Introduction
Key terms: qualitative research, artistic methodologies (such as sensory methods, improvisation and embodied methods), co-designing artistic concepts, advanced course, relevant for students in any PhD phase.
ECTS: 5
Number of sessions:
6 x 2 hour digital seminars, followed by 5 in-person daylong meetings (in Oulu, Finland).
Hours per session:
2 hours for online sessions, full days for offline sessions (beginning in the late afternoon on the first day and ending in the mid-afternoon on the last)
This course provides PhD students an opportunity to dive into artistic approaches to research. These methods invite you to use artistic expression as a powerful tool for inquiry. Whether through writing, theatre, music, visual arts, or digital media, the arts offer unique ways to explore complex human experiences and social phenomena.
Students will be supported to understand how artistic methods and thinking embody a distinct approach to *methodology*, and to how these methods might influence their own research processes. They will learn to understand and practice the application of artistic methods as a new research paradigm which generate forms of knowledge that are not available to traditional quantitative and qualitative research methods.
Through hands-on workshops, collaborative projects, and critical discussion, participants will engage with art-as-research approaches to urban change, contributing to sustainable and inclusive city revitalisation.
The workshop's goal is to incorporate the community’s aspirations for the future into both physical structures and theoretical documentation, building on the renovation work of Alvar Aalto’s wood chip silo. Working groups of students and other stakeholders will be guided by local and international professionals to engage and work in a place-making experience.
This course is offered as a Blended Intensive Program (BIP) within the framework of the European UNIC project. It is inspired by the previous work of the course Hidden cities: Artistic methodologies and practices at advanced levels to explore urban transformation.
Practical information
- Duration
- 1 month
- Price
- Free of charge
- Teaching mode
- Hybrid
Who is this for?
This course will bring together PhD students working in practice-inclusive or practice-oriented research in the arts (including disciplines such as theatre, music, dance, visual art and design; art history; architecture; anthropology; environmental studies and ecology; education; business; environmental humanities; gender studies; language and regional studies; philosophy); students who are undertaking arts PhDs but who may be doing purely theoretical work; students from related disciplines; and finally, some students who are working far outside the practical arts in their PhD topics, and are interested in integrating arts methods.
No specific knowledge or experience is required, except an open attitude towards artistic methodologies. Students in all phases of their PhD trajectory are welcome to join.
Relations to other courses
There is no significant overlap with other courses offered by the EGSH.
Sessions and preparations
The course has 4 parts:
- Preparatory online seminars (late April / early May 2026) to frame key concepts, histories, ethics, and case studies.
- Five-day intensive, on-site workshops developing practical artistic research methods in the city, consisting of Foundations Sessions – short presentations on key concepts, histories, ethics, case studies – and Artistic Methods Sessions – basic fieldwork tools and review city context.
- Intervention Concept Lab: Small-group concept development of an artistic intervention for urban transformation
- Final morning presentations (pass/fail), with feedback from the teaching team
Start date
Preparatory online seminars: late April/early May 2026. Exact times t.b.d.
Live encounter at the University of Oulu (Finland): 25-29 May 2026.
Instructor
Robert van der Have is the coordinator of the course. He is Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship (special interest in micro-entrepreneurship) in the Kerttu Saalasti Institute and Oulu Business School (Dept. of Marketing, Management and International Business) at the University of Oulu.
His research is broadly at the intersections of entrepreneurship, innovation, and related public policy. His current projects focus on the themes of sustainability mission performance, public sponsorship of innovation and new ventures, and the role of digital infrastructures in sustainable innovation and development. His prior work has been published in various academic journals, including among others Research Policy and Strategic Management Journal.
Contact
EUR students can contact Pauwke Berkers (berkers@eshcc.eur.nl) for more information.
Facts & Figures
- Duration
- 1 month
- Price
- Free of charge
Free for PhD candidates at Erasmus University.
- Tax
- Not applicable
- Instruction language
- English
- Teaching mode
- Hybrid
Registration
How to apply
If you would like to attend the course, please send a brief letter outlining the reasons for your interest to Prof. dr. Pauwke Berkers, (berkers@eshcc.eur.nl), by 15 March 2026.
Each accepted EUR student will need to coordinate communication with their faculty and the EUR International Office to apply, if applicable, for the EUR+ grant.
EUR students can contact Pauwke Berkers for more information. (berkers@eshcc.eur.nl).