Research and innovation

As a School we place impactful research at the heart of everything we do and provide innovative leadership in the field of performance and across the arts and cultural industries. Our research is characterised by being socially engaged – deeply rooted in and connected to the arts and culture, and the roles that these play in society.

We are acknowledged as world-leading in key areas of our research and impact activity and over the next ten years we will build on this strong base to develop a more regenerative culture that embraces the vast potential offered by digital transformation.

Our research represents an arc that ranges from the individual artist to the general public via creative practitioners, producers, managers, leaders, audiences, markets and policymakers. It offers a strategic response to the global challenges facing our planet and its people – complex and urgent issues that demand creative, pioneering, interdisciplinary and imaginative approaches. Our Impact and Engagement Report provides rich insights into some of the research projects and engagement activities undertaken in the school over the last six years.

We have a strong interdisciplinary ethos which leads us to collaborate with colleagues from across the University, as well as with universities and cultural sector partners around the world. Our vibrant and growing community of PhD researchers is an integral part of our research culture and reflects the rich diversity of our School’s research interests.

Research activity in the School is conducted under three interlocking themes which define our unique research identity: Cultural value, engagement and policy; Cultural places, spaces and environments; and Performance pedagogies, processes and practices.