The Professional Doctorate in Fine Art has been running at UEL for over 20 years. It is designed for artists working across a range of media and methodologies who wish to make their practice the basis for doctoral study.

Unlike a PhD, an exhibition of artworks replaces the thesis as the main evidence of research, supported by a 15,000 – 20,000-word written report. The programme is designed for artists from the UK and abroad and is undertaken 3 years full time and 5 years part time.

Students are engaged in any of the forms of contemporary art, including painting, printmaking, sculpture, film, installation, photography, text-based and digital work. They arrive with a creative practice to be analysed and developed rather than a research question or a project to be carried out. Work-in-progress seminars are the backbone to the programme, building critical, creative and presentational skills and peer support.

Along with twice-yearly exhibitions within and outside of the university, students are given the support to develop their creative practice, professional practice and theoretical research to a doctoral standard.

This programme is the UK’s longest running Professional Doctorate in Fine Art and is equivalent to a PhD. The full-time model is 3 years, part-time is 5 years. The doctoral programme has three strands – creative practice, professional practice and theoretical research – and it is designed to follow, within academic parameters, the organic, foraging, unpredictable nature of art practice. This distinguishes it from the more academic Fine Art PhDs. For our students, the proposal is not a project outline to be carried out, but a starting point from which their work can, and does, move in unforeseen directions. Students are supervised by the programme team and by dedicated supervisors drawn from Art and Design and related areas, who have relevant research and expertise.

Guided independent study

After writing and registering their proposal, students work with allocated supervisors, and a core staff team provides continuity and integration. A strong group dynamic and exhibition culture are central to the programme. Work in progress is aired through regular seminars attended by all year groups. Interim shows take place each year, with critics, curators and artists from outside the university invited in to critique the work. Students are encouraged to seek out and curate their own external exhibitions.

Academic support

Our academic support team provides help in a range of areas - including learning and disability support

Dedicated personal tutor

As a researcher your personal tutors are the programme team and two, or sometimes three, doctoral supervisors.

Workload

Six work in progress seminars are scheduled per semester, with individual tutorials and feedback sessions in addition. The first semester of the programme is devoted to writing the doctoral proposal, supported by the programme team. All students exhibit their work at the yearly showcase exhibition.

Your timetable

A detailed timetable is given out to incoming students prior to the start of term, and is explained fully during induction. Thursday is the day when DFA seminars and proposal tutorials take place. Supervision can be arranged individually on other days.

Class sizes

There are between 20 and 30 researchers on the Doctorate Fine Art across all years. Work in progress seminars are attended by all year groups. Supervisory tutorials are individual.

The Professional Doctorate in Fine Art is practice-based and industry-facing, attracting mid-career artists and artist-academics. The DFA aligns with the institutional vision to bridge the divide between industry and academia. Its success as the UK’s longest running and largest DFA is evidence of the viability and relevance of its model. The academic rationale for the DFA stems from debate since the 1990s about the status of art practice as research. Practice is put at the centre of doctoral study, fed by research into contemporary art and theory, and professional exhibiting and curating.

Employability outcomes are strong, with graduates progressing to be artists or artist-academics in the UK and internationally. The DFA also serves as Professional Development for qualified UEL staff who wish to develop their art practice and critical analysis, and to enrich their teaching.

The re-validation of this programme proposes a simplified modular structure that more closely represents the Doctorate as it has been refined over many years. Removal of level 7 modules and making all credits D-level (8) is essential both to accurately reflect the level of study being undertaken, and to ensure that students are eligible for new government postgraduate loans.  

The DFA leads the way in UEL in Creative Practice doctorates and will inform and share resources and teaching with other doctorates undergoing validation - Performing Arts, Film, Fashion, Creative Writing in ADI, and Art and Architecture in ACE.

The Doctorate in Fine Art (DFA) leads to employment outcomes by requiring students to engage with the art industry of galleries, critics, publications, and artist-run spaces outside of the university.

The 60-credit taught module in year 1 includes seminars in art writing and publication, funding and exhibiting.

Many doctoral students are already in employment as academics, teachers, curators or artists, and the DFA often leads to extension of their professional roles or to new employment.