On January 1st 2021, under the aegis of the Franco-German University in Saarbrücken, the Université de Strasbourg (Unistra), the Haute Ecole des Arts du Rhin (HEAR) and the Hochschule für Musik (HfM) Freiburg founded the European Doctoral College for Musical Interpretation and Artistic Research (Collège Doctoral Européen d'Interprétation et de Création Musicales / Europäisches Doktorandenkolleg für musikalische Interpretation und künstlerische Forschung, CDE ICM), which has been offering a PhD programme since the academic year 2020-2021.
This bi-national doctoral college, currently the only one of its kind in Europe in the field of music practice, provides training for highly-proficient musicians who are mobile and able to apply their research expertise and performance skills throughout the world.
Combined with the already strong international appeal of the programmes offered by Unistra, HEAR and the HfM Freiburg, the comparative approach of a Franco-German framework means that within the CDE ICM, the practices and traditions of the different countries involved can be compared. The presence of researchers and performers from different traditions within the CDE ICM significantly enhances its research potential and relevance.
The close links with the interdisciplinary arts research centres at the Université de Strasbourg (UR 3402 ACCRA and ITI CREAA) and the Freiburg Centre for Music Research and Teaching (FZM) at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg and the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg will provide an opportunity to strengthen the scientific thinking of PhD students, particularly in the field of musicology. It will also open them up to interdisciplinary approaches in other artistic fields as well as in other fields of the humanities and social sciences (art history, philosophy, psychology, sociology…) or in the STEM sciences (mathematics, computer science...).
Each PhD student enrolled in this PhD programme is automatically affiliated to the CDE ICM and will have access to the joint seminars and courses offered by the three institutions, to a mobility grant (taking into account the students' financial resources to finance their PhD) and to the musical and documentary resources of the three partner institutions.
Scientific and artistic supervision can be combined in many ways, but the main ones are:
- Scientific supervision at Unistra and artistic supervision at the HfM Freiburg;
- Scientific supervision at Unistra and artistic supervision at the HEAR;
- Scientific supervision at the HfM Freiburg and artistic supervision at the HfM Freiburg;
- Scientific supervision at the HfM Freiburg and artistic supervision at the HEAR.
The PhD students may, if they wish, have: two French or German scientific co-supervisors; two French or German artistic co-supervisors; one French scientific co-supervisor and one German scientific co-supervisor; one French artistic co-supervisor and one German artistic co-supervisor.
If the PhD students also wish to benefit from co-supervision between Unistra or HfM Freiburg and another university, they have to contact the CDE ICM office at doctorat-icm@accra-recherche.unistra.fr for more information on the procedure to be followed.
Seminars and courses in the CDE ICM are held in French, German and English (each presenter speaking his or her own language or one of these three). In the case of guest lecturers and teachers from abroad, the courses and classes may be given in English. The papers submitted by the PhD students for these seminars will be in one of these languages, in agreement with the lecturer or teacher. The thesis must be submitted in the language specified by the institution where the scientific supervisor is based. The defence of the thesis is subject to the same rule.