The CA²RE+ explicates the transformative and innovative power of highly individual strategies in artistic research, the diversity of research traditions and the integrative nature of architectural design research, able to face the contemporary knowledge fragmentation from humanities, social sciences and technology. It explicates the interdisciplinary relevance of convergent thinking, mastering wicked problems, open-ended processes, resilience and risk, as well as orientation to future, all present in Design Driven Doctoral Research (DDDr). It explicates the didactic relevance of DDDr for training creative professionals how to use the integrative power of design thinking to master open-ended processes while solving contemporary spatial dilemmas (sociological, climate-change related, political…). 

In the arts, architecture and design, understanding of reality aims to future creations, however convincing, remains based on a personal and creative aspect, where the relevance of singularity of particular cases plays the key role in research strategies and evaluation. The evaluation of this type of relevance requires explication of tacit knowledge and research impact evidence, including non-written production. These needs have been identified by the CA²RE Comunity through its biannual CA²RE Conferences on Artistic and Architectural Research as a follow-up of the ADAPT-r project (Architecture, Design and Art Practice Training-research / EU ITN). 

The CA²RE+ advances the doctoral training from being a support to an experimental collective evaluation training environment for DDDr. It critically transfers the traditional design studio learning model from the master to the doctoral level: learners at different stages of their process learn collectively with evaluators in an iterative way. The project objectives are achieved iteratively through the main project steps from observation and sharing, comparison and reflection to reformulation and recommendation:

1. to develop a COLLECTIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT THROUGH the EVALUATION OF DDDr TRAINING;
2. to create EVIDENCE OF DDDr LEARNING ENVIRONMENT AND EVALUATION MATERIALS;
3. to identify the DDDr STRATEGIES, to explicate the DDDr EVALUATION process and to prepare the DDDr FRAMEWORK and
4. to disseminate the CA2RE+ learning-through-evaluation model and its framework.

To support and develop the CA²RE conferences with the  CA²RE+ meta-level discourse and Erasmus+ strategic encouragement, the partnership gathers the most active members of the CA²RE community.

The CA²RE+ Strategic Partnership of 11 outstanding HE organisations and associations from 8 EU countries is running for 3 years. Its backbone is a series of biannual international and intercultural INTENSIVE STUDY PROGRAMMES for doctoral candidates, guided by experienced evaluators from participating universities and invited experts. The doctoral work-in-progress is evaluated through presentations, performances, exhibitions and critical discussions, following the iterative CA2RE+ development steps: observation, sharing, comparison, reflection, reformulation and recommendation. To introduce new experts with low evaluation experience into the process, JOINT STAFF TRAINING is developed at each venue. 

Partners:

1. the University of Ljubljana (LJUBLJANA), coordinator
2. the Aarhus School of Architecture (AARHUS),
3. the KU Leuven (GHENT),
4. the Politecnico di Milano (MILANO),
5. the TU Berlin (BERLIN),
6. the COFAC – Lusofona University (PORTO),
7. the Hafencity University Hamburg (HAMBURG)
8. the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (TRONDHEIM),
9. the TU Delft (DELFT),
10. the European Association for Architectural Education (EAAE) and
11. the European League of Institutes of the Arts (ELIA).

Key persons:

1. LJUBLJANA: Tadeja Zupančič, Paul Robinson, Matevž Juvančič;
2. AARHUS: Claus Peder Pedersen, Anders Kruse Aagaard;
3. GHENT: Jo van den Berghe, Thierry Lagrange;
4. MILANO: Gennaro Postiglione, Alessandro Rocca;
5. BERLIN: Jürgen Weidinger, Ignacio Borrego, Ralf Pasel;
6. PORTO: Edite Rosa, Manuel Bogalheiro;
7. HAMBURG: Matthias Ballestrem, Christoph Heinemann;
8. TRONDHEIM: Markus Schwai, Eli Støa;
9. DELFT: Roberto Cavallo, Alper Alkan;
10. EAAE: Oya Atalay Franck, João Pedro Xavier,  Débora Domingo Calabuig;
11. ELIA: Maria Hansen, Janja Ferenc, Chesley Ryder

Associated Partners:

1. The ARENA network (individual experts);
2. The members of the CA²RE community.

All the institutions involved in the CA²RE community and are not full partners of the    CA²RE+ project are respected as associated partners. The CA²RE membership grows as the continuous backbone of the CA²RE+ project. The CA²RE+ partnership feeds the meta-level of the CA²RE endeavours and triggers the CA²RE community development.

Roles of Associated Partners:

1. Project monitoring, Scientific Committee membership, peer reviewers of intellectual outputs;
2. Invited teachers at ISP activities, contributing to intellectual outputs;
3. Self-funded respondents to open calls (selection of the best doctoral candidates and new evaluators from the CA²RE community as additional participants at the CA²RE+ learning teaching training activities);
4. Participants at ME events;
5. Members of SUSTAINABILITY BOARD.

The public database on DDDr EXPERIENCES offers the CA²RE+ multimedia courseware for learning from raw evaluation data. It evidences the case studies/strategies of tacit knowledge explication on DDDr examples and its evaluation experiences to further develop research strategies. The open-access book series on DDDr STRATEGIES, DDDr EVALUATION and DDDr FRAMEWORK offers a set of interpretations, recommendations and guidelines for implementation of evaluation of DDDr related doctoral programmes, the development of the starting points for DDDr and the relevance of findings for humanities and social sciences.   

The DDDr STRATEGIES book is availalbe! Enjoy your reading!

Long term benefits are expected for doctoral researchers, creative practitioners, evaluators, multidisciplinary course/programme developers, education policy makers, aiming at a creative refreshment of qualitative research. Sharing and comparing doctoral training across research traditions and cultures within the core areas, dealing with creativity and culture, leads to transparency and recognition of tacit skills and qualifications. The development of collective evaluation courses contributes to promoting and rewarding excellence in teaching and skills development. The explication of tacit knowledge from evaluation experience through a multimedia database contributes to consolidation and improving evidence-building on higher education.

LEARNING TEACHING TRAINING EVENTS

1. CA²RE+GHENT Autumn 2019
2. CA²RE+TRONDHEIM Spring 2020

LEARNING TEACHING TRAINING EVENTS:

1. CA²RE+MILANO Autumn 2020
2. CA²RE+HAMBURG Spring 2021
3. CA²RE+LJUBLJANA Autumn 2021
4. CA²RE+DELFT Spring 2022

MULTIPLIER EVENTS:

1. DDDr STRATEGIES: CA²RE+EAAE Workshop – 2020
2. DDDr STRATEGIES: CA²RE+ELIA Workshop – 2020
3. DDDr EVALUATION: CA²RE+EAAE Workshop – 2021
4. DDDr EVALUATION: CA²RE+ELIA Workshop – 2021
5. DDDr FRAMEWORK: CA²RE+EAAE Workshop – 2022
6. DDDr FRAMEWORK: CA²RE+ELIA Workshop – 2022