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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 of 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.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.This programme is the UK's longest-running Professional Doctorate in Fine Art and is equivalent to a PhD. The full-time model is three years, part-time is five 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.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 an extension of their professional roles or to new employment.
