About the project

Doctoral level research in design is relatively new in comparison with that in other disciplines. AHO has a well established doctoral programme that increasingly features projects in diverse areas of design. Little research has been done on the processes and activities involved in doctoral design, from practice to critical reflection and in collaborative learning and formal writing.

Main aims: the project aims to investigate a number of aspects of design doctoral education in Norway and the Nordic countries. It also links these to wider international developments in the field. The research seeks to formalise pedagogical and developmental learning aspects of doctoral design education, at different points from start to award, and with various aspects in focus, such as genre and process.

Methods: ethnographic, collaborative researching and co-composition, qualitative inquiry.

Outcomes: book chapters, conference papers, PhD school classes, supervision, co-publication, international linkages.

Funding: internal AHO.

For more on individual completed Design PhDs, please see AHO Doctorates in Design.

A wider presentation of design and other doctoral education at AHO is presented in the AHO WORKS Research Review 2013-2017 under the project QUALITY FOR IMPACT.