This Yearbook presents a snapshot of the postgraduate research community of NCAD at work though the academic year 2007—08. It is not comprehensive or absolute in its coverage. There are many exciting research projects engaged in by doctoral researchers, individual staff members or collaborative groups based in the college, that are not reported upon here. Instead, the yearbook gives a flavour of the diversity of research currently being carried out in the fields of design, education, fine art and visual culture and in inter-disciplinary work across these disciplines in NCAD.

This year has been particularly significant for NCAD with the establishment of the Graduate School for Creative Arts and Media. The Graduate School was established through the award of major funding under the Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions (PRTLI). It is a collaborative project, NCAD being joined by the Dublin Institute of Technology and the University of Ulster, in association with IADT, Dún Laoghaire, in an initiative which marks a new era in research in the creative arts and media. The Graduate School provides a new focus and energy for postgraduate studies and research in NCAD and will be a central element in the development of postgraduate studies in the college in the future.

The first part of the yearbook showcases the work of students who are graduating at masters or doctoral level this year. The second part provides a glimpse of the work being carried out by staff members in the college. This includes brief reports on some recent conferences organised in the college and on projects in which staff are currently engaged. Some short profiles of individual staff research activities are also included.

The yearbook is both a record of the graduating cohort of 2008 and a signpost to the future of research in art and design. NCAD will continue to be a leader in that field.

Professor Gary Granville
Acting Head of Research & Postgraduate Studies