The doctoral research project can comprise 1–3 artistic parts that can be for example productions, demonstrations or projects. The number and schedule are described in the research plan that is updated when appropriate. The research plan describes the role/meaning of the artistic parts of the complete doctoral research project. Such artistic and practical parts that only produce material for the doctoral research will not be examined. Practicalities on updating the research plan are described in more detail in the section Doctoral Programme in the Tutke Guide.
Having discussed the issue with the doctoral student, the supervisors of the doctoral research, and the teaching staff at Tutke, the Contact Teacher communicates with the two proposed external examiners. Once the external examiners have expressed their consent to accept the appointment, the Contact Teacher makes a proposal on appointing the external examiners for the Research Council at the Theatre Academy. The Research Council appoints the external examiners. More about examinations in the section Supervision, examination, pre-examination in the Tutke Guide.
The same external examiners will usually examine both the artistic parts and the commentary, and they often also act as opponents at the public examination. The criteria for choosing external examiners are formal competence and expertise in the field. At least one of the external examiners must hold a doctorate. The second external examiner can be chosen on artistic merits. Contestability issues (see the ethical instructions of the University of the Arts), practical issues, and the doctoral student’s wishes will be considered in the choice. Negotiations on the external examiners with the supervisors and the Contact Teacher must start at least four months before the first artistic part to be examined is realized. All contacts with the external examiners are communicated via the Contact Teacher or the Planning Officer.
The doctoral candidate asks the supervisors and the Contact Teacher to send their statements of approval supporting the examination of the artistic part by email to the Planning Officer. Based on the statements from the supervisors, the Head of the Doctoral Programme of Artistic Research in Performing Arts grants the permission to have the artistic part examined.
The doctoral student will inform the Planning Officer and the external examiners well in advance, at least two months prior to the realization of any artistic part, about where and when the part to be examined as part of the doctoral research is realized.
The doctoral student shall deliver a press release to the Information and Communication Services of the University of the Arts. In case the artistic part to be examined is realized as a production of the Support Services for Artistic Activities (TTP), the doctoral student shall send the information dissemination materials to his/her producer at the Theatre Academy or to the Communications Coordinator. The doctoral student is also responsible for stating clearly in all public information that the work is part of his or her doctoral research at Tutke.
The doctoral student shall submit his/her updated research plan and the so called “linking paper” to the Contact Teacher and the Planning Officer at least two weeks before the realization of the artistic part. The Planning Officer or Contact teacher will forward them to the external examiners. The research plan includes a description of all artistic parts to be realized during the doctoral research, and how these artistic parts relate to each other. The linking paper is a written description on how the particular artistic part to be examined is connected to the whole doctoral research and its research questions.
The external examination is to assess how the artistic part answers the research question or relates to a problem presented in the doctoral research, how the artistic part deals with the theme of the research, and what kind of knowledge or understanding it produces. Based on the research plan, the linking paper and his or her own experiences, the external examiner evaluates the artistic part in relation to the research as a whole. In the evaluation process, the external examiner can make use of the following questions:
The external examiner can ask questions in the event of external examination. The doctoral student can organise the event and the discussion related to it in a way appropriate to the artistic part.
The external examiners have one month to submit their statements to the Planning Officer, who will send copies of the statements to the doctoral student, the supervisors, the Contact Teacher at Tutke, and the members of the Research Council.
The doctoral student is responsible for making sure that the recordings and other documentation of the work are of appropriate good quality. The documentation is often used as part of the audio-visual material in the commentary. It is also made use of in the evaluation of the doctoral research and possibly also in other information dissemination purposes. The recording is archived.
The main task of the external examiner is to evaluate whether the performance, demonstration or workshop can be accepted as an artistic part of the doctoral research. The statement shall state clearly whether the external examiner proposes that the artistic part is to be accepted or not. In both cases the statement shall put forward comments and critique that justifies the acceptance or rejection of the artistic part. Based on the statements by the external examiners, the Research Council will make the decision of approving the artistic part as part of the doctoral research.
If the external examiner proposes that the artistic part be rejected as part of the doctoral research, the doctoral student has a right to present a response to the external examiner’s statement at the meeting of the Research Council at the Theatre Academy. The Research Council may decide, based on the external examiners’ statements, to terminate the external examination process, in which case the artistic part subject to external examination must be redone. The external examination process can be restarted when recommended by Tutke’s Contact Teacher and the supervisors. The Research Council appoints the same or new external examiners for the doctoral research.