Overview of research in the arts in Europe

Institutions and Programmes

This overview presents institutions and programmes engaged in research in the arts, as well as the national situation with regard to funding, regulations, degrees, and integration in the academic infrastructure, per country in Europe. Based upon a survey initiated by artesnetEurope, and maintained by the SHARE academic network, it is the most comprehensive - though by no means complete - overview of the European Research Area in the arts.

Research in the arts in this overview is used to mean research programmes for artists hosted by institutes of higher arts education, sometimes in cooperation or association with other academic institutions. The more conventional, but more problematic term for this is artistic research, and when it does not give rise to ambiguity this term will be used.

The overview will mainly focus on third-cycle programmes.
This is a pragmatic choice: in the debate that has been going on for the last decade, artistic research has mainly been identified with PhDs in the arts, even though research could also be pursued by senior researchers or independent artists, and MA programmes are required to be research-based.

From the large number of PhD programmes in the United Kingdom, only a sample has been selected. What has been patently excluded is conventional academic research, mainly in philosophy and the humanities, that is hosted by art academies. Also excluded are non-degree postgraduate programmes without a specific research profile, that were largely already there before the emergence of PhDs in higher arts education, and the advent of the ‘artistic research’ debate.

This overview is complemented by an overview of publications and conferences about research in the arts.

Institute	degrees	3rd level students	type
FAK (formerly IvOK) Brussels et al,* Belgium	doctoraat (PhD)	27	association associatie.kuleuven.be/fak/
Orpheus / DocARTES Ghent, Belgium et al.**	PhD	37	network www.orpheusinstituut.be www.docartes.be
School of Arts – University College Ghent Ghent, Belgium	PhD		PhD programme www.schoolofarts.be
GradCAM Dublin, Ireland	PhD	37	national institute www.gradcam.ie/
Gothenburg University Gothenburg, Sweden	PhD, AD	45	graduate school / national research school www.konst.gu.se/english/doctoral_studies/
Malmö Art Academy Malmö, Sweden	PhD	6	graduate school www.khm.lu.se
Norwegian Fellowship Programme Bergen et al,*** Norway	diploma	44	national programme www.kunststipendiat.no
Aalto School of Art and Design (formerly TAiK) Helsinki, Finland	DA	202	graduate school www.taik.fi/research/
Sibelius Academy Helsinki, Finland	Lic, PhD, Dmus	70	graduate school & network www.siba.fi
Finnish Academy of Fine Arts Helsinki, Finland	DFA	23	graduate programme www.kuva.fi
HfG Offenbach Offenbach, Germany	PhD	10	PhD programme www.hfg-offenbach.de
Berlin University of the Arts Berlin, Germany	diploma	15	graduate school www.udk-berlin.de/graduiertenschule
ENSBA / La Seine Paris, France	diploma	12	postgraduate programme www.ensba.fr/laseine/
IRCAM Paris, France	PhD	26	research institute www.ircam.fr
ESADSE St. Étienne, France	diploma	8	postgraduate programme www.esadse.fr/postdiplome/
PhDArts The Hague, Netherlands	PhD	9	association www.phdarts.eu
MAHKU Utrecht, Netherlands	MA, PhD	2	graduate school www.mahku.nl
Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, Austria	PhD	7	graduate school www.cak.akbild.ac.at
HKB Bern / Y - Institute for Transdisciplinarity Berne, Switzerland	MA		association www.hkb.bfh.ch/y
Zurich University of the Arts Zurich, Switzerland	MAS, PhD	44	graduate programmes www.z-node.net sceno.zhdk.ch www.interface.ufg.ac.at
National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts Sofia, Bulgaria	PhD	13	PhD programme www.natfa.bg
Academy of Fine Arts and Design Bratislava, Slovak Rep.	PhD	27	PhD programme www.vsvu.sk
University of Lisbon Lisbon, Portugal	PhD	100	PhD programme http://www.fba.ul.pt
La Salle - Ramon Llull University Barcelona, Spain	MA, PhD	20	graduate school http://web.salle.url.edu/doctorat/ARQ/index.html
University of the Arts London London, UK	Mphil, PhD	170	graduate school & programmes www.arts.ac.uk/research
RSAMD Glasgow, UK	Mphil, PhD	20	association www.rsamd.ac.uk/postgraduate/research
University of Brighton Brighton, UK	Mphil, PhD	70	graduate school artsresearch.brighton.ac.uk
CultureLab Newcastle, UK	MA, PhD	20	graduate programme www.ncl.ac.uk/culturelab/
Slade School of Art London, UK	Mphil, PhD	12	graduate programme www.ucl.ac.uk/slade
Royal College of Art London, UK	Mphil, PhD	134	postgraduate institute www.rca.ac.uk/research

  
* The Faculty of Art and Architecture is part of the K.U.Leuven Association; associated HAE institutes are in Ghent, Brussels, Louvain, and Genk.
** The DocARTES programme has 8 partners in Flanders, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom; it is co-ordinated by the Orpheus Institute, Ghent.
*** The Norwegian Fellowship Programme involves all Norwegian art academies and several university departments; it is co-ordinated by Bergen National Academy of the Arts.