The education is based on artistic theory and practice. The reflective and theoretical content of the education is not the goal but a means of artistic development and the emphasis for the studies is on independent artistic development work. The education aims to give the doctoral student the opportunity to develop knowledge of artistic research questions and the ability to communicate this to the outside world, to achieve an in-depth artistic maturity and awareness in their own artistic work and to have an in-depth ability to work within the art world in a national and international perspective.

The study programme is experimental and highly individualised, focusing on identifying, understanding and developing artistic thinking as a specialised field of knowledge production. The studies are based on the artistic knowledge and the artistic work and the focus is on the individual artistic work and research.

The artistic work is both object and method. The studies of reflecting or theoretical contents are not a self-fulfilling goal but serve the purpose of being a means for developing artistic competence. The 240 credits are subdivided into various seminars or courses (60 credits) and a documented artistic research project (180 credits).

Gertrud Sandqvist is supervising the program. Professor Sarat Maharaj is tutoring and meet with the students at least twice per semester for seminars. Note that there are no tuition fees for PhD studies at Lund University.