Notes on the Value of a Design PhD

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DOI:

10.31182/cubic.2024.7.67

Keywords:

design phd, practice based research, design education policy, academic value production

Abstract

Much has been written about practice-based research – and design-based research, speci!cally. In the vast body of literature and growing discussions about PhD studies in design (Durling 2002; Schwarzenbach and Hackett 2015; Vaughan 2017; Vaughan and Morrison 2014), strong arguments have been raised to persuade ‘traditional’ academia to allocate design its proper place and acknowledge design research as a scientific methodology – and accordingly, to provide design researchers with PhDs (Anderson and Shattuck 2012; Goff and Getaenet 2017; LaMere 2012). This paper joins this effort by reframing this discourse’s fundamental assumptions and motivations while offering a theoretical framework that grounds the disciplinary hold in the academic realm.

How to Cite

Lavi, L., & Friedman, Y. (2024). Notes on the Value of a Design PhD. Cubic Journal, 7(7), 34–39. https://doi.org/10.31182/cubic.2024.7.67

Published

2024-12-31

Issue

No. 7 (2024): PhD Design and the Design PhD — In · Through · About

Section

Articles

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Copyright (c) 2024 Liat Lavi, Yoav Friedman

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Author Biographies

Liat Lavi, Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design

Liat Lavi!is a philosopher, researcher and senior lecturer at Bezalel Academy of Art and Design Jerusalem. Lavi was head of Bezalel’s master’s program in visual communication (2019-23) and is currently leading the program’s Visual Communication AI and Economics lab. Lavi’s recent projects focus on the philosophical and social implications of attributing subjectivity to machines.

Yoav Friedman, Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design

Yoav Friedman !is a Senior Scientific Officer at the Democracy Institute at the Central European University and a researcher in the fields of international relations and European higher education policies. Previously, he was the Head of the Research and Innovation Authority of the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design Jerusalem and chaired the EU-funded Jean-Monnet REACTIK network on European cultural diplomacy.

References

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