The Faculty of the VCA and Music provides an environment that encourages and supports academic excellence in the arts and the production of new work. Research in the arts at the Faculty is characterised by a spirit of enquiry, collaboration and a willingness to cross disciplinary boundaries. In many current research projects, the artist’s knowledge, skills and experience are combined with scientists and technicians from other disciplines, institutions and community organisations in Australia and internationally.

Current research activity at the Faculty covers diverse areas such as aesthetic and philosophical enquiry in the visual arts, the translation of specialist knowledge about the body in dance and voice, analysis of techniques and training methods in music and technical innovation in areas such as animation and production design.

Graduate studies at the Faculty are designed to be in two forms: Professional Courses & Research Degrees.

Professional courses

The professional courses comprise programs that introduce students to the best practices in the profession, to develop their own discipline-specific capacities and to make strong connections with relevant professional communities. These programs are in some cases supported by Commonwealth Supported Places and available on a fee-paying basis.

Many of the professional oriented coursework programs are designed to create pathways from the early entry point of graduate certificates, leading through graduate and postgraduate diplomas to a masters degree.

In some cases the course will be designed to provide the opportunity for the consolidation of experimental activity into an emerging arts practice, encourage the development of technical and manipulative skills of a high order and facility for their application in spheres of individual, industrial and social concern. Participation in the courses will encourage in students the professional capacities required to conduct themselves as producers of culture within our society. The course will have varying degrees of specificity tailored to the needs of the profession, industry or an individual creative development path. In some courses students will work with students from other disciplines, which enables distinct discipline specialisations as well as cross-collaborative and interdisciplinary projects through common subject areas.

The aim of the professional courses is to encourage and develop arts practitioners who will contribute through leadership, performance development and/or pedagogy to Australian culture in the arts, in particular those aspects of culture and society that lie outside the dominant paradigms.

Research Degrees

Research in the creative arts involves developing new knowledge as represented through the creation of art that explores social, technological, existential, philosophical or political ideas and experience. Research degrees are supported by commonwealth funding through the Research Training Scheme.

Masters (Research)
A Masters by Research is designed in particular for practising artists who have a specific research interest or project they wish to pursue within a formal and supportive institutional context. The Graduate School will provide opportunities for suitably qualified candidates to develop their research, to extend their knowledge and competence and, in turn, to contribute to the understanding of the current relevant arts practice and associated theories and of contemporary society and its culture.

During the degree the candidate undertakes the research project by means of studio-based practice and applied work, including historical/theoretical methodologies, under the guidance of a supervisor. In addition to regular contact with the supervisor, the candidate may be required to participate in the research seminar programs offered through the Graduate School.

Doctor of Philosophy
The degree of Doctor of Philosophy signifies a substantial piece of original research which has been conducted and reported by the holder under proper academic supervision and in a research environment for a prescribed period. In the creative arts field, a PhD thesis may take the form of performance and/or corpus of creative work plus a dissertation which aims to address, elucidate and contextualise the work.

The creative work may take the form of performance, exhibition, writing (poetry, fiction, script or other written literary forms), film, video, design multimedia, CD Rom or other New Media technologies and modes of presentation. The creative work and dissertation will be examined as an integrated whole.

The PhD is taught within the Faculty of the VCA and Music but is administered by the Melbourne School of Graduate Research at the University of Melbourne. Further information and forms are available at: www.gradresearch.unimelb.edu.au. Initial contact should be made through the Faculty of the VCA and Music Graduate School by calling +61 3 9685 9466 or by emailing vca-gradstudies@unimelb.edu.au.