Faint Traces of Social Impact in Design Ph.D.

Faint Traces of Social Impact in Design Ph.D.

Sayún, Michel Nader; Hodson, Elise; Gulay, Emrecan

Full paper:

There is growing pressure to produce projects and graduates who can monitor, evaluate and plan for a positive social impact. This paper presents preliminary results and the methodology of a research project involving doctorate programmes in six universities in Europe and the United States, to understand the competencies of design researchers and their value outside of academia. We conclude that graduates from doctoral programmes in design have proven potential outside of academia but there is a gap between their competencies and the perception of their value by employers. These results also suggest that the generalist nature of doctoral programmes in design allows for broad social impact in diverse fields and sectors, which gives design research a unique position to work on improving well-being and tackling complex social and environmental challenges.

There is growing pressure to produce projects and graduates who can monitor, evaluate and plan for a positive social impact. This paper presents preliminary results and the methodology of a research project involving doctorate programmes in six universities in Europe and the United States, to understand the competencies of design researchers and their value outside of academia. We conclude that graduates from doctoral programmes in design have proven potential outside of academia but there is a gap between their competencies and the perception of their value by employers. These results also suggest that the generalist nature of doctoral programmes in design allows for broad social impact in diverse fields and sectors, which gives design research a unique position to work on improving well-being and tackling complex social and environmental challenges.

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DOI: 10.5151/ead2023-4ESP-06Full-Michel-Nader-Sayun-et-al

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Como citar:

Sayún, Michel Nader; Hodson, Elise; Gulay, Emrecan; "Faint Traces of Social Impact in Design Ph.D.", p-748-758. In: 15th International Conference of the European Academy of Design. São Paulo: Blucher, 2023.
ISSN 23186968, DOI 10.5151/ead2023-4ESP-06Full-Michel-Nader-Sayun-et-al