This thesis examines the extent to which the 1960s process art strand of post-Minimalism can provide an analytical template for critical writing around contemporary ceramic art. A dearth of critical writing is an acknowledged problem in all types of ceramics practice and some of the reasons for this situation will be explored. In the past decade frequent calls have been made by artists, critics, academics, and curators for a body of critical writing to underpin contemporary work and connect with wider cultural debates. During this period, artists have begun to use the process of making the work to form part of the content. Such work has no relationship to traditional studio pottery, and critics have described it as difficult to write about and classify in normative ceramic terms. However, this area of ceramic practice shares characteristics with post-Minimalism, a movement of the 1960s that emphasised the behaviour of materials and the act of making. In The Archaeology of Knowledge the French philosopher Michel Foucault suggests that a new critical language may emerge from the appropriation of other discourses, providing new interpretations for subject areas not yet theoretically mapped out. Foucault’s notions on the formation of discourse are used as a methodological approach to investigate how process-led sculptural ceramics may be articulated by an understanding of post-Minimalist critical writings. A substantial body of critical writing developed around post-Minimalist process art, providing a context for radical new approaches which broke with modernist traditions and which expanded and changed traditional definitions of sculpture. Key post-Minimalist texts are investigated as an analytical template for a new critical discourse for process-led ceramic art. A study of the sculptural ceramics of Richard Deacon and Kosho is undertaken as a means of identifying process-led tendencies and the possibility of a re-conceptualisation from a post-minimalist perspective. An analysis of the role of process within my own practice is used to provide visual evidence of contemporary ceramic work that can be re-conceptualised from a post-Minimalist perspective. After twenty years of stagnant debate in the ceramics field, this research might provide a new critical context for process-led ceramic art. The project shows a way that artists may be empowered to develop a critical literacy in a field that has traditionally lacked a research based approach. It is hoped that it may well encourage other ceramics practitioners to explore new ways of presenting an academic critique of their own area of practice. The contribution to knowledge identifies a new critical context and approach to writing for the process-led area of ceramics practice that is currently described as being difficult to write about, as having no appropriate critical language of its own, and of being difficult to categorise in standard ceramic terms.

The design project presented here explores the relation between body and a garment. It is concerned simultaneously with the fundamental notion of a garment and the act of dressing. The project can be contextualized as a constructive design research since the aim does not involve analysis of the material world nor rational problem solving. Rather, the aim is to create new imaginary realities, and visualize them. As a startup method to construct a theory, workshops were set up using life size vertical action collages, in order to integrate the act of dressing with the aim to develop a new construction method. Two actors, one of them myself, were used to provide a greater diversity of perspectives and interpretations. A method of dressing which involved interlocking the body - limbs and waist - with vertically hanging textiles, was developed through the search for the holes, that constitute the infrastructure of a garment. The results are both artefacts, that visualize the new garment construction as well as a new routine of dressing through the novel method of garment construction. Dressing a body in textiles through interlocking which results in an intimate connection between body and the garment as the body reacts to the garment and vice versa. The motivation for exploring the act of dressing is an urge to reflect upon the fast evolving society of today which tends to emphasize a static relationship between body and a garment.

The primary aim of this practice based project is to promote debate and alter perceptions of second-hand materials and ReFashion concepts. The work is positioned between the developed world business model extremes of overproduction, and over-consumption, in clothing manufacture. Practical work which represents 80% of this thesis, pitches discarded clothing as an untapped commodity. The investigation poses questions and possibilities with respect to applying the ReFashion concept to a potential business model. By developing prototypes through deconstruction and reconstruction processes, reflection upon current practices of the secondary textile industry has been possible, highlighting ReFashion as a potential ‘Materials Recovery’ process. The second outcome for the research is to provide contextualised information for the fashion manufacturing industry and government agencies, in order to develop innovative applications for new markets.

The primary aim of this practice based project is to promote debate and alter perceptions of second-hand materials and ReFashion concepts. The work is positioned between the developed world business model extremes of overproduction, and over-consumption, in clothing manufacture. Practical work which represents 80% of this thesis, pitches discarded clothing as an untapped commodity. The investigation poses questions and possibilities with respect to applying the ReFashion concept to a potential business model. By developing prototypes through deconstruction and reconstruction processes, reflection upon current practices of the secondary textile industry has been possible, highlighting ReFashion as a potential ‘Materials Recovery’ process. The second outcome for the research is to provide contextualised information for the fashion manufacturing industry and government agencies, in order to develop innovative applications for new markets.

This D.Phil constitutes an investigation led by studio practice and supported by archival and desk-based research into knowledge production through the building of complex cosmologies; specifically those created de novo in visual art practice and 'outsider science' oeuvres. It considers how these cosmologies relate to mainstream science, definitions of outsider art, and other complex cultural systems such as alchemy. Through a more detailed analysis of the work of the British artist John Latham and American outsider cosmologist James Carter, the thesis undertakes this investigation through discussions on the development of these systems and a consideration of the epistemologies these cosmologies reveal. The studio practice elements drive this investigation forward by interrogating themes including the relationship between culture and complex systems, alchemical epistemology, and the struggle to relate to unintuitive science.

Migration has become a topical theme both in academia and in public discourses across the media which have contributed to create a highly political and visual 'migrant subject'. However, the highly mediatized figure of the migrant has left crucial aspects of migration underrepresented and unrecognised. What is normally concealed and left to the margins of public debate is the individual experience of the protagonists, their imaginative lifeworlds and the complexity of their stories. This practice-based research has centred its inquiry on the relationship between the lived experiences and the imagination of past, present and future existential possibilities, by engaging three Egyptian migrants through the creative processes of theatre improvisations, storytelling practices, participatory photography, collaborative filmmaking and animation. It recognizes the fundamental role that imagination and future existential possibilities play in people’s perceptions of reality, in their decisions and actions, and finally in the way they narrate their experiences. In order to better understand how individuals make their choices, interact with each other, understand themselves and the world around them, I have argued that we need to take into account their biographies and imaginative inner lives as the ways people retell their stories allow space for contradiction, feelings of ambivalence and uncertainty, unlaced and unfinished thoughts and existential dilemmas. Imaginative realms of existence are ever-changing and ungraspable, posing a challenge to conventional methodologies in the social sciences which rely heavily on observation, interviews and text. The thesis is divided into two parts. By using the ethnographic material that emerged during fieldwork and from the creative processes, in the first part I look at the role imagination and the future play in Ali’s, Mohamed’s and Mahmoud’s relationships to their origins, and to their decisions and experiences of illegally crossing the Mediterranean Sea in order to reach Milan (Italy). The second part describes and reflects upon the performative and audio-visual collaborative practices that involved my participants in producing their own narrations and theoretical reflections on their experiences, aspirations and memories. It is thanks to the ‘subjunctive possibilities’ enabled by performative improvisations, creative storytelling and the animation that my participants and I could explore their mnemonic and imaginative processes. Finally, the thesis concludes by arguing for social research to engage participants in more collaborative and creative practices in the study of migration, as a necessary way of involving the protagonists in producing the questions and counter-narratives that reclaim their acts of struggle and their creative imaginative abilities to contrast objectifying political discourses and exclusionary legal and bureaucratic procedures.

This thesis comprises six new musical works composed between 2008 and 2015: ‘Struction (how I attempted to get the thoughts in my head into your head using only five instruments, five instrumentalists, metronome sound and MIDI') for amplified ensemble and pre-recorded soundtrack (2011); ‘My Life in Ventriloquism' for solo clarinet and pre-recorded soundtrack (2012); ‘Nightmusic' for solo violin (2012); ‘Replaceable Parts for the Irreplaceable You' for ensemble, pre-recorded soundtrack and video (2013); ‘Espial', a video work featuring string quartet (2014); and ‘Elbow Room' for amplified ensemble, pre-recorded soundtrack and video (2014). The works are presented in this thesis as musical scores (and other performance materials), accompanied by audio-visual documentation of performances. As a whole, these compositions reflect a period of practice-as-research into the role of metapraxis in musical performance and how it can be used to help convey non-musical thought through instrumental music. A commentary on this portfolio of new compositions begins by discussing two influential works — Mauricio Kagel's ‘Match' (1964) and ‘Failing: A Difficult Piece for Solo String Bass' (1975) by Tom Johnson — before examining each new work in detail in order to explicate the research and creative processes that led to their composition, to exteriorize a personal working practice and to document the reflection-on-practice which has furthered this research. The commentary details how I was able to write music on a variety of topics, including authority, technology and place, and concludes with some ideas for further research.

Class of 2013 Abstract / Specific Aims: To evaluate and describe the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) affiliated practice-based research network (PBRN) websites to determine the best qualities regarding format, content, and accessibility using a developed PBRN website information extraction form. Methods: A PBRN information extraction form was developed to assess the format, content, and accessibility of each AHRQ-affiliated PBRN website. Each student investigator completed an electronic copy of the extraction form for each PBRN website to confirm consistency of findings. A phone interview was then conducted with the webmasters of the PBRNs with the highest scores to determine the influences and challenges those webmasters faced during the development of their PBRN websites. Main Results: The information extraction form was completed for each of the 104 active PBRN websites in the U.S. The most common elements seen on the PBRN websites were site map, email address, mission statement, phone number, and search toolbar. The inter-rater agreement between the two student investigators for the data collected was 84 percent. Regarding the webmaster interviews, the majority of the webmasters believed that the single most important factor in creating a successful PBRN website was identifying the audience of the PBRN and making the material appropriate for that audience. Conclusion: The developed information extraction form was used to successfully evaluate and describe the AHRQ-affiliated PBRN websites. Audience identification is important in order to provide appropriate content, as well as in the development of an effective PBRN website.

In fulfillment of my degree of Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Central Florida specializing in sculpture and ceramics, I have produced a body of artwork in a range of media, including printmaking, bookbinding, painting, ceramics, and sculpture. This thesis is the exegesis of my creative work, informed by contemporary artworks and the study of shelter-making in nature. Utilizing The Practitioner Model of Creative Cognition as defined by R. Lyle Skains, I will establish my work as practice-based research. While "exegesis" generally refers to the critical examination of written work, I feel it is appropriate in this context as I view my work as a visual diary conveying the narrative of my lifelong search for meaning. I draw from familiar sensations, memories, spiritual practices, and nostalgic memorabilia in my creative practice, utilizing various media to produce tangible representations of home, exploring whether these liminal spaces can provide the sense of shelter and belonging I seek.

The university sector at the beginning of the 21st Century is shifting in response to national and global changes in the role and purpose of Higher Education. Some universities, including the University of Hertfordshire, have chosen to focus attention on engagement with business and commerce. This practice based research examines the experience of academics in relation to the new challenges posed by this strategic development. There are three threads of investigation; interviews, examination of key concepts and the practitioner dimension. Drawing on a qualitative and constructivist approach, individual interviews with a range of business facing academics explore their experience of engaging with new activities. My perspective, as a manager of business facing academics, provides an important thread and situates the work firmly in the practice context. The implicit expectations arising from strategic positioning as a business facing university are examined. A conceptual framework is established with a focus on the nature of business facing activity, including its relationship with traditional forms of teaching and research, learning through work in the Higher Education setting and the idea of an enabling local context. The research found that amongst those undertaking business facing activity, academic identity is a fluid and multi-faceted construct reconfigured through experience and learning in the workplace; by its nature not easily defined, labelled or bounded. The challenge for universities is to nurture and sustain individuals in the creation and use of academic identities, in order to meet the undoubted challenges to come. This requires a forward looking, inclusive and innovative stance, resisting the temptation to judge current academic identities by the established notions of the past. Management of academics involved in business facing activity requires a more flexible, trusting and individual approach than is traditionally seen in universities.