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Unit of Assessment 35 – Drama, Dance and Performing Arts
Institution EvidenceQueen Margaret University
As a general point, it has been quite difficult to provide evidence of the various changes described in the
questionnaire over a period of 20 years, as to do so would rely on the experience of staff who have been engaged in similar types of research over that 20 year period. This is particularly the case in respect of the first three
questions, where the responses are largely qualitative. In relation to the information requested in question 4, this has also proven difficult to access, as typically this detail and type of information is only held for a period of six years.
A further general point is that, when looking at subject weightings for research in general, a reasonable sense check for SFC would be to look also at the transparent approach to costing for teaching (TRAC(T)) data that it collects at subject level to inform prices for teaching funding. There will clearly be different costs between research and teaching which means that there would not be a direct comparison, but it might be expected that there would be some correlation, at least in relative terms.
Royal
Conservatoire of Scotland
Evidence of significant changes to research activity since AY 1997-98:
1. Changes in research practice in areas covered by Unit of Assessment 35.
In the period since the existing subject weightings were introduced, the landscape for research in music, drama, dance and performing arts has shifted significantly with the introduction and mainstreaming of practice-based methods and practice research. In these discipline areas, this is essentially a new phenomenon since 97-98 – indeed, research at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland was established in 1999 with a Strategic Research
Development Grant from SFC specifically to support the growth of such research in Scotland, and in the distinctive context of a conservatoire.
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In addition, research in music, drama, dance and performing arts has, in related developments over the same period, become more inter- and multi-disciplinary – with researchers more likely to work in teams, require specific technical support and research assistants, etc. The following sections give some indicators of what this means in practice.
2. Changes in the balance of research activity between constituent discipline areas covered by Unit of Assessment 35.
There is no doubt that the new approaches that have become mainstream since the 1990s require more expensive support and resources (see below) when compared with the traditional humanities model that was more typical in music and theatre studies (for example) before that time. The relative significance of single-author text-based work has declined as practice research, team working, work at the intersections of disciplines and with
new/emerging technologies, has developed.
3. Changes in levels of support required by academics active in research in the disciplines covered by Unit of Assessment 35, specifically in terms of
• Research Assistants or equivalents;
The period has seen a rise in the use of mixed methods applied within the performing arts – a trend related to the growth of practice research, but also to seeking more impactful research at the intersections with sociology, health and education (the Conservatoire has been involved, and has invested in, significant projects in each of these areas – see, for example, the AHRC-funded project Musical Impact or our current work with Scottish Ballet on their dance for Parkinson’s programme). Such work requires greater RA support to undertake, for example, data collection, transcription etc. in a cost-effective manner.
• Specialist support staff such as technicians;
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facilitate their work. The Conservatoire has invested in such expertise, for example, in sound engineering and production, in part to support practice-based outputs in music.
• Access to specialist research equipment, infrastructure and facilities.
In addition to the investment in specialist staff, the development of practice research has required a range of other investments, for example, in our archives and collections, which provide the essential materials for practice
research (as well as other approaches); in enhanced studio and other facilities; in increased access for research purposes to specialist facilities that were designed for learning and teaching; in new technologies that extend the reach and significance of our impact.
Taking each of these in turn, since the late 1990s we have:
• Created an important archive and collection, including an internationally-significant brass instrument collection. This has been developed from scratch since 97-98 and was a major strategic investment by the Conservatoire to support research and KE activity, as well as securing custody of our own history and establishing a role in the custodianship of our national cultural story. Statistics gathered for and shared by Conservatoires UK show that our archive is now the busiest conservatoire archive in the UK, with the specialist support of archivist, and organological experts, supporting researchers’ use of the resource. • Significantly enhanced our studio and other facilities, particularly supporting the development of
electroacoustic composition as a particular research focus at the Conservatoire. This is alongside the greater use of studio recording within the practice research process – and the concomitant investment in recording studio space and technology – and investment in relevant emerging technologies (such as low-latency videoconferencing – which permit live performance interaction that is impossible in standard specification videoconferencing).
• Increased access for research purposes to the specialist facilities that were conceived for learning and teaching - for example, the high specification venues that lie at the heart of our Renfrew Street campus. Whereas these were conceived for traditional performances by students, staff and visiting artists, they are increasingly used to support practice research, with an associated cost (sometimes an opportunity
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• Investment in technologies that support impact and dissemination, both from performances and from practice research outputs – the Conservatoire’s unique multi-camera live-streaming technology it its Stevenson Hall and Ledger Recital Room is an example.
4. Changes in the volume (ie number and/or size) of research grants won per researcher active in the disciplines covered by Unit of Assessment 35.
The Conservatoire is a developing research environment, established with an SRDG in 1999. Grant income has grown, slowly, since then, with a high proportion of consultancy and/or applied research. Grants are generally small, and within a small specialist institution, with limited capacity and small REG from a single unit of
assessment, finding the resource to meet the full economic cost (FEC) of any grant funded at 80% FEC can be a challenge.
5. Any other sources of evidence that might illustrate any changes in the absolute costs of research activity in the disciplines covered by Unit of Assessment 35 since 1997-98.
The above notes summarise the changes in absolute costs of research activity since 1997-98. As a monotechnic, we are not able to comment on the relative costs of research in music, drama, dance and the performing arts compared to other research domains. However, we should like to note the very particular consequences for the Conservatoire of the lower subject weighting for music, drama, dance and performing arts.
We understand that the focus of the review is the relative balance of funding within Scotland – a zero-sum
rebalancing between units of assessment – but as an institution that submits to a single unit of assessment in REF and belongs to a peer group that is mostly based in England, the lower subject weighting has the potential to give our competitors funded through QR a competitive advantage over us, in terms of the staffing and infrastructural investments that REG/QR facilitates.
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Precise comparisons are difficult to make, but we observe that institutions within our peer group who achieved a lower quality profile in REF 2014 have nonetheless received a QR grant that is close to or even exceeding our own REG – even when London weightings and other elements that confound the comparison are stripped out. The reassessment of the subject weighting for music, drama, dance and performing arts is therefore a matter of considerable interest to us.
University of Aberdeen Research income 2001 UoA FTE submitt ed 1997/98* 2008
UoA FTE submitte d 2006/07 ** 2014 UoA FTE submitte d 2017/18*** Music (67) 4.7 98,514 (67) 7.6 117,425 (35) 11.4 198,999 *RAE2001 income metrics
**Minor Volume Indicator submission to SFC 2009 ***REF2014 income metrics
PDRA/PGR metrics from Minor Volume Indicator Returns 2001 and 2009; Integrated Research Reporting (IRR)
PDRAs PDRAs PDRAs
PGR s PGR s PGRs Snapshot 31 M ar 96 31 Mar 99 31 Mar 200 5 31 Mar 200 7 31 July 201 7 31 July 201 8 1 Dec 96 1 Dec 99 1 Dec 2004 1 Dec 200 6 31 July 2017 31 July 201 8 Music 0 0 2.2 2.7 0 0 0 0 4.2 14. 5 18.5 21.45
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1. Changes in research practice in areas covered by Unit of Assessment 35
The Department of Music was re-established at the University of Aberdeen in 2003, building on a music unit that was embedded in a teacher training department and focused on pedagogics and the teaching of music. Since then, there has been a significant shift in research practice towards creative output. This is emphasised by the move of the Department of Music from the School of Education to create a School of Language, Literature, Visual Arts and Music and which comprises the majority of creative output across the University of Aberdeen. Increased focus on public engagement with research and impact has introduced new and participative, community based research practice which requires different type of support and resource than traditional critical work, or practice based research producing compositions or performances.
Apart from Music research and performance, researchers at the University of Aberdeen also undertake research into film and visual arts which we have submitted alongside English Language and Literature research, as they are co-located and share a research environment. With the creation of the new School, and a possible shift in the funding weighting, our submission structure may adjusted to allow researchers in film and visual arts, whose work has seen similar changes to that in Music, to benefit from a higher subject weighting.
This points to a need for a higher subject weighting for music than is currently the case.
2. Changes in the balance of research activity between constituent discipline areas covered by Unit of Assessment 35
Practice based research now represents the majority of the research output – we are currently considering 21 compositions and several performances for submission to REF2021 which may represent almost all of the outputs we will submit, compared to previous submissions where compositions and performances represented a quarter of the output (RAE2001 and RAE2008) or a third for REF2014.
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In addition, the increased focus on creative and practice based work represents an increase in the cost of the activity as it requires technology, performance space, outreach and support that more theoretical or purely critical work does not require.
3. Changes in levels of support required by academics active in research in the disciplines covered by Unit of Assessment 35, specifically in terms of
• Research Assistants or equivalents
• Specialist support staff such as technicians
• Access to specialist research equipment, infrastructure and facilities
The changes in support required for music research at the University of Aberdeen over the last 20 years stem from the move away from mainly pedagogic research pre-2000s to an increased focus on practice based research. The move has been augmented by a shift in funders’ focus towards research that engages with the public and research users and that has demonstrable impact. For music this has meant a growth in performance based work and the rise of practice based research methodology that involve a large variety of technical equipment, and innovative ways in which to engage with the public or groups targeted by the research, usually away from campus.
4. Changes in the volume (ie number and/or size) of research grants won per researcher active in the disciplines covered by Unit of Assessment 17.
The changes in the number and value of grants awarded to music researchers at the University of Aberdeen can be attributed to a number of factors. Since 2006/07, the funding environment for creative and practice based
research (and that for all of arts of humanities) has changed significantly. It is highly competitive, and many of the sources for smaller grants are no longer available. Funding from bodies that support creative output, such as Creative Scotland, has been reduced significantly, and creative output, engagement and research in music at Aberdeen is heavily dependent on charitable giving through the University’s Development Trust.
8 University of
Edinburgh 1. Changes in research practice in areas covered by Unit of Assessment 35.
We have not identified a substantive change in research practice in the areas covered by UoA 35 at the University of Edinburgh.
Over the period from RAE2001 to present, Music research at the University of Edinburgh has included a consistent focus on composition and music practice; organology and music technology; and music and the human sciences including clinical music therapy applications and psychology. Of increasing focus since 2001 onwards has been music technology and acoustics research, often conducted in collaboration with researchers from physics and informatics. Increasingly interdisciplinary approaches to research have been in evidence since 2001, across all strands of research, but particularly acoustics, music technology, and music and the human sciences.
2. Changes in the balance of research activity between constituent discipline areas covered by Unit of Assessment 35.
Submissions from University of Edinburgh in UoA 35 have been limited to Music until REF2014. Prior to REF 2014, we submitted to UoA 67 (Music) in RAE2008 and RAE2001. The inclusion of Film Studies in the equivalent REF2021 UoA (33, Music, Drama, Dance, Performing Arts, Film and Screen Studies) may see the inclusion of a broader range of disciplines in REF2021 submission, but it is too early to say at this stage.
3. Changes in levels of support required by academics active in research in the disciplines covered by Unit of Assessment 35, specifically in terms of
• Research Assistants or equivalents;
• Specialist support staff such as technicians;
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Table 1 Research assistants
UoA 35 2000 0 2007 2 2013 2.84 2018 2.7
Table 2 Technical and support staff
UoA 35 2013 1 2018 1
2000 data is as submitted to RAE2001; 2007 data is as submitted to RAE2008; 2013 and 2018 data are drawn from University of Edinburgh data. Technical staff data is not available for 2000 or 2007.
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4. Changes in the volume (ie number and/or size) of research grants won per researcher active in the disciplines covered by Unit of Assessment 35.
There is significant fluctuation in the research income per year within Music, so a longer time series than requested has been supplied:
Table 3 grant income per FTE
199 7-98 2006-07 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 Grant income (£) 0 120,58 5 481,611 569,637 233,06 7 380,387 40,393 FTE 11.5 14.95 17.3 23.15 23.15 23.15 23.15
Grant income per FTE
(£) 0 8,093 27,839 24,606 10,068 16,431 1,745
Our post-REF2014 analysis of income is only partially complete – data past 2016-17 is not available at UoA 10 aggregation, and we are aware of grants missing from 2016-17.
UKRI We completed a comparison exercise of grant information for the two financial years 2007/08 and 2017/18. We compared the total value of awards classified against the above UoAs and the cost headings within these awards to identify any changes in costs attributable to defined areas of spend, such as staff costs.
These data provided no compelling evidence of significant shifts in costs for any of the above UoAs.
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small for each UoA (e.g. 35 awards for UoA17 in 2007/08) limiting the power of any analysis. Further analysis might identify subtle changes in funding patterns within these UoAs but we do not currently believe there to have been any significant shifts between these periods.
University of
Glasgow 1. Changes in research practice in areas covered by Unit of Assessment 35.
Music is the only constituent discipline covered by UoA35 at the University of Glasgow. Drama and Performing Arts were returned to UoA36A in REF2014.
2. Changes in the balance of research activity between constituent discipline areas covered by Unit of Assessment 35.
Only one constituent discipline, Music is noted below. FTEs in Music have risen since 2007-2008, reflecting new areas of research focus in popular music studies, and sound art & audiovisual practices in particular.
3. Changes in levels of support required by academics active in research in the disciplines covered by Unit of Assessment 35, specifically in terms of
• Research Assistants or equivalents;
There has been a insignificant drop in RA numbers from 2007-2018. • Specialist support staff such as technicians;
Stayed the same from 2007-2018.
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Access to current practice and composition space has not largely changed. Given rise in practice in music
technology and sonic art and audiovisual practices, more investment is needed in more state-of-the-art facilities to foster new technologies e.g. computer labs for coding.
Notes:
- Due to GDPR, data is not held for 1997/1998
- Research and equivalent = all staff on a research only contract – AEF of 2. - Technical and related = all staff within the technical job family
- Academic staff = all Research & Teaching staff – AEF of 1 and 3. (R only staff are excluded, as they are detailed within the above)
4. Changes in the volume (ie number and/or size) of research grants won per researcher active in the disciplines covered by Unit of Assessment 35.
Notes:
- We have provided the breakdown by academic staff FTE where possible. We have no staff or award value data for 1997/98.
- Academic staff = as above, all staff on an AEF of 1 or 3. - Award value = calculated on academic ownership, Price.
5. Any other sources of evidence that might illustrate any changes in the absolute costs of research activity in the disciplines covered by Unit of Assessment 35 since 1997-98
