The full-time 4-year practice-based pathway consists of a thesis of 50-80,000 words, in addition to the presentation of digital media outputs/artworks completed during the period of research which, taken together, demonstrate an original implementation of the relationship between theory and practice in the chosen field and object of study.

A defining characteristic of the practice-based pathway is the introduction from the outset of the doctoral project both an ethnographic and social engagement mediated approach to its design, production and dissemination, thereby building relevant participants, audiences and sites of public reception for the curation and exhibition of the work throughout the study.

The practice-based PhD foregrounds the conceptualisation, creation, exhibition and distribution of non-fiction modes of creative practice, using a combination of new and established media technologies. It foregrounds an intrinsic connection between theory and practice, assuming that theory is ‘radically contextual’ and not merely learnt in abstraction or at one point removed from media production. The 4-year progamme is designed to accommodate specialisation and breadth of knowledge across the interdisciplinary areas of screen, media, film, visual and cultural studies, anthropology, exhibition and curatorial practice, documentary studies and the creative and visual arts.

Doctoral researchers on this pathway are required to take discipline-specific and employability modules as part of the structured TU Dublin PhD Programme.