ABOUT THE INSTITUTE
MISSION, PRINCIPALS, PHILOSOPHY, VISION
The Institute operates within and across constellations and networks of influence and interest and aims to inspire change through enrichment and exchange beyond disciplinary and geographic borders and the cultivation of a rigorous collective imagination.
This is achieved via an institution that places a unique emphasis on inquiry-based learning. It is supported by an innovative hybrid approach to teaching and research, informed by two decades of expertise in delivering international graduate and doctoral programs.
This course of study is for everyone with a specific research project or query they want to examine to develop their work at the highest level. The Creative Research PhD is a self-directed research project in which writing is an integral contributor. It culminates in the submission of a dissertation, which may include a publication, exhibition, reading, performance, screening, conference, workshop, model, or other form of referential dissemination, and a viva voce. In this doctoral program, research praxes and writing are intrinsic components.**
We are a student-centered institution. The Institute respects and supports the unique processes and visions of our students, faculty, advisors and guests. We will continue to dismantle hierarchies. As a small international institution, we have the exceptional capacity to unmake outmoded structures and foster sustainable, transformative processes. The Institute instigates and supports change.
The Institute champions self-directed, curious, flexible, and socially engaged transdisciplinary researchers. It supports diverse ways of learning and teaching and encourages experimentation and individual processes. Transdisciplinary research transcends traditional boundaries. It involves unifying hybrid knowledge and methods that don't fit within a single disciplinary domain, or cross-pollinate between fields of knowledge, practice, disciplines and genres. "Transdisciplinarity recognises the increasing importance of the edges between disciplines, and the transcendence of knowledge beyond disciplines. Somewhat akin to the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. Trans-disciplinarity is essentially holistic."
The Institute recognizes the formation of original knowledge, which involves novel methodologies and epistemologies as creative research.
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* Donald Schön, in his book "The Reflective Practitioner", defines reflective practice as one in which professionals become aware of their implicit knowledge base and learn from their experiences— using reflection to improve their praxis by critically examining their actions and adjusting accordingly.
** Thornton, Andy. 2023. "Undisciplined Entanglement - Andy Thornton - Medium." Medium. February 13, 2023. https://medium.com/p/40605d2f05c8