Common Ground. Practice, Philosophy and Ethics of Research

Post doctoral research project, 2018-2020

[note: This present version of the website (October 2019) is an ongoing document in progress, which will see several changes in the coming weeks and months. As the research is still ongoing, the aim is to keep all information most recent, and it is to expect that within the coming months, this content will solidify. Until then, please feel warmly invited to come back regularly to see the most recent and updated version]

The two-year research project Common Ground explores different kinds of research methodology practiced at HKU University of the Arts Utrecht, conceptualize these into a coherent framework and develop this framework towards a new approach to designing research methodology within and related to the arts. The initial hypothesis of the project is that the quality of research processes, outcomes and impact at HKU, despite their already high quality, can be increased considerably through a more thorough and elaborated approach to research design.

Therefore, the research will start by collecting and mapping the various present approaches towards research across the entire HKU. This does not mean to unify of all these different approaches into just one way of doing research. The point is to develop a shared approach and vision towards the design process of research methodology, supported and inspired by the overall vision of HKU.

All activities of the project will involve a huge part of the network within HKU. As postdoc candidate I will lead this process, but will by no means work alone: I will collaborate closely with the Centre of Expertise for Research and Innovation, the professorships and the relevant teachers and research supervisors at the various schools.

The primary relevance and impact of the project is thus situated in the way research is conducted at HKU in the context of professorships, teacher-researchers and pre-PhD research; and the programmes of HKU itself, with regard to how teachers work with students on the methodology of their research. In summary, the project will impact both the practice as well as the pedagogy of research methodology. This goes for the context of HKU and on the wider field, the (inter)national discourse of research methodology in the arts.

The Crafting Methods framework