8.1.4Funding of PhD trajectories in the arts

In academic disciplines, the FWO, IWT and BOF mandates have been the most important funding schemes for doctoral research in the 2006-2025 period (cf. Vlaams Indicatorenboek, 3.2.2). However, doctoral research in the arts is less likely to be funded by the FWO, and is generally ineligible for IWT and BOF funding, so that art PhDs are mostly financed directly by Schools of Arts themselves. Indeed, the so-called ‘academization resources,’^[1] a funding portion intended to support the Schools of Arts in their pursuit of ‘academic’ mandates allocated by fixed parameters (e.g. student numbers; awarded degrees), form the financial backbone of artistic research. Much like the universities’ BOF resources, these funds are largely deployed at the discretion of the institutions. To this end, the Schools of Arts organize (annual) open calls that prospective doctoral candidates can apply to. In these applications, they are usually expected to submit a written proposal outlining their existing portfolio, their doctoral project, and the artistic and academic supervisors involved.

In the face of limited resources, however, Schools of Arts often engage doctoral candidates in contract with part-time research mandates. In fact, doctoral research in the arts is often conducted by assistant staff, with contracts split between research and teaching assignments. This arrangement makes it possible to embed research expertise in the curriculum, since BA and MA programs now require research competences as well, while also combining resources spent on research and education. However, part-time research contracts are also common among artistic researchers who have no educational responsibilities. Not requiring a fulltime research commitment allows established artists to potentially combine a formal mandate with a professional arts practice, an attractive option for all parties involved. It allows the Schools of Arts to engage artists who have already distinguished themselves in their field, and does not pressure potential doctoral candidates to commit to a research trajectory at the expense of their non-investigative arts practice. The UAntwerpen association is the only one that employs artistic researchers funded by BOF resources, the internal and highly competitive university research fund. That artistic research at other university associations does not—or cannot—access ‘general’ research funding streams suggests that the approach followed by the UAntwerpen association results in lines of inquiry with clear academic and artistic merits.

Lastly, doctoral candidates in the arts in Flanders have tended to obtain their degree later in life than their academic analogues. Only 7,2% of the dissertations defended at the time of writing were submitted by researchers 30 years-old or younger, whereas 31,6% of the doctoral candidates earned their degree after the age of 40, with an additional 22,6% of the PhDs defended awarded to candidates aged 50 or older. That doctors in the arts in Flanders obtain their degree at a later stage in life reflects the expectation that doctoral candidates have already developed an autonomous artistic practice before pursuing a PhD (cf. supra), and an uninterrupted shift from MA to PhD programs has been, and continues to be, the exception rather than rule in the arts.

^[1] _{Although academiseringsmiddelen, the official expression in Dutch, suggests that the ‘academization’ of the Schools of Arts is still ongoing, this process has in fact been finalized.}