The second conference called by the organizers of the ‘Practice as Research in Performance’ project (PARIP) was held from 11 to 14 September 2003 at the University of Bristol. PARIP is not an organization, but an AHRB-funded research project into the nature and academic implications of performance practice as research, in terms both of the discipline of Drama and Theatre Studies in the university, and the related issues of research assessment and funding. Its conferences aim to give academics in the field the opportunity to add their voices to the debate, and indeed to help shape its outcome. Bella Merlin, a Contributing Editor and Book Reviews Editor for NTQ, is author of Beyond Stanislavsky (Nick Hern Books, 2001). She attended the PARIP conference on the cusp of her personal decision to return to the acting profession from her post in the University of Birmingham, and as this issue goes to press is appearing in the Out of Joint production of David Hare's The Permanent Way. Here she combines a report on the conference with some personal reflections on practice, research, and practice as research.