Professional Doctorate in Performing Arts is intended for practitioners across a range of performance-based disciplines who wish to make their practice the basis for doctoral study; indicatively theatre directing, acting, dance, music or technical practice such as sound and lighting.

Unlike a traditional PhD, performance replaces the thesis as the main evidence of research, supported by a written report.

It is designed for creative practitioners from the UK and abroad and can be undertaken 3 years full time study and 5 years part time.

It differs from practice-based PhD in that students arrive with a creative practice to be analysed and developed rather than a research ‘project’ to be carried out and are supported by specialist supervisory teams and a series of work in progress seminars which are the backbone of the programme.

The programme is practice based and industry facing and gives students the support and environment to develop their creative and professional practice and theoretical research to a doctoral professional standard.

The Professional Doctorate in Performing Arts (DPA) is practice-based and industry-facing, attracting mid-career performance practitioners whether that be directing, acting, dance, choreography, sound or lighting design or performance-academics. The DFA aligns with the institutional vision to bridge the divide between industry and academia. Practice is put at the centre of doctoral study, fed by research into contemporary performance and theory, and professional performance.

The DPA also serves as Professional Development for academics teaching in drama training or conservatoire as well as qualified UEL staff who wish to develop their performance practice and critical analysis, and to enrich their teaching.
The DPA is all credits at D-level (8) which 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 DPA leads the way in UEL in Creative Practice doctorates and will inform and share resources and teaching with other doctorates undergoing validation - FIne Art, Film, Fashion, Creative Writing  and Art and Architecture.

The Professional Doctorate in Performing Arts is led by the individual performance practice of the student who are supported by specialist supervisory teams who understand creative practice. Students will develop their work through independent study, practice based seminars and have access to the professional level technical resources. Our doctoral course has three strands: creative practice, which is developing your performance practice; professional practice, which involves performance, research and development showings, teaching and workshops; and theoretical research.

You will spend your first six months developing your proposal, with the aim of locating your work in relation to performance practices in the field and developing critical habits.

You will make explicit the strategies already in use and open up new ones that will allow theory to inform, but not prescribe, your creative work.

The course is designed to accommodate the organic, foraging, unpredictable nature of performance practice. So, for doctoral students, the proposal is not a project outline to be carried out but a starting point from which your work can move in unforeseen directions.

Your annual written reviews will serve as an ongoing record of your doctoral work. A showcase performance takes place each year to profile your work.

Your doctoral thesis is your final performance work, supported by a written report of 15,000 to 25,000 words.

Who teaches this course:

• Professor Dominic Hingorani
• Dr Sarahleigh Castelyn
• Dr Tom Drayton

This Professional Doctorate is for performers and creatives who wish to develop their practice and gain a PhD which opens pathways into academia, research and the wider creative and performance industries.