This article is an introduction to three contributions about research related to food and technology. The text introduces the reader to different forms of research from historical reflections, applied action research based on new technologies, and artistic speculations. The author places
these different research approaches in the context of the Dutch scientific and higher vocational education, focussing particularly on art academies.<br/> This edition of APRIA considers to what extent art research can contribute to our relationship with food. This immediately
raises the question of the defining nature of art research. For some time now, Dutch arts education has been pondering how art or artistic research relates to academic research in universities. The desire of Dutch art academies to present themselves as fully fledged research institutes, preferably
with a third level of graduate research, is closely related to their status within the higher professional education sector and to their own history. Owing to their orientation towards professional education, Dutch higher vocational education institutes have focussed on practice-based research
since the introduction of research groups in 2002. In most cases, that means that these institutions utilise existing scientific and technological know-how for innovations intended to have an economic or societal impact in close collaboration with businesses and public agencies. So-called
'fundamental knowledge development' is seen as the exclusive preserve of universities.<br/> However, arts education in the form of an institute where students learn how to produce art has no counterpart within university education in the Netherlands. Moreover, the history of visual arts
education reveals that its origins and rationale reside in large part in theorising about and reflecting on artistic production that occurs inside and outside the walls of the academy. Fundamental knowledge development relating to artistic production should, therefore, logically take place
within arts education. Thus, in the Netherlands, the answer to the question as to the precise nature of art research is strongly influenced by institutional, political, and, as a result, financial interests. In my opinion and based on practical experiences, the academies of art have more in
common with the curious and critical driven nature of academic education, and less with the strong focus on a specific field of a métier that still dominates the higher vocational education profile.
Understanding changes in employees' identification and professional identity : the case of teachers in higher vocational education in the Netherlands
