Doctoral research

3rd Cycle Research at the Institute for the Performing Arts and Film (IPF) foster experimental artistic and art-based research that is firmly embedded in national as well as international research discourses. The ZHdK, like all Swiss art schools, lacking promotion right, IPF’s 3rd Cycle Research have developed an extensive network of partner universities, with whom they collaborate on eye level to design a doctoral research program that is content-driven and responding to the urgencies of its time. Through these cooperations the possibilities for both institutional and individual research trajectories have been created. Additionally relating to various local allies and global institutional partners, a dynamic and open, pioneering research environment is built, where the research process is central, and sharing is key. The conditions for this process-based research setting are shaped in Seminar Weeks and hybrid collective gatherings; in peer-to-peer learning moments, mentoring schemes and (together with the ZHdK PhD Center) language courses and research retreats. Ample use is made of the ZHdK infrastructure – its library and labs, workshops and stages. Bringing together a variety of themes and perspectives, voices and approaches, 3rd Cycle Research strive for an inclusive and diverse research environment. They invite research that recognizes the disciplines of dance, theater and film on which the department rests, yet pushes the boundaries of the traditionally separate subject areas. Courageous transdisciplinary research that dares to rethink existing paradigms and walk untrodden paths is supported, 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, Austria

Music and Arts University (MUK), Vienna, Austria

Universität Tübingen, Germany

Teesside University, Middlesbrough, UK

Other cultural partners:

Theater Neumarkt, Zürich

Mira Rojzman

More information on the conditions of pursuing a PhD at the ZHdK can be found here: FAQ