The programme welcomes applications for research degrees, either MPhil or PhD by project and by thesis (for more details see Doing a Research Degree). Potential applicants are encouraged to submit draft proposals for consideration and discussion with proposed supervisors. Please use the standard application form, which will allow you to supply all the appropriate information.
Most research in the Design Products programme – both by staff and students – is practice-led. Research is conducted in three broad areas:
- Under the banner ‘Extreme Functionality’, we question the optimum performance of products, materials and designed outcomes.
- An awareness of ‘Social Manifestos’ leads us to consider design as an agent of change in the social and political sphere.
- By considering the ‘Fantastic’, we ask how design can make positive statements, inspire, and convey meaning, and explore the designer’s role as originator, artist, manufacturer and communicator.
The tutorial staff are all engaged in research and consultancy work in different areas of design, a pluralist approach to design education which is reflected in the platform teaching structure of the MA.
Roland Lamb, PhD by project, Jack Kent Cooke Scholarship
Julia Lohmann, PhD by project, AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award with the V&A Museum
Gillian Russell, PhD by thesis, AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award with the V&A Museum
Emilia Serra, PhD by project