Frequently Asked Questions

The following list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) address the common queries that we receive about Transart Institute, our programmes, partners, and other matters of importance to applicants and enrolled postgraduate researchers. Please contact admissions@tt-edu-eu if you have any questions not addressed in this FAQ.

• What is Transart Institute?

  Transart Institute is an autonomous higher education institution that partners with EU and UK universities to validate its programmes. We have recently joined Woolf University as a constituent college. Woolf will validate our new PhD programme. We are currently completing a partnership with Liverpool John Moores University School of Art and Design and developing other partnerships to expand opportunities for exchange between our PgRs and faculty, enrich our Nexus Event offerings, and foster further collaboration.

  We are an agile, global community dedicated to advanced transdisciplinary creative inquiry. Moving beyond traditional geographic and academic borders, the Institute’s postgraduate educational model—refined over two decades— aims to support extraordinary postgraduate creative research. Developed and run entirely by artists, the Institute offers practice-based postgraduate programmes, generating space for experimentation and thinking, sharing and connecting across fields and sectors. As a researcher-centred institution, Transart Institute intentionally dismantles conventional academic hierarchies to support diverse, individual learning processes. We champion socially engaged, flexible researchers working across disciplines. By valuing experimentation and holistic, hybrid knowledge, the Institute prepares graduates to challenge conventional ways of working and drive transformative change both within and beyond the academy. Transart Institute embraces a HyFlex (“hybrid flexible”), visa-free model with fully online and in-person opportunities for all. 

• Which programmes do you provide?

  Our core provision is our PhD programme.

  In very exceptional circumstances we can recognize prior learning and experience to award a PhD by Publication/Portfolio.

  Later this year, we are also launching a new MRes in Creative Praxis (pending validation).

• Who are your programmes for?

  If you are a creative practitioner with a desire to synthesise your praxis as research, and to make a significant contribution across disciplines and sectors, then our PhD programme is for you.

  If you are a mid- or late-career creative practitioner with an exceptional, significant track-record of published or public-facing work who has missed-out on the opportunity of undertaking a PhD, but who has nonetheless made an exceptional contribution to your field to the highest standards and is seeking a doctoral degree then our PhD by Publication/Portfolio is the route you should take.

  If you are an emerging creative practitioner who wants to understand your work in the context of research then our upcoming MRes programme will be of interest to you.

• When do your programmes start?

  There are three points in the year when you can join our programmes: September, January, and May. You can apply at any time using our Expression of Interest form.

• How much do your programmes cost?

  Fees are €5,000 for each 4-month Trimester following enrollment ( €15,000 per three-Trimester year).  Fees end once you submit your thesis. We encourage you to complete your PhD within three years.

• When will I hear back about my Expression of Interest (EOI) form

  EOIs submitted by August 9 will be responded to within five working days. EOIs submitted from August 11 - 31 will be answered from 1 September.

• How long does it take to complete the programme?

  We strongly recommend that you aim to complete your doctoral research project within three years and provide support – through Researcher Development, Advisor-support, online Intensives, and optional in-person Nexus Events – to help you achieve this. We provide you with the skills and competencies to plan and manage your project to successful completion, while still remaining open to free experimentation, exploration, and learning within your project.

• Who validates your programmes?

  We are a Constituent College of Woolf University, which is licensed by the Malta Further & Higher Education Authority to award degrees. This means that our degrees have full EU accreditation and are valid internationally. They map to the European Qualifications Framework (for example, our PhD is assessed at EQF Level 8).

• How does your programme compare to others?

  We strive to offer affordable, high-quality programmes that enable creative researchers to develop the knowledge, skills and competences required for them to make significant contributions to their chosen field(s), on graduation and well beyond.

  Our programmes are designed for creative practitioners who want to become researchers. Unlike some other institutions, we encourage you to work across and to transform disciplines, and to be responsive to demands beyond academia.

  Our researchers live and work in locations across the world, from where they base their research. While other ‘bricks and mortar’ institutions promote the importance of residency, we also acknowledge the benefits of being able to work from where you are.  But we also consciously encourage the mobility of ideas – between geographic and disciplinary locations  – and have designed a programme to enable this to take place through our optional Nexus Events – regular in-person events organized for you at various locations. This means that you do not need residency permits, visas, or demonstrate financial resources to take part in our in-person events.

• Do you offer in-person support or is everything online?

  By default, our programmes are offered in an online-only mode. While this suits many researchers, we also recognize that you can also benefit from organized, focused events that enable you to meet other researchers and faculty, and to visit different places. Our Nexus Events are held three times per year in various places such as London, Athens, and Berlin. They are focused on supporting you through talks, workshops, and research-focused excursions.

• Do I need a visa to study at Transart Institute?

  No, we do not require you to have a student visa to take part in our programmes as you will remain based in your current location. Our in-person, international events are entirely optional and designed so that you can travel on tourist visas, with no need to apply for student or resident visas.

• How often are the in-person Nexus Events?

  Nexus Events are held up to three times per year. They take place in the first month of each Trimester and usually feature five days of programmed events – workshops, talks, site-visits, and so on. Sometimes we ‘top and tail’ these days with other activities in the places where the Nexus Events take place.

• Where do you meet?

  Nexus Events take place in various international locations. Upcoming events are planned for Berlin, Athens, and London.

• Are Nexus Events mandatory?

  No, Nexus Events are entirely optional. Our programmes are online-only with Nexus Events providing extra opportunities for our postgraduate researchers to meet their peers within Transart Institute and beyond.

• How often will my cohort meet online as a group?

  During the first year of our PhD programme, you will meet other researchers within your year-group at nine monthly Intensives sessions. These are workshops which focus on Researcher Development, where you will address questions that are pertinent as you plan and develop your research project. As you move into the second and third years, you will meet primarily at our Open Window events – talks by external researchers and faculty that explore contemporary issues through the practice of creative research. We encourage our PgRs to organize their own group meetings, should they wish to do so. This may be within a cohort, or across our Research Constellations.

• Are the meetings with my advisors one-on-one or do I meet all of my advisors at once?

  Meetings with Advisors take place each month during the first three months of each Trimester. The first meeting will be with both of your Advisors, the second two with each of them individually. This provides you with constant and regular contact with faculty, ensuring that both your Advisors have insight into your project, as well as establishing and sustaining an advisory team to support your development.

• I'm really interested in the MRes. When will this program be launched?

  Our MRes (Master of Research) in Creative Praxis is currently being validated – a process of academic review. We estimate that we will be able to launch by the end of the calendar year for a first round of enrollment in January 2027. The MRes is modelled on the first year of our PhD, with slightly more hours allocated to independent study, enabling researchers to work for one intensive year to gain their Masters qualification.

• Which institution formally awards the PhD, and what is the accreditation structure for the programme??

  Our PhD is awarded by Woolf University. Woolf holds full university accreditation and degree-granting power in the European Union through the Malta Further and Higher Education Authority (MFHEA). Transart Institute is a constituent College of Woolf University – which uses a collegiate model similar to universities such as Oxford and Cambridge. Our PhD is based on Woolf’s Doctor of Philosophy in the Humanities and Social Sciences (PhD), specialized for creative research. Your degree certificate names both Transart Institute and Woolf University as the awarding institutions.

• What kinds of Advisory expertise is available?

  Transart Institute is uniquely placed to engage an Advisory team most suited to your research project. This means that we can support researchers working in and across any field, from traditional studio-based fine art disciplines, to very experimental ‘post-studio’ and transdisciplinary creative practices. Where most other universities can only draw on their incumbent faculty, we are able to approach potential Advisors on your behalf and invite them into your team. In this instance, we ensure academic oversight by also including one of our experienced Advisors in your team.

• How is “creative praxis” defined methodologically within the doctoral framework?

  We champion practice-led/research-creation approaches to research, and use the term Creative Praxis to define the emphasis that we place on practical, creative work through which your research project is conducted. While this approach to research has been led by artists across disciplines, in response to their disciplines engaging with research degree processes, we also recognize that practitioners across the arts, humanities and social sciences – and indeed the natural and physical sciences – are also committed to developing new methods and methodological approaches to their research. The basis of our PhD programme is to enable our postgraduate researchers to engage with the doctoral process through their creative practice, and to innovate in ways that are appropriate to the histories of practice within their fields, and the demands of the social context in which they take part.

• What are the expectations regarding written thesis versus practice-based output?

  Under our licensing agreement with Woolf University our research degrees require a thesis of 40,000-80,000 words to be submitted for assessment. However, as is common across fields of creative research, we encourage our postgraduate researchers to explore a blend of practice-based and textual components in their thesis submission. Our expertise and experience is in supporting this form of thesis, and we prefer applicants who have a curiosity in how to develop a thesis that is appropriate to – and in a form that ensures that they make a unique contribution to – their chosen field of research.

• What kinds of academic or teaching positions have graduates gone on to secure?

  Many of our postgraduate researchers already hold teaching posts when they enroll on the programme – choosing the programme due to it being low-residency/online and not having to move to another city to study. Others have taken-up new academic and teaching posts on graduation from sessional work to senior academic management positions. Often our graduates will use the programme to develop their creative practice so that it can engage with research funding, or give it context and validity as research in order to work as a research fellow or associate. We also have graduates who are already established teachers or researchers, who wish to work across and between disciplines, or who want to explore and develop new creative methods and approaches to apply to their existing field of research.