EXCESSIVE RESEARCH, a PhD workshop organized by transmediale, Aarhus University, Contemporary Art Lab at Liverpool John Moores University, and Liverpool Biennial, took place from 3 to 5 November 2015. Its theme related to transmediale/conversationpiece 2016, which examined some of the compulsive activities of contemporary digital culture in which we are encouraged to stay active, to make, to share and to secure. In the workshop, participants were encouraged to extend and nuance the discussions of closed/open, proprietary/non-proprietary, non-participatory/participatory dichotomies and delve into the nature of sharing, making, securing, acting, and their limits. What happens when research is less about exchange and more about excess?