This perspective on research is grounded in a broad and encompassing practice that challenges conventional ways in which knowledges are produced. Drawing on critical pedagogy, critical making and emancipatory research, we give space to an environment that opens itself for different ways of producing and approaching knowledge. We believe in emancipatory research that does not require endorsement from institutions either academic or from civil society but research that operates independently and across disciplines driven by the needs of broad developments. No longer bound by canonical practices that dictate what is proper knowledge, we open ourselves up for the possibilities of the uncharted, those paths that have not yet been forged and do not yet have a space of institutional representation. This intentional subversion of canonical knowledge should not be confused with chaotic or non-rigorous research practices. On the contrary, we purposefully foster rigorous research from an emancipatory perspective based on principles of openness, empowerment, accountability and reciprocity.

In our search for new forms of engagement with research we work through de-centering and dislocating the traditional sources of knowledge to give way to what has always been relegated to the periphery. Knowledge, then, not as a top/down resource that is transmitted through authoritative practices but as part of shared experiences where the emphasis is put in searching together rather than in uncritical dominance.

The establishment of a Academic Integrity Committee and the appointment of Confidential Advisers stem from the Code of Conduct. In collaboration with the other art universities in the Netherlands, the Gerrit Rietveld Academie has drawn up a Complaints Procedure for Academic Integrity. This complaints regulation has been signed by the Gerrit Rietveld Academie and the partner art universities.

The Executive Boards of the seven monosectoral art universities have decided to establish a joint Academic Integrity Committee for art education: the CWI-KUO (Commissie Wetenschappelijke Integriteit Kunstonderwijs). This commission formally started on 1 January 2023.

The tasks of the CWI-KUO are described in the 'Complaints regulations for Academic integrity of art universities’ (article 3.5).

a. The committee investigates complaints about alleged violations of academic integrity, assesses whether, and if so to what extent, academic integrity has been violated and advises the Executive Board on this.

b. At the request of the Executive Board, the committee may conduct an investigation into a suspected violation of academic integrity and issue an opinion on it without a complaint having been filed.

c. Furthermore, the committee advises the Executive Boards of the participating institutions, solicited and unsolicited, on the policy of the university of applied sciences to prevent violations of academic integrity.

Each university of applied sciences provides a representative for the Complaints Committee. For the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, this is Jeroen Boomgaard.

The CWI-KUO has the following composition:

Jeroen Boomgaard, Gerrit Rietveld Academie

Paul Craenen, University of the Arts The Hague

Job ter Haar, Codarts Rotterdam

Marijn de Langen, Amsterdam School of the Arts

Henk Slager, Utrecht School of the Arts

Peter Sonderen (chairman), ArtEZ University of the Arts

Vacancy for member Design Academy Eindhoven

From HKU, Suzan Klaver has been appointed as official secretary. She can be reached via the committee's e-mail address: cwi-kuo@hku.nl

Staff or students of the Gerrit Rietveld Academie who have questions about academic integrity or have doubts about research carried out within the Gerrit Rietveld Academie can contact the confidential advisor. For the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, this is Jaap Vinken. You can reach him at: jaap@sandberg.nl.

The confidential advisor is there to see if there is a suspected violation of academic integrity, together with the complainant. By weighing up the evidence and the situation, it may be decided to solve the problem internally, or through mediation, or to forward the complaint to the joint complaints committee. The confidential advisor can then help the complainant prepare the complaint.