What do you understand as peer-to-peer learning?

Peer-to-peer learning is the basis of how we work in THIRD. In short: learning from and with each other towards other ways of knowing and doing.

Peer to peer learning for us means collaborative learning and mutual support amongst peers, based on the idea that we learn with and through those who accompany us throughout our research, building a platform for exchange based on understanding, care, and attentiveness. 

We actively seek out a diversity of backgrounds, experiences, aesthetics, and knowledge formations amongst the fellows we invite to take part in the programme each year. With the support of two tutors and a wider team, fellows are encouraged to facilitate each other’s development by committing to follow each other's trajectories, offering support, feedback, and dialogue while maintaining respect across difference. By accepting a place on the THIRD programme, fellows commit to being accountable for their own as much as each other’s development.

How does the tutor structure work?

Two tutors follow, facilitate, and help structure the 4 annual quarterly meetings, as well as provide one-to-one tutoring sessions with the fellows throughout the programme. They support the individual needs and trajectories and are responsible for the practical organisation of the quarterlies. Tutors also function as conduits to the larger institutional structure of the Academy of Theater and Dance Lectorate and can support when it comes to further outreach.

Tutors at the moment are: Siegmar Zacharias and Gustavo Ciríaco (year 4 + year 6) and Emilie Gallier and Rajni Shah (year 5 + year 7).

While there are core values and structures to the programme, we are aware that each group’s experience is very much shaped by the tutors, and their research interests will inform the style with which they hold space for the group. With this in mind, we recommend that you read a little about the tutors for the year in which you are applying, as part of your research before applying.

Read more about Emilie and Rajni's research.

SELECTION

Do I have to be an artist to apply for THIRD?

No. THIRD is open to practitioner-researchers working across performance, the arts and creative practice broadly understood. This includes producers and embodied practitioners who may not identify as ‘artists’ and who work across other sectors.

Do I need a Masters degree to apply for THIRD?

No, you do not need a Masters degree to apply for THIRD. The program welcomes applications from all experienced practitioners seeking to conduct practice based research, including artists, producers, curators, educators, facilitators, designers and other professionals working in the field of the arts. Read more on who is it for.

Does participation in THIRD ensure a diploma?

No, participation in THIRD does not ensure you an official diploma. When finishing the trajectory you will receive a certificate of participation.

How are people selected?

The selection procedure consists of two rounds. They are:

1. We first ask you to fill out a short application form and submit a 5min video or sound file, answering the following questions: What is your research-practice or the questions you are bringing? Why do you apply? Why do you need THIRD?

Here a pre-selection will be made and a smaller group will be invited to the next stage.

2.a Ask all participants to send us something of their practice (image, video, text, audio) and be clear that the selection committee will only spend 15 minutes with each offering, so choose something simple that you feel conveys your practice. Less is more!

2.b You are invited to participate in an online workshop in groups of 7/6. These are hosted by the tutors of THIRD so that we can get a sense of how you engage in a peer to peer process, and you can get a sense of the two tutors for the programme. At this point we will also ask you to articulate further what kind of support you will need in order to participate in THIRD.

After this round a group of 7/6 fellows will be selected.

Who will be part of the selection committee?

The committee will include: the two tutors for the group Rajni Shah and Emilie Gallier, plus artist Kai Hazelwood (THIRD alumni) and theatre maker Agat Sharma.
In their practice research, Rajni Shah and Emilie Gallier share curiosity around access and inviting diverse qualities of presence through intentional remoteness. 
Rajni conducts research related to listening, grief, anti-racism, and decoloniality. They love to learn about unlearning, write songs, and practice collective healing.
Emilie researches soil connection practices, growing spaces of knowledge production that prioritize rest, reciprocity, and regeneration. She enjoys being in the world head down-butt up.

How many people applied for THIRD in previous selection processes?

THIRD had had several people applying from different areas of interest in the previous selection processes. Year 1 was a pilot group (no open selection), year 2 included 22 applicants, year 3 had 53 applicants, year 4 had 64 applicants year 5 had 68 applicants and year 6 had 48 applications. THIRD aims to select 6-7 fellows per group. We recognise that the application process takes time and energy, and we encourage you to come to one of the information sessions and to research the programme carefully before deciding whether it feels like a fit for you.

How does commitment to diversity manifest in the selection process?

THIRD is committed to diversity and is invested in actualising the Lectorate’s core values of access, regeneration and care. At the same time we recognise where THIRD needs to react to structural inequities, and the reality of being housed within an institution.

As a form of commitment to addressing this, the selection process has adopted a format that will try to make it more feasible and accessible to candidates of different walks of life. Feel free to contact us for more specific information or come to our two live sessions of Q&A before submitting your application.

Live Q&A sessions are scheduled for:

• 27 January 9.30-10.30 CET time. With Emilie Gallier (tutor) and Fatih Gençkal (fellow year 6), hosted by Sanne Kersten (THIRD coordinator)
• 19 February 16.00-17.00hrs CET time. With Rajni Shah (tutor) and Fox Banks (fellow year 6), hosted by Sanne Kersten (THIRD coordinator)

Register here to join one of the THIRD Information sessions.

Some practical examples and considerations for you

We are specifically also inviting practitioners who are active outside the academic field.

We are asking for and are committed to meet your access needs.

We keep the selection process and one/two quarterlies online, to keep them accessible also for people outside of Europe.

During the quarterlies fellows have collective meals together provided by THIRD (three lunches and one dinner per quarterly).

THIRD as a programme does not confer a doctoral degree or diploma and therefore unfortunately does not provide a legal basis for applying for a residence visa for overseas and non-European Community candidates.

Unfortunately THIRD cannot offer a bursary program. 

ACCESSABILITY & SOCIAL SAFETY

Where can I find out more about physical access when attending THIRD?

THIRD is situated at ATD Grootlab (Overhoeksplein 2, Amsterdam). More information on how to get there, the opening hours and the accessibility of the building you will find on our contact page.

How does THIRD prioritize social safety?

THIRD is part of the Amsterdam University of the Arts. The Code of Conduct of the AHK applies. Find more info on the AHK code of Conduct below.

The Amsterdam University of the Arts feels it is important to emphasize that within the AHK, any form of undesirable behavior should not be left unsaid and unchallenged. Socially unsafe situations, transgressive behaviour, abuse, intimidation and such are completely unacceptable. It doesn't fit who we want to be, how we want to teach and collaborate; our university of the arts must be a safe environment for everyone.

It is very important that you go to your study or work with pleasure and a safe feeling. We therefore have a Code of Conduct for Social Safety that clearly describes the standards and values ​​that apply to our university. We would also like to point out the availability of confidential advisers to whom you can always turn with your story and to our complaints procedure, which describes which routes you can take to report undesirable behaviour. We want to do everything we can to prevent and discuss inappropriate behavior, even if this behavior has taken place in the past. More information here.

FINANCES

How much does it cost to be part of THIRD?

The yearly fee to participate in THIRD is €500, for both EU citizens and non-EU citizens. An invoice is yearly sent to you in August, payment can be done in installments. The program is running two years, so for your total THIRD trajectory you will pay €1.000.

There is a research budget?

Yes, a THIRD fellow has a personal research budget of €1.200 per year (inclusive VAT) to be spent during their THIRD trajectory. The personal budget can be used to support one's research and can be spent on research travels, training, purchase of books and material related to your research, fees for eventual collaborators and specific supervisors, publishing, etc.

Is there financial support available for travel and accommodation?

No, there is no additional budget for travel and accommodation available. THIRD can not offer a bursary program. This means that you will have to pay for your travel costs and make your own housing arrangements coming to Amsterdam to join the Quarterlies (maximum 3 Quarterlies a year on site in Amsterdam). During 2026/27 we will hold at least one of the four quarterlies online, and experiment more with remote sharings. However, you will need to stay in Amsterdam during in-person quarterlies, and so you may need to find extra funding for this if you are travelling from elsewhere.

Attending the yearly four quarterlies is required. This year, with a special focus on access, at least one of the quarterlies each year will be remote/online, and it is likely that the other three will take place at ATD Grootlab in Amsterdam. This will be finalised once the selection process is completed, in response to access needs of the selected group. However, it is important that you are fully available on the specified dates, to be able to participate generously with the group should you be selected. We understand remote quarterlies as a way to engage with each others’ practices differently, shaping other ways of inviting, other ways of publishing, and attempting to come closer to each fellow’s context.

Can THIRD provide visa support?

No, unfortunately THIRD can not provide any visa support because THIRD is not a formal educational program. THIRD as a programme does not confer a doctoral degree or diploma and therefore unfortunately does not provide a legal basis for applying for a residence visa for overseas and non-European Community candidates.

THIRD can provide fellows with a formal, signed letter from the Academy, confirming their participation in THIRD.