Doctoral Platform at CSM

The Doctoral Platform at Central Saint Martins offers postgraduate researchers (PGR) the space in which to meet, share their research and curate or participate in a variety of events as part of a vibrant community of researchers.

As a doctoral student you will be able to

• Attend PhD-level seminars on philosophy, methodology, writing and art practice
• Present their work at Test Lab sessions for discussion and feedback.
• Meet other PhD candidates to discuss the experience of Doctoral research
• Present and test out research at various stages, from its inception to its completion.
• Attend and participate in talks, lectures, seminars, and reading groups.
• Organise and curate exhibitions, conferences, and other events
• Write and edit publications.
• Learn the skills necessary for the successful achievement of Registration and Confirmation (a complement to the University’s RNUAL programme).

Core programme

PGR workshops

These workshops cover:

• Key milestones of the PhD journey, ethics and research skills, and visual conceptualisation of research. PGRs researchers are invited to share and discuss their work-in-progress applications, documents, presentations, etc. in a safe and supportive environment. Lucy Ashdown leads a workshop on e-resources and John Wollaston on Technical Moodle and Resources.
• Research methodologies and approaches: the autumn term focuses on decolonial and antiracial approaches to research and queer methodologies. The series of workshops has been devised in collaboration with Nina Trivedi. The spring term focuses on ethnographic methodologies, including considerations on decoloniality and sustainability.
• The summer term focuses on approaches to writing, including editing, essay fiction and how to get published.

Experimental writing workshops:

Led by Nicola McCartney and Elisa Adami, these workshops explore innovative approaches to writing and aims to support PGRs with the written component of their submission offering effective tools and ways of thinking at writing as a practice.

TestLab:

A bi-weekly practice seminar for doctoral students engaged in practice-based research. The seminar offers opportunities to discuss practice as research through presentations of work in progress. This is a supportive environment that encourages experimentation and discussion of ongoing practice.

Art of Questioning:

A bi-weekly doctoral level philosophy seminar that explores thinking (and writing) as a form of making. The goal is not to understand but to inhabit specific ways of thinking, making, being and playing. It explores the possibilities of embracing practice as a logic of sense and therewith as a form of knowledge and intelligence rooted in curiosity, poetics, sensuality.

• PGR workshops 2023–24 [Excel, 25KB]
• Experimental writing workshops 2023–4 [PDF, 148KB]
• Art of Questioning/Test Lab 2023-24

Find out more about PhDs at CSM/UAL

If you would like to undertake a PhD at Central Saint Martins or University of the Arts London, please visit the PhD and MPhil degrees and the Doctoral School pages. As a prospective student, you may also wish to look through our list of staff research profiles in considering potential PhD supervisors.

News archive

Visit the Doctoral Platform news archive to view older news.