The RMIT–Parsons PhD collaboration offers design and creative practice research practitioners a new academic pathway to further their creative inquiry and professional options in an innovative global doctoral program.
Launched in 2023, this PhD collaboration is distinguished by its practice-based research focus, an approach that RMIT has been spearheading at the doctoral level for more than two decades. Combining the academic excellence and experience of RMIT with
the dynamism and industry connections of Parsons and New York City, this new collaboration will position candidates to develop new forms of practice research in a global context.
Students will apply to and matriculate through RMIT’s PhD program. Upon completion, RMIT will confer their degree in Australia. However, they will pursue their doctoral research at Parsons in New York City. Each candidate will have at least two supervisors:
a lead supervisor at RMIT and an associate supervisor at Parsons.
The RMIT–Parsons PhD collaboration is designed for candidates who already have a master’s degree (those seeking a preliminary master’s degree are encouraged to consider Parsons graduate degree programs here).
For the most part, candidates will direct their own practice research, in coordination with supervising faculty and in close collaboration with a community of PhD candidates who are conducting their research at Parsons School of Design at The New
School. They will benefit from RMIT’s Practice Research Symposium events, held in Australia, Asia, Europe, and now in New York.
Submit your research interests and get in touch.
Practice Research Symposium
A unique and exciting feature of the RMIT PhD offering is the Practice Research Symposium (PRS), a forum for the exchange of ideas and the development of new directions in practice research. Held twice annually, the symposium brings together PhD candidates,
supervisors, and invited guests to explore and review the candidates’ work in an open, public gathering. Parsons School of Design will host the first PRS North America in early winter 2023.
The RMIT PRS website describes the process: “Each candidate’s presentation at the PRS allows for a public consideration of their research. The process of inquiry that develops over the course of their research candidature is punctuated by these presentations,
which opens up the research to interrogation and explication through group discussion involving peers, supervisors and other experts.”
You can learn more about the Practice Research Symposium on the PRS webpage
Faculty
Candidates in the new PhD collaboration will work with faculty from both RMIT and Parsons, but their primary geographical home will be the Parsons NYC campus. There they will benefit from a highly developed culture of creative practice and design research
and a dynamic network of Parsons instructors, dozens of whom have PhDs in design or a closely related field.