Postgraduate Research

What We Offer

C-DaRE hosts a variety of conferences, symposia and other research events that attract delegates from across the UK and internationally. Our biennial ‘Dance and Somatic Practices’ conference is an international gathering for scholars and practitioners to share new work through curated panels, papers, workshops and performative sharings.  We also run a unique events series; C-DaRE Invites… Each event is “An Invitation to…” a unique occurrence developed in collaboration with staff and a guest(s) proposer. Events include but are not limited to: presentations, talks, discussions, sharing of practice, performances and film screenings. These are free and open for all to attend (unless otherwise stated). Presenters include C-DaRE members, postgraduate researchers and invited external researchers, artists and organisations. Each event is focused on a topic related to the invitee's current research and interests and is also curated, when possible, to take place during a particular meal of the day, i.e breakfast, lunch or afternoon tea. We believe that sharing food can be a gateway to conversation and developing relationships and collaboration. So, we prepare food and drink for the invitee and the audience to share during the course of the event.

Regular reading groups and other meetings also support PGR students develop their research skills and share research in progress.

Main areas of supervision:

Our research themes are many and varied, as are our research methods. These themes and methods are both reflected in and expanded by the many topics of our research students. Broadly, those themes focus on reflexive enquiry into embodied practices, collective and political action, digitisation, cultural value and the expanded choreographic field. In addition, C-DaRE also investigates and critiques the legal frameworks that can be used to support and empower the cultural sector. Our broad research themes include:

• dance documentation, dissemination and publication
• cultural heritage and preservation
• choreographic processes and somatic practices
• dance digital and software studies
• movement, computing and AI
• interdisclipinarity and interculturalism
• inclusivity and collectivity with a focus on disability in dance
• critical discourse and performance philosophy
• alternative performance sites and virtual reality
• intellectual property and human rights
• bodies, health and well-being
• practice research

Facilities

Researchers and PGR students are co-located in the Institute for Creative Cultures (ICC), a University building which is home to other Centres within the Creative Cultures. ICC includes a large dedicated PGR workspace with a number of hot-desking spaces and computers, a large flexible dance studio for practice research, meeting rooms for symposia and other gatherings, an archive room, and a specialist library providing rare and specialist dance resources. We have some specialist IT equipment for video editing, motion tracking, etc.

Post-doc Fellowship Scheme

For PhD students with a successful track record and prompt completion, we offer the opportunity to apply for a two-year post-doctoral position working on a project devised in collaboration with one of our researchers.

• Research Degrees

  Our postgraduate supervision, comprising of MRes, and PhD degrees, recruits both researchers in practice research (dance artists, choreographers, teachers, among others) and those pursuing critical and dance studies, whether based in texts or artefacts.

• Entry Requirements

  For details on the formal application process and forms, please see Making an Application on th University’s website.

• Studentships and Project Proposals

  The Centre offers a range of fully funded opportunities each year.

  • View our available fully funded studentships