CeRCCA Organises Practice-Led Research Workshop for SCA Postgraduate Students
The Centre for Research in Culture and Creative Arts (CeRCCA), University of Education, Winneba (UEW), has held a two-day workshop on artistic research practice for postgraduate students in the School of Creative Arts (SCA), UEW.
The workshop, which took place at the SCA Theatre from Monday, 13th to Tuesday, 14th February, 2023, was under the theme "Doing Arts-Based Research." It was designed to improve postgraduate students' research skills in practice-based research while improving their knowledge and practical understanding.
Participants were taken through the rudiments of writing a good studio-based research proposal, undertaking an effective literature review, selecting research designs for studio-based research, and dealing with artistic data and analytical tools for arts-based research.
The Dean of SCA, Prof. Emmanuel Obed Acquah, in explaining the rationale for the workshop at the opening ceremony, stressed the significance of the creative arts in changing the world by triggering lively debates on local and global academic platforms on artistic research to address societal challenges.
“For our graduate students to be able to create things that suit the tastes of people worldwide, we must find ways of clarifying specific notions. The artistic researcher has three things to do, and these are to create pragmatically, communicate to the academic world, and then educate the masses about it through exhibitions,” he said.
The Dean of SCA revealed that his outfit appreciates the difficulties graduate students have faced over the years and decided to offer the resources and concepts needed to enable them to create and engage in the discourses required to conduct excellent artistic research. He beseeched them to commit to the conversations.
The immediate past Dean of Graduate School, Prof. Samuel Kwesi Asiedu-Addo, praised the Director of CeRCCA, Prof. Osuanyi Quaicoo Essel, and the other SCA faculty members for their creative effort. "This is what we anticipate most schools and faculties will undertake to enhance Graduate School operations."
He underscored the need for all faculties to respond to the demands of the Graduate School to aid it in properly overseeing the faculties. He expressed the School’s eagerness to receive policy documents and directives from faculties to assist assessors in developing standards. He, therefore, implored SCA to document all the salient things that would be discussed at the workshop in a form of policy and send same to the Graduate School.
Prof. Asiedu-Addo urged students to take the workshop very seriously and do well to attend conferences.
"When you attend such conferences, it boosts your morale; it gives you more courage and self-confidence. The path you've chosen to climb the academic ladder is not easy. Hence, be focused and work towards your development and that of mother Ghana," he advised.
The Dean of Student Affairs, Dr. (Mrs.) Edinam Kakra Avoke, on her part, encouraged participants to read widely to enrich their knowledge if they desire to start and finish their thesis on time.
"Be sure to fully educate oneself now before choosing a thesis topic. First and foremost, reading about thesis writing and all of the subfields that fall under it is the best course of action," she admonished the postgraduate students.
Former Dean of Student Affairs, Prof. Ernest Amponsah, gave an overview of arts-based research. The Director of CeRCCA, Prof. Osuanyi Quaicoo Essel, provided insight into how to write a precise and concise background to the study, identify research gaps, write the problem statement, state the research purpose and objectives, formulate research questions, and explain the significance of the study and delimitation.
The immediate past Dean of SCA, Prof. Patrique deGraft-Yankson, shed light on effective literature review, categories of literature review, how to write literature reviews, artistic writing styles for literature reviews, and selecting appropriate conceptual and theoretical frameworks for studio-based research.
The Principal of the College for Distance and e-Learning (CODeL), UEW, Prof. Frimpong Kaakyire Duku, spoke extensively on selecting research design for studio-based research, and the Dean of SCA, Prof. Emmanuel Obed Acquah, climaxed the presentation session with the topic dealing with artistic data and analytical tools for arts-based research.
