ABSTRACT
Since the 1990s considerable work has gone into developing resources and programmes to support arts and design-based doctoral students, who are now an established, if still relatively small, feature of the international academic landscape. To be provocative, I might argue that whilst the epistemological debate around artistic research has developed its own dynamic, the more significant work has taken place at the coalface, dealing with the needs of students as they attempt to shape projects which answer the twin demands of academic rigour and significance to the field. However, rather than recount the early history of this ‘emerging’ field, I want to take the opportunity provided by this chapter to try and discern a sense of what good practice in research training looks like and to consider some of the challenges we face as we look to the future. This is not to argue that history is not important; of course the particular historical development of arts and design education has contributed significantly to the contexts within which the discussion of arts-based research has come into being. But others in this volume have had the opportunity to tackle this topic more fully and in this chapter I want to place my emphasis on the present and the future. 1
