From Experience: The Arts PhD in Practice. In collaboration with the University of Stellenbosch, the University of Gothenburg, the University of Warwick

For this conference, we ask artist-researchers to consider: what was/were the motivation(s) to pursue a PhD in the arts? How has the actual experience of doing doctoral studies affected or influenced their practice? Have specific academic requirements and protocols modified their work process and, if so, in what ways? What obstacles, opportunities, and/or unexpected turns have been generated by working at the conjunction of two domains: the professional worlds of arts practice and the academic worlds of higher arts education and doctoral training? In so doing, we hope to build an opportunity to exchange knowledge and insight in the navigation of environments that are still relatively new. We also believe that considerations rooted in the actual experience of doctoral studies in the arts by different practitioners is essential to breaking new ground in the debate about the arts PhD and artistic research.

Organised by Vrije Universiteit Brussel/ Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel/ RITCS School of Arts, University of Warwick, University of Stellenbosch, University of Gothenburg. All universities are part of the Eutopia network. 

Are you interested in art- based research and do you want to broaden your network by getting to know artist - researchers from the University of Stellenbosch, the University of Gothenburg, the University of Warwick or VUB/Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussel/ RITCS School of Arts? Join us on 5th and/or 6th March for a two- day conference. 

Day 1, 5th March 2026, 9:30 am till 6 pm. At RITCS School of Arts, Antoine Dansaertstraat 70, 1000 Brussels.  

Contributions by doctoral researchers and Doctors in the Arts from VUB/KCB/RITCS, University of Warwick, University of Stellenbosch, University of Gothenburg. 

Register before 26th February.  

Bios of the speakers below. 

Day 2, 6th March 2026, 10 am till 4 pm. At Campus Kanal, Slotstraat 28, 1000 Brussels. 

The Imaginary Institute will facilitate play-driven sessions that invite participants to fabulate possible futures for academic research in and through the arts. These sessions explore creation as a systemic, collective process that challenges existing paradigms of knowledge production. Together, we will experiment with, and embody, how artistic research can unfold as a living ecology of practices, connecting art, science, play, and other ways of knowing. Each session will unfold through the collective imagination of the participants, structured by and through the co-creation of collective intelligence protocols.

The Imaginary Institute is an ongoing transdisciplinary project in artistic research, art-science, and collective imagination, curated by theatre director Orion Maxted and dramaturg Loretta Mesiti at the Centre Leo Apostel (VUB).

Register before 6th February (limited places available)

BIOS SPEAKERS DAY 1

lanaire aderemi is a writer and researcher committed to amplifying and archiving untold stories. She holds a PhD in Literary Practice, a Distinction in an MA Creative Writing degree and a First Class Sociology degree from the University of Warwick.

Lara Barzon is a live arts researcher and practitioner currently pursuing a joint PhD between the University of Warwick and the University of Ljubljana, awarded through the EUTOPIA European University alliance. Her research, developed through a practice-theory approach, investigates the figure of the cannibal as an aesthetic and political archetype to explore the entangled aesthetics and politics of decolonial practices in contemporary dance.

Janna Khweis [جنه خويص] is a PhD candidate at Stellenbosch University.  The study undertaken for the PhD project utilises community-based participatory methods and centres on collaborative music-making as a catalyst for social justice, inclusion, and reciprocity across diverse communities in the South-African context.

Mario Nell is Professor of Music at Stellenbosch University. He has been a leading figure in advancing the recognition of artistic research in South Africa. In addition to his academic and concert activities, he is actively involved in various Community Music projects.

Birgitta Nordström is a textile artist and a PhD candidate in Craft at HDK-Valand Academy of Craft and Design, University of Gothenburg. Her artistic practice and research focus on textiles related to loss and grief.

Luca Piovesan is a Brussels-based, Italian-born contemporary accordion player, sound practitioner, producer, and researcher interested in participatory art methodologies. He is a PhD researcher at Vrije Universiteit Brussel exploring the agency of his expanded accordion within co-compositional frameworks.

Gustav Thane is in the final year of his PhD work at HDK-Valand Academy of Craft and Design, University of Gothenburg. His artistic practice revolves around tool manufacturing, material affordance, and the experience of identity through rituals.

Ellen Vermeulen is a filmmaker, researcher, and teacher. Her work is characterized by a critical gaze and an in-depth exploration of social structures. Ellen Vermeulen defended her PhD in the Arts, The boy under the portrait of the martyr. Narrative strategies to represent the circle of violence, when the need to visualize collides with ethical boundaries, at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel in 2024.