Two leading performing arts schools in the Southeast have announced a new PhD partnership this week that will open new opportunities for arts-based research.
Rose Bruford College, a specialist performance and production arts institution based in Sidcup, London, is partnering with the University of Chichester, the South Coast university widely known for its excellent performing arts degrees, to offer a new PhD programme.
The new provision builds on Rose Bruford’s expanding reputation for research, which is already seeing growing investment and recognition for its distinctive practice-based work, alongside the University of Chichester’s established PhD provision.
Together, the two institutions will support doctoral researchers whose work moves between studio, stage and critical reflection, combining academic excellence with hands-on creativity.
Professor Randall Whittaker, Principal and Chief Executive Officer of Rose Bruford College, said: “Practice-based research is fundamental to how conservatoires generate knowledge. This partnership recognises that expertise and provides the doctoral platform it deserves. Our researchers will work through practice, not alongside it, and in doing so push the boundaries of both art and scholarship.”
Professor Symeon Dagkas, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Chichester, said:
“This partnership brings together the strengths of both institutions to support doctoral research that is both academically rigorous and rooted in real-world practice. It reflects a shared commitment to advancing research that has cultural and societal impact.”
The programme marks a significant milestone for the two institutions and signals a shift in how doctoral research in the arts is recognised, placing practice-based enquiry at the centre of knowledge creation and reinforcing the role of specialist arts colleges working in partnership with universities.