Doctor of Philosophy (Creative Arts)

Overview

The Doctor of Philosophy is for those individuals with a track record of high-level professional experience who wish to extend their practice within a scholarly context.

The Doctor of Philosophy is based on submission of a thesis in a scholarly field or a combination of scholarly thesis and creative work presentation.  The course is intended for scholars or artist-scholars who have a solid academic and/or artistic background and who wish to develop either or both fields to a doctoral level.  Such candidates may not yet have had substantial artistic experience, but should demonstrate high levels of promise and an appropriate standard of preparation.

It may be possible for individuals with appropriate expertise to undertake studies that involve more than one discipline area.  Interested applicants should contact the Faculty's Professional Officer.

Entry Requirements / Assumed Knowledge

Applicants should have an Honours Bachelor degree of at least four years duration in an appropriate discipline at Class II, Division 1 or higher or equivalent qualifications.   Applicants wishing to submit a combination of thesis and creative work should demonstrate that both their academic and artistic backgrounds equate with the above minimum standard.  In certain circumstances students may be required to commence their enrolment in the Master of Arts – Research and seek transfer to the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) when they achieve a suitable standard.

It is important that applicants submit adequate material to demonstrate the quality and standing of their work.

Course Requirements

Students enrol in THES924 Thesis (full-time) or THES912 Thesis (part-time).
Submission will be in the form of:

• scholarly thesis (100%);  or
• scholarly thesis (50%) combined with creative work (50%).

The thesis will be in the range of 60,000 to 90,000 words, with an equivalent workload where submission is by thesis and creative work.  The exact nature of each submission will vary according to the students’ educational and professional background and will be negotiated in consultation with the supervisor(s) and the Head of Postgraduate Studies.  Examples of creative work submission include a folio of compositions or writing, exhibitions of artwork and musical or dramatic performances.   As a guide, the scale of the submission of creative work would normally not constitute significantly less than for the Doctor of Creative Arts.  Assessment is by two external assessors.

Major Study Areas

School of Art and Design:

School of Journalism and Creative Writing:

• Journalism and New Communication Technologies
• Comparitive Media Studies
• Community Journalism
• Documentary Journalism
• Journalism in Multicultural Contexts
• Journalism in Training and Education
• Media in Developing Countries
• Broadcast and Cinema Documentary Film
• Interactive Digital Media

School of Music and Drama: