchers several times a year.

Funding and stipendia
The K.U.Leuven supplies two-year grants for doctoral research, renewable once.
Research projects within the OPAK platform can apply for funding of €70 k - 93 k from the platform’s own funds, for a maximum period of 30 months.

http://associatie.kuleuven.be/fak