Practice Research: Introduction

Practice research is a type of research where practice is the significant method conveyed in a research output. The outcomes can include the practical work along with a documentation of process and a reflective component that provides insights and understanding derived from the practice. 

This guide provides guidance on effectively capturing practice research outputs on our institutional repository Goldsmiths Research Online (GRO). It also provides guidance on a range open research practices and tools relevant to practice research including Creative Commons Licensing, persistent identifiers, curation planning, open access journals and open peer review. 

The guide includes links to practice research initiatives and organisations such as PRAG-UK, along with books, reports, journals and websites available to support practice researchers.

The Online Research Collections team in the Library can support all staff and doctoral researchers in creating an effective digital representation of their practice research. If you need further help or advice with adding your research to GRO or would like to arrange a 1:1 training session, please email gro@gold.ac.uk  

What is practice research?

Practice research is a type of research where practice is the significant method conveyed in a research output. It offers a new model for research, one that promotes practice as a significant method of research and breaks down barriers that can hinder traditional types of research. 

Practice researchers are discovering new ways of generating and sharing research, embracing non-traditional types of publication that presents an opportunity for the modernising and revitalising of research communication.

Practice research has much to offer the research landscape. In their 2021 PRAG-UK report on Practice Research James Bulley and Ozden Sahin identify the following opportunities for knowledge creation:

• It expands the scope and nature of research both inside and outside academia. 
• It develops methods for capturing and sharing knowledge creation that may not be catered for by traditional research types. 
• It provides a clear bridge between professional practice and research. 
• It enriches and informs scholarship and teaching. 
• It develops the technologies used to share and communicate research.
• It recognises the non-linear aspect of many research inquiries. 
• It revitalises and refreshes systems for academic peer review. 
• It propagates knowledge exchange within, across and beyond disciplinary boundaries.

Practice research at Goldsmiths

For many years Goldsmiths has fostered research conducted through practices across a range of disciplines. An early voice in the understanding and development of practice research in the UK, Goldsmiths continues to contribute to knowledge in numerous fields through the work of our practice research staff and doctoral students.

Discussions surrounding practice research have often been focused in the areas of the creative and performing arts, but it is inclusive to all disciplines. At Goldsmiths it encompasses research in disciplines including art, visual cultures, design, music, media and communications, theatre and performance, English and creative writing, computing, anthropology, social work, community and youth work, therapeutic studies and educational studies.

Goldsmiths has contributed to a range of initiatives that have aimed to improve the documentation, discoverability and accessibility of practice research in the UK. We were a founder member of PRAG-UK and were institutional partners in the Jisc-funded KAPTUR project. Current and former Library colleagues have made significant contributions to debates in the field through James Bulley and Ozden Sahin’s 2021 report for PRAG-UK on Practice Research, and Tahani Nadim and Rebecca Randall's Defiant Objects project in 2013.