Many flowers, small leaps forward: debating doctoral design in education

As a point of departure for this review I have taken three events in 2000, a time when debate about research degrees in Design seemed to reach a peak. Two were conferences: the Design+Research Conference at Politecnico di Milano and the 2nd Conference on Doctoral Education in Design at La Clusaz, France. The third was a particularly heated online debate by members of the DRS email discussion list during the preceding year. While these three events by no means define the whole territory they do crystallise some issues which continue to characterise the PhD "problem". In looking at these events, and the wider picture of research degrees in design, I would like to draw out two themes. The first of these is the different, but complementary experiences of colleagues in many parts of the world who are wrestling with these issues. The second is the problem of a proliferation of ideas, philosophical positions and rhetoric, which is not matched, as yet, by many visible developments in practice. Perhaps this is not surprising since any small development in this context has a gestation period of at least 3 years and could take much longer to move outside the walls of the institution which has fostered it.</p

Unstated contributions: how artistic inquiry can inform inter-disciplinary research

Since 1990, many creative disciplines, such as art, design and performance, have engaged increasingly with academic research. Accompanying this has been a good deal of interest in ways to employ their professional and creative practices as instruments of inquiry, just as previous disciplines have developed research methods that employ their specialist skills and knowledge. This raises questions about how research in the creative disciplines might contribute to knowledge and understanding. Research and practice in these fields may deal with matter that changes meaning with time or context, especially in art, where audiences may be expected to complete the meaning of creative works for themselves. This paper offers an oversight of these issues. It sets out some examples from the wider community that illustrate how incomplete or tacit contributions to inquiry can be a valuable and sometimes necessary part of the enterprise of creating knowledge, establishing a research model that is relevant in many areas, especially where disciplines collaborate. It goes on to set out tentative principles for such contributions.</p

Growing our own - recruiting high quality research students by stealth

Most design students assume that their education is preparing them for a career in professional practice. Until recently the idea of working as researchers or studying for a research degree was not an option. In the early 1990s, the Art and Design Research Centre at Sheffield Hallam University was set up with a focus on "designerly" research. At that time we did not have a ready supply of suitable experienced researchers, and design graduates were not coming forward as candidates for research degrees. The university's policy at the time required us to include a substantial research methods element in all postgraduate courses, including the vocationally focused MA Design programme. As a result of adopting this policy in a very whole-hearted way, making research methods central to the MA and framing the creative practice of design as both research-driven and investigative, we have "subverted" a number of postgraduate students who might never have considered a research degree, but are now registered for, or in the process of transferring to, PhD studies. This paper describes the features of the MA programme that foster an investigative culture and provides some examples of PhD students whose research has grown from opportunities encountered in the MA. It also discusses the relationship between professional practice and research and the ways in which a research-centred education can prepare graduates for professional leadership. </p

Designing for tacit learning: an investigation of design strategies for multimedia supported learning in the crafts

There is an increasing interest and activity in the design of interactive multimedia to support learning in all fields of education and training. However, most of the theory to support such developments is concerned with learning explicit knowledge and there is little guidance available to designers of material for learning in areas with an element of tacit knowledge such as craft skills. This paper describes the foundation work for a long-term project concerned with learning in traditional rural crafts but with the intention to provide a methodological framework for the design of multimedia-based learning in all areas of craft knowledge. A review of established theory of learning and the use of multimedia for learning in areas of explicit knowledge indicates some important basic principles, for example the need to understand the interaction between the teacher and learner in the context of the subject being taught and the need for clear narrative structures to avoid students becoming "lost" in the multiple pathways of interactive media. Observational studies of learning using educational video in a craft context and a study of an experienced craftsman/teacher teaching a group of learners, complemented by study of learning in related contexts, have allowed problems and issues to be identified and design strategies to be developed. While these are provisional they provide an overview of the design problems and have been used to plan a programme of experimental design and evaluation to test and develop principles of effective multimedia design for craft learning. </p

A visual thesis? techniques for reporting practice-led research

This paper describes an approach taken to the use of visual material as a significant part of PhD thesis in an Industrial Design research project. The aspiration to make creative work central to the thesis has been debated in a wide range of disciplines, but there are few examples of successful practice, especially in design. The authors sought to make visual material central to the process of developing a PhD thesis and worked with a research student to put this into practice. The process was beneficial to both the student and his audience and it is hoped that this approach provides a starting point for further development of practice-based research</p

Show or tell? Opportunities, problems and methods of the exhibition as a form of research dissemination

There has a been a good deal of debate about the possible use of exhibitions in disseminating research, as an alternative to conventional text papers where artefacts have a significant role in the research The European Academy of Design has been a pioneer in this area but, so far, there has been little documentation of this practice or constructive reflection to support future development. The authors were responsible for the organisation of an exhibition of research work at the 2002 "Common Ground" Conference of the Design Research Society. Their role included mentoring the exhibitors, making the practical arrangements for the exhibition and organising refereeing of exhibits by an international panel of referees. The exhibition demonstrated the potential for new forms of research dissemination but also highlighted a number of problems and issues which must be dealt with if future exhibitions are to provide a robust and appropriate way to present and record research outcomes. The reflections of the organisers, and comments of referees and exhibitors are employed in this paper to develop guidelines for future practice in research exhibitions, paying particular attention to the importance of providing a full narrative within the exhibit and a permanent record, and ways that exhibitions might change the format of conferences to allow more constructive engagement between participants. </p

Practice-centred approach to research in design

This paper gives an overview of practice-centred research programmes at Sheffield Hallam University and discusses the principles behind practice-centred research, its place in the Design School, its effect on the regional economy and the community and the resources and methods employed. Implications for research degrees are discussed and developments in the form of the PhD are described.</p

Experimental making in multi-disciplinary research

For the past 3 years, Graham Whiteley has been using making in a project to develop a mechanical analogy for the human skeletal arm to inform the future development of prostheses and other artefacts. Other aspects of the work such as use of drawings and the use of a principled approach in the absence of concrete design goals have been documented elsewhere, this paper concentrates on the central role of making in the process. The paper will discuss the role of making in multi-disciplinary research; craft skills and resources appropriate to each stage of a practice centred research project in this area; the use of models in an iterative experimental investigation and the value of models in eliciting knowledge from a broad community of interested parties and experts.</p

First make something – principled, creative design as a tool for multi-disciplinary research in clinical engineering

Design provides a set of tools for exploring our world and these can give very different insights from the tools of the natural scientist or social scientist. The Art and Design Research Centre at Sheffield Hallam University is developing the use of creative practice at the centre of multi-disciplinary research and has demonstrated that this approach can bring significant results in areas of research which are more usually thought of thought of as science or engineering. This paper describes a 3-year project which has provided completely new ideas for the design of artificial limbs based on close analogies with human anatomy. The project was intended to look at very long-term developments but has also resulted in ideas for today's products and has changed the thinking of both clinicians and manufacturers. Investigative methods included iterative cycles of creative development and reflection; work with users including the production of video material to stimulate their thinking beyond the state of the art; and both qualitative and quantitative evaluation of design outcomes with scientific and clinical specialists.</p