becoming sociaL

REFLECTIONS ON the social modalities of YOUR doctoral research

20-24 July 2026

John Lennon Building

Liverpool John Moores University

Liverpool, UK

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: 15 APRIL 2026 23:59 UTC

INTRODUCTION

This year’s residency invites contributions, not only from Transart Institute’s current PGRs, those graduating this year, and alumni, but also those from our host Liverpool John Moores University, and other invited institutions. As usual, our aim is to enable you to share your research with your peers, while also inviting you to consider a specific, shared dimension of doctoral research: the social relations that shape your project, from supervisory relationships to (trans)disciplinary expectations, from academic peer support and professional networks, to the support of family and kin.

Our week-long programme offers opportunities to take part in a variety of events, including work-in-progress sharing, peer-dialogue sessions, knowledge exchange workshops, critical conversations across disciplines, and, of course, social events. 

The PGR-led Anthologies Assembly is an opportunity for you to share your research with your peers across institutions. Research can be shared in multiple forms as relevant to your project, including presentations, readings, exhibition formats, screenings, performances, microworkshops, listening sessions, etc. 

Other programmed events address the residency theme directly, taking your doctoral projects as a stepping-off point to discuss the wider concerns that we all share as doctoral researchers.

Faculty from Transart Institute, Liverpool John Moores University and other collaborating universities will also take part, as moderators, “critical friends” and event participants.

THE RESIDENCY THEME

As a doctoral researcher, it is likely that you have been told that “this is your PhD.” Yet this commonly-held assumption tends to overlook the deeply social, relational nature of the doctoral process. While the final thesis represents an individual’s practical and intellectual contribution, a closer look reveals that the PhD is invariably shaped by a complex interplay of social relationships.

Those who have undertaken doctoral study will recognize that claims of complete autonomy are far from accurate. The PhD is shaped by the guidance provided by supervisors, constrained by the established methodologies and theoretical frameworks of a specific field, and influenced by the ongoing conversations and scholarship of your peers. Beyond these academic and institutional relationships, the practical realities of research – including the support of partners, family, and wider networks – also play a significant role.

These social modalities fundamentally shape the development of you and your research. Your negotiations with the dynamics of supervision, established ways of thinking within a discipline, and the reciprocal relationships at the heart of doctoral studies all matter. These effect the arguments questions that you can ask, the methodological choices that you make, the expectations for supervision, and ultimately, the overall structure and coherence of your thesis.

For many years, supervisors have explored these interconnected influences. Their conversations have focused on how these social dynamics impact doctoral education from their perspective – especially the pedagogical challenges and political ramifications presented by doctoral-level research. 

This Transart Institute residency provides a valuable opportunity for postgraduate researchers and alumni to have their say in these matters.

KEY QUESTIONS

This residency invites PhD candidates and alumni to reflect on the the multifaceted social dimensions of their own doctoral studies, considering the following key areas:

PGR accounts of supervisor-PGR dynamics; the significance of peer support and kinship networks; the exercise of relational agency – the capacity to proactively establish and maintain supportive relationships; negotiation of disciplinary norms and expectations; and defining the communities to whom individual “contributions to knowledge” are made. 

We invite you to explore issues related to academic socialization, including the impact of cultural differences and the reconciliation of academic and professional criteria for success.

We also invite reflections on the influence of external support networks – such as extra-institutional mentoring and participation in communities of practice – alongside considerations of disciplinary and institutional expectations regarding the form of doctoral theses; and the role of examiners and negotiation of examination conventions.

ANTHOLOGIES ASSEMBLY 

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

This July, we gather as students, artist-researchers, and invited guests to share the ever-expanding field of our practice-based research. Each of us arrives with work in process: questions, methods, fragments, provocations, and together we shape a collective space of exchange.

This residency is not simply a presentation platform, but a site of encounter. An environment we actively construct: one grounded in dialogue, experimentation, generosity, and critical reflection. It is a space for testing ideas, articulating methodologies, and allowing others to witness our research in action. Across the week, we consider who we are as artists and as researchers. We examine our processes as carefully as our outcomes. We invite conversation around our “how” the structures, strategies, and embodied practices that shape our work, and we articulate our “why,” the urgencies and questions that drive us forward.

Liverpool and London become a temporary commons for thinking-through-practice. A place to step outside of habitual frames, to be challenged and inspired in equal measure, and to feel the energetic charge that emerges when diverse, multidisciplinary voices meet.

This residency is an assembly: for connection, for critical dialogue, for experimentation, and for pushing praxis further... Together.

APPLY NOW

Please use this online form to apply to residency.

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: 15 APRIL 2026 at 23:59 UTC

Contact Transart Institute’s Residency Coordinator, Jake Tkaczyk, if you need further information.