Armenoui Kasparian Saraidari is a PhD student at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, she is a third year student and has recently carried out research in the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. Here she tells us about her PhD experience so far…

Installation of the First Stars Exhibition, 1979. Photo: Li Xiaobin, image courtesy of Huang Rui.

Victor Wang on the First Stars Exhibitions and Sakina Dhif/Rachel Pafe on ‘Past Disquiet’

Wednesday 18 November 2015

Time: 2pm to 4pm

Venue: CSM, Room KX A002

Gary McLeod is a part-time UAL PhD student who is currently on a research exchange in Japan, his work will be exhibited in “Atlas” a large group exhibition at Tokyo University of the Arts in October 2015.

Image credit: “Then, Then Again, Now” by Gary McLeod × Others, collaborative rephotographs of locations in Japan documented during the Challenger expedition (1872-1876). Original Challenger photographs © The Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London.

You’re in Japan at the moment, what are you up to there? How did this opportunity happen? Is this part of your PhD or contributing to it?

I’m in Japan as a research exchange student at Tokyo University of the Arts (known colloquially as “Geidai”). I have strong connections to Japan, and when it became apparent that I needed to return to Japan to carry out a collaborative rephotography project for my study, I was looking for ways to go back. Professor Toshio Watanabe at Chelsea College of Arts put me in touch with professors at Geidai as part of means to re-establish an exchange agreement, which I am hugely thankful for.

Meet Dr Magz Hall, recent UAL PhD graduate, who tells us about her time as a PhD student and what she’s been up to since…

What was your final PhD title?

Radio After Radio: Redefining Radio Art in the light of new media technology

There were a few Creative Research into Sound Arts Practice (CRiSAP) students graduating this year, weren’t there? Did you all start in the same year?

Five in fact, we all started in different years. When I started there were just 2 CRiSAP research students, so it’s been very interesting watching the research centre grow and develop.

Meet Dr Sheena Calvert, Contextual Studies Coordinator at Camberwell College of Arts and Associate Lecturer at Central Saint Martins. She is one of the organisers of the Book and Human Debate as part of The Way We Live Now The AHRC 10th Anniversary Debates 2015-2016 taking place at CSM in mid-December 2015. Here she talks about her expectations of the Debate and why the team have invited the selected speakers…

A team at the University of the Arts London, led by Dr Athanasios Velios, is at the front line of a high-tech battle of brains.

They are developing new tools, software and systems to help academic researchers use and manage research data thanks to support and funding from Jisc, a charity that aims to develop digital solutions to improve education and research.

Athanasios is working alongside Sebastian Faubel and Moritz Ebril from Semiodesk, a software development company in Germany, on a project called Artivity which aims to capture, when and how artists are influenced while they are producing their creative work.

We are pleased to announce that 2014-15 has been an extremely successful year for the research degree (Mphil/PhD) students at University of the Arts London. 25 graduated, 23 passed their confirmation and 31 students registered. Congratulations to you all!

Registration usually happens in the 1st year of PhD study, students have to complete an Application for Registration Form, which consists of:

• an outline of your proposed project (not more than 1000 words in length) plus an indicative bibliography and a work plan

This includes: Title, Subject area, aims and objectives, Historical context, Contemporary context, Theoretical context, Methodology, List of the main reference works.

Meet Dr Iris Garrelfs, Iris was awarded her PhD this year in Sound Art from LCC. In this article she shares her experience as a research student at UAL, how she built communities and learnt to discuss the theories behind her practice. She has recently been nominated for the British Composer Awards.

What was your awarded PhD title? Did it change much along the way?

Oh yes it did! The title I started out with was:
Cross breeding art: the impact of cross-platform arts practice on soundart at the beginning of the 21st century.

The title that I ended up using reads:
From inputs to outputs: an investigation of process in sound art practice.

In between I came up with quite a few variants on the theme, each highlighting slightly different aspects of my research. To be honest, I didn’t decide which one to go with until a couple of weeks before submitting. What swayed me in the end was keeping the title simple.

NESTA – A Manifesto for the Creative Economy, April 2013

“What makes new information and communications technologies so economically powerful?

The answer is that their impacts are felt everywhere. Their persuasiveness is why economists consider them one of a small number of ‘general purpose technologies’ – like steam power and electricity – that change entire economic growth trajectories in industries that use them”.

F.I.R.E (Fashion, Innovation, Research, Evolution) has been awarded a second round of funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council to develop a new, online fashion research portal, which you can become part of.

Principal Investigator, Professor Sandy Black and the FIRE team have worked hard to evolve the platform so that it is a space where academic researchers can connect with the UK’s designer fashion industry. We have held workshops with the fashion academic and designer community to establish the needs and desires for this platform so that it is most useful and inspiring.

We would love you to get involved and sign up to FIRE when we launch – here is a selection of what the platform has to offer:

• Find collaborators for projects and funding schemes
• Get information on new manufacturing techniques and technology
• Read relevant fashion research content and case studies
• Find relevant businesses and research expertise
• Participate in network events and workshops exclusive to FIRE

Keep an eye out in October for the new F.I.R.E online platform  – and thank you to those who have already be involved!

Fashion, Innovation, Research, Evolution (F.I.R.E) 

Become part of a dynamic network of fashion/textile innovators 

Further reading:

• Read more and watch a video about FiREUp
• Find out more about external funding opportunities and how RMA can help you
• Follow our weekly Twitter Funding Opportunities #fridayfunding