Creative practice and critical research appear to be unlikely bedfellows! Creative practice is viewed as intuitive and open ended while critical research is more rigorously methodological and outcome oriented. However, for the last number of decades, creative practice has made its mark in the university as a form of research in itself: practice-led research.

Smith and Dean’s volume explores how creative practice can lead to the generation of new knowledge, which is the typical definition of research. They have collected essays from various realms—dance, new media, and creative writing to name a few—that demonstrate how practice and research can form generative partnerships which can find a home in the university.

The systems and structures of the university were not created with a view to practice-led or practice-based research, so the essays also tackle the sort of issues that arise when these two worlds collide. Most important, perhaps, is the need for funding bodies to understand what practice-led research is in order to promote this growing type of research.

This highly specialized volume will help practice-led researchers to understand their methodology while at the same time appraising them of the type of issues they will encounter in the university.

Smith, Hazel and Roger T. Dean, eds. Practice-led Research, Research-led Practice in the Creative Arts. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2009.