"The aim (of the first IDIERI in 1995) was to critique different modalities of research design, to draw connections between them, and to probe how knowledge can be advanced by their application. The term 'institute' was chosen specifically to describe this interaction. An institute connotes a body which produces and promotes educational advancement, a place where ideas can be investigated and new visions proposed. An institute can become a beacon through which emerging understandings happen, where stereotypical notions can be challenged, where new beginnings occur."
Philip Taylor, Preface to Researching Drama and Arts Education, Falmer Press, (1996)

This, the Fifth International Drama in Education Research Institute, aims to build on the work of its illustrious predecessors held in Australia, Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom.

It is hoped that by hosting the institute, the University of the West Indies, through its Mona campus in Jamaica, will assist in expanding the community of drama researchers by including those teachers, practitioners, artists, and academics, whose voices are often muted whether by reason of international power relations, geographical isolation, or political, social, and economic challenges.