Operationally, the Research Committee holds monthly meetings to not only discuss current affairs but also to formulate strategic recommendations. The manifold issues addressed in the reporting year (2022) included the success or failure of research proposals, the ongoing differences in applicant remuneration, regulations governing the retirement of professors, and a legally grounded definition of who and what constitutes an «associate researcher» and thus can be awarded and bear this title. It would be beyond the scope of these comments to repeat the list of topics here. Discussions also covered concrete issues such as the feasible orientation of DIZH projects, the Research Day or the draft definition of the performance mandate for ZHdK research, as well as presentations on university communications or a future T-Minor in Research. Two events in particular pointed the way forward in 2022.
Held in May 2022, the first event was a workshop titled «Where’s the Art? How can the arts develop in and through research projects and what role do artistic doctorates play in this respect?» The workshop considered the complexity of research funding, which included exploring the potential of and difficulties in dealing with traditions and criteria meanwhile obsolete by international comparison. The workshop thus discussed in-depth the tensions between artistic development processes and scientific-institutional conventions, theories and practices of the logic of funding applications and project realities, but also between non-disciplinary and research careers. The workshop was also attended by representatives of numerous other Swiss universities of applied sciences, including FHNW, Accademia Dimitri, Manufacture Lausanne, HSLU and the co-organising SARN (Swiss Artistic Research Network), as well as by international guests from Berlin and Geir Ivar Strøm, the director of the Norwegian Artistic Research Programme.
The second major event in the reporting year took place shortly afterwards in June: at its annual retreat, the Research Committee debated in detail its mission and how best to sharpen its profile. As a guest and oeuil exterieure (outside observer), we invited Prof. Dr. Margit Szöllösi-Janze, member of the German Science Council and co-author of the explosive «Empfehlungen zur postgradualen Qualifikationsphase an Kunsthochschulen» (Recommendations for postgraduate qualifications at arts universities). From this report comes an insight that aptly describes our situation at ZHdK:
«Many of our artistic professors do not consider research to be one of their core tasks, but many science funders do not finance artistic development projects.» (Wissenschaftsrat der BRD, «Empfehlungen zur postgradualen Qualifikationsphase an Kunst und Musikhochschulen», 2021, p. 27)
The report, which is also relevant to Swiss universities of applied sciences, begins by stating that the postgraduate phase at higher arts and music institutions involves «considerable tension between new artistic developments, high expectations, long traditions and changes in the European Higher Education Area that are gaining considerable traction».
«In the arts, the postgraduate phase serves a different purpose than in the sciences. It is fundamentally aimed at ensuring entry into an artistic career outside of higher education at a very high level.» (Wissenschaftsrat, «Empfehlungen zur postgradualen Qualifikationsphase an Kunst und Musikhochschulen», 2021, p. 8)
As per the principle of rotation, a new chair was also elected at the end of the reporting year. Sigrid Adorf was unanimously elected Head of the Research Committee and took office at the beginning of 2023. Her appointment provided another good reason to look forward to an eventful year with plenty of room to experiment with new ideas and juggle old ones, as well as to embrace wide-ranging developments in a spirit of curiosity, transparency, trust and humour.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, resilience did not feature on the Research Committee agenda in 2022. Instead, externally funded projects, the promotion of emerging researchers and ZHdK’s future research organisation received ample attention. Resilience is when we remain confident despite disastrous circumstances, and perhaps emerge completely unscathed. Seen thus, resilience would be a matter of proportion, disposition, or conviction — even if weighting these factors proves to be difficult. ZHdK research is undergoing a difficult phase, one marked by upheaval. It is, however, only if the last reasons for remaining confident and optimistic were to fall by the wayside that disaster would have well and truly arrived. We have not reached that point. Even at the lowest point, there would still be reason for hope.
Prof. Anton Rey, Chair of the Research Committee, February 2023