Practice As Research (2021 – 2026)

The Practice As Research Network was established to bring together the many strands of practice-led, practice-based, and practice as research inquiry across disciplines. Rather than seeking to establish a single definition of Practice As Research, the network sought to cultivate a space in which multiple approaches could meet, challenge one another, and develop through dialogue. The aim was to create a space in which researchers, artists, practitioners, and educators could engage in conversations beyond disciplinary boundaries, benefiting from shared questions, methods, and experiences.

Over five years, the network…

    • hosted a sustained programme of seminars and conversations, as well as specialist interest groups (Poetry As Research group, Social Fiction writing group, Creative and Embodied Research group).
    • brought together participants from diverse disciplinary and professional backgrounds.
    • created opportunities for dialogue across fields that are often separated by institutional and disciplinary conventions.
    • supported an international community of researchers and practitioners interested in practice as research.
    • facilitated the development of publications and research funding proposals, enabling ideas and relationships emerging through the network to take shape in new forms of inquiry and collaboration.

The network’s legacy is reflected not only in its archive of recorded conversations, but also in the publications, collaborative writings, and research initiatives that grew from the exchanges it enabled. For example:

    • 2027: Ethics for Practitioners in Research: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. UCL Press.
    • 2025: Social Fiction: bridging academic inquiry and creative writing. Journal of Creative Research Methods, 1(1), 97-117. DOI: 10.1332/30502969Y2025D000000004.
    • 2025: Practice as Research: Re-framing knowledge generation in the future of teaching and learning. In: Burnard, P. & Mackinlay, E. (eds.) Eruptive Research: Changing Landscapes on Research in Teaching and Learning. Brill Sense.
    • 2024: One in a group: silence and invisibility in the academy. In: van Rooyen, H., & Pithouse-Morgan, K. (eds.) Poetic Inquiry for the Human and Social Sciences: Voices from the South and North. HSRC Press.

Having fulfilled its role as an active network, the Practice As Research Network has concluded as an ongoing programme. This website remains online as an archive of the network’s activities and contributions, and as a resource for those interested in cross-disciplinary approaches to practice research.

Thank you to all who contributed as speakers, participants, collaborators, and listeners over the course of the network’s life.

 

The Practice As Research archive of resources is free and always will be, but it does incur costs to keep it running. If you use it and benefit, enjoy it and would like to keep it going, please, consider leaving something in the tip jar.
Thank you!