Crafting Futures - The role of new technology on valuation and validation in craft education

Crafting Futures is an FWO-SBO project that researches and transforms the assessment and validation mechanisms by which artisanal knowledge and know-how are evaluated. It aims to enhance the added value of crafts for the economy, education, and society. This interdisciplinary project focuses on improving the validation of both modern and traditional forms of crafts, possibly culminating in the establishment of a 'Crafts Council' for Flanders. Within this overarching project, this doctoral thesis aims to investigate the specific pedagogy of how the transfer of artisanal knowledge and know-how is facilitated, assessed, and valorized. The focus is on craft education and the role of new technology, based on both empirical research and the conceptual mapping of various forms of transfer, assessment, and validation mechanisms of craft knowledge and knowhow. The PhD student is responsible for the subproject on craft education within formal (Higher Education) and informal settings (makerspaces), carried out under the supervision of Jouke Verlinden (UA) and Joke Vandenabeele (KUL).