Week 30: 8th – 14th April
Last week I discussed how I’m expected to complete a transfer process in order to progress to the second year of the PhD. It still feels quite intimidating, as it’s essentially an assessment of my work to date, but thankfully the university provide training in order to find out exactly what is involved.
Preparing for your transfer
These training sessions also contribute to the overall assessment of your research capabilities; what we in the visual arts refer to as CPD (or Continuing Professional Development).It’s always a good idea to take advantage of these opportunities as they not only help you to understand academic processes, but also show potential assessors and employers that you are capable of working in a research environment and managing your own training needs. The TDNA tool on the PDR (discussed in Weeks 4 & 6) comes in handy for determining which skills might need to be developed.
What is examined and how?
The assessment takes place between 9 and 12 months of starting the course, in the form of a viva and a submitted research document. For practice-led candidates, the research document contains a written essay detailing your interests and findings, and evidence of creative practice. In addition to this, the candidate should provide evidence and confirmation of academic integrity in relation to plagiarism, safeguarding data, and research ethics.
The assessors are usually made up of a panel of your supervisor(s) and another person who is internal to the university but external to your project. The viva is short for the Latin ‘viva voce’ and is essentially a verbal defence of the written document. The combination of written and verbal information gives the assessors an example of how you think and helps them to establish the probability of the project being completed.
The project criteria includes proof of originality and independent critical ability, as well as the potential for publication. The presentation of the written work and verbal skills is also assessed as part of the process. This all seemed fairly straightforward to me, with the exception of what constituted originality. After all, if the project relied on referenced evidence supporting your findings, how could it also be original?
What is original research?
As a key assessment criteria, it is useful to understand and discuss what constitutes originality within research. These definitions are varied and dependent on the specific research area, but can include; the development of a new product, theory, or perspective produced as a result of research, an improvement on something which already exists, the reinterpretation of an existing theory or the application of an idea to a new data set to produce new research tools or techniques, a critical analysis of someone else’s work, or a portfolio of work which demonstrates contextualisation and competence in the subject area.
As a visual artist involved in the creation of new cultural products, it is fairly easy to prove originality through sketchbooks and records of thought processes. However, it was also useful to consider this point with respect to the conceptual element of the research.
Structuring the project
After considering the content and presentation of the research project, another major factor to be assessed is the structure. Candidates will also be expected to pin down specific research questions along with a timescale, in order to determine the scope and quality of the project. This allows the assessors to decide whether the standard of the project is suitable for PhD level, as well as whether it is achievable within the time available.
Although the process seems quite scary, it’s useful to consider it as an opportunity to reflect on your research and to get advice from people outside the project. It’s also a good deadline to work towards in terms of creating a firm foundation for your main PhD research, as well as an opportunity to experience the viva process, which you will need to undertake again at the end of the project. I have quite a lot to do before transfer, but I still have a couple of months to go, and now, a list of what I need to do as well.
