Doctoral research

3rd Cycle Research at the Institute for the Performing Arts and Film (IPF) includes experimental artistic and art-based research that is firmly embedded in national as well as international research discourses. Like all Swiss arts universities, ZHdK is not entitled to award doctoral degrees in its own right. IPF’s 3rd Cycle Research Programme has therefore developed an extensive network of partner universities, with whom we collaborate on an equal footing to design a doctoral research programme that is content-driven and responds to today’s pressing questions. These cooperations create both institutional and individual research trajectories. They also enable working closely with local partners and global institutional partners to build a dynamic and pioneering research environment centred on the research process and where sharing is key. The conditions for such process-based research are created through various formats: seminar weeks, hybrid collectives, peer-to-peer learning, mentoring schemes and (together with the ZHdK PhD Centre) language courses and research retreats. Ample use is made of ZHdK’s infrastructure, including its library and labs, workshops and stages. Bringing together a variety of themes and perspectives, voices and approaches, 3rd Cycle Research strives to provide an inclusive and diverse research environment. It welcomes research in the IPF’s established disciplines (dance, theatre and film) but also pushes the boundaries of these traditionally distinct fields. The programme promotes courageous transdisciplinary research that dares to rethink existing paradigms and tread untrodden paths, while nurturing the potential of the arts to generate other worlds.

Our partner universities include:

Kunstuniversität Graz, Austria

Kunstuniversität Linz, Austria

Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF, Germany

Stockholm University of the Arts, Sweden

Universidade Lusófona, Portugal

Universität Mozarteum Salzburg, Austria

University of the Arts Bremen, Germany

Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen, Germany

University of Music and Performing Arts (MDW), Vienna

Music and Arts University (MUK), Vienna

Universität Tübingen, Germany

Teesside University, Middlesbrough, UK

Cultural partners:

Theater Neumarkt, Zürich

Mira Rojzman

More information on pursuing a PhD at ZHdK: FAQ