The Doctor of Philosophy (Performing Arts) is a three-year full-time research program for students with substantial experience in the arts industry/ profession.  The course provides an opportunity for original, highly accomplished practitioners, performers and artists who aspire towards a more extensive research and creative profile.  The course is available in part-time mode in specific circumstances.  Although this is a discrete award relating to the performing arts, opportunities will exist for cross-disciplinary study through joint supervision of the research.

Candidates will be expected to self-initiate and develop research through and about the practices of their chosen discipline to produce original and interrogative works of art and/or original approaches to performing arts' processes that will extend the knowledge of their discipline/s. The complementary components will normally include a performance, exhibition, event or an embodiment of some form (as in pedagogical investigations) in conjunction with an appropriate written record of their research, detailing their reflective processes and artistic ideas in the context of current professional knowledge. In many instances, the research will involve inter-disciplinary elements that bear conceptual implications when framed within performing arts' contexts. Together, the critical practice and reflection constitute the thesis which is expected to demonstrate the use of appropriate methodologies of inquiry in the performing arts and incorporate current theoretical understandings of the discipline/s involved.

Where the thesis involves live performance, exhibition and/or events, the candidate is advised to pay attention to the examination procedures before the required final submission of the two integral components in a form of examinable documentation appropriate to the research involved.

The Doctor of Philosophy (Performing Arts) is subject to University-wide regulations pertaining to course duration, formal proposal review and ethics clearance procedures and thesis submission.  Copies of the relevant documentation will be provided to all candidates upon enrolment.

Specifically the course aims to:

· create opportunities for developing critical and creative skills at an advanced level

· utilise the resources of the Academy to create leadership opportunities for artists with extensive professional experience to re-define or pursue alternative lines of practical and/or theoretical inquiry

· provide the environment to experiment with cross-cultural or interdisciplinary forms that have the potential to extend the knowledges of the performing arts.

ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS

Applicants should meet at least one of the following entry criteria:

· A Master of Arts in a discipline relevant to the proposed research;

· An Honours degree (1st Class or 2A) in a discipline relevant to the proposed research.

Consideration will also be given to applicants with other relevant and equivalent degrees.

All candidates will be required to submit a portfolio of work and attend an interview and/or audition (where appropriate).

COURSE STRUCTURE

The course is available by both full-time and part-time study on Mount Lawley campus.

Studies proceed through a personal supervision format with enrolment into an ongoing thesis unit each semester until such time as the candidate submits the thesis for examination.

Doctoral candidates will normally complete no less than two years and no more than four years of full time equivalent study by the time their thesis is submitted for examination.