Topic: Integrating Research into Design Education
The nature of design is changing. Leading designers and creative companies are increasingly integrating various forms of research into their design practices, to deal with the really open, complex, dynamic and networked problems of today’s world.
This challenges design schools to introduce research practices into the design curriculum, and support students in attaining research expertise (knowledge, skills and mentality) in a similarly integrated manner. Experience shows that this is not easy: research does require a different way of thinking from design, and the research subjects have to be introduced into a design curriculum that is invariably already overflowing…
This keynote will present a possible solution direction, focusing on the example of an expertise centre in which staff and students effectively integrate design and research, working with companies and institutions on real-world problems. This not only supports the student’s learning in a new integrated design-and-research practice, but also places the design school in a new role as a catalyst for change.
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