Universities are faced with the spectre of developing new approaches in the training of doctoral graduates in order to respond to the changing demands of knowledge creation and its practical application in the current century. New pathways that support innovation and transdisciplinary research need to be found. This goal is dependent on the development of doctoral students' abilities to explore other knowledge perspectives and dialogues, to engage with creative ideas and to encourage the development of 'soft skills'.
This paper examines Artful methods and their possibilities in a transdisciplinary learning environment orientated towards the critical, personal, social and cultural inquiry. Artful methods embed art as research and arts based inquiry methods. They offer a form of inquiry that can surround problems through collaborative conversations and generate pathways for alternate thinking and new representations, while concurrently nurturing narrative, insight, reflection, resilience and wellbeing.