David and  others,

Very few Designers ( Industrial & Visual ) seem to want to pursue PhDs in
India. Way back in 1995 when I first wanted to do my PhD in Design  in a 
Top quality  Research Institution dominated  by Science and Engineering,
where I was working as a Faculty of Design , I did not get any supervisor 
in the area of Design. The scores of Engineering faculty who were 
willing to give a sympathetic ear would not help as they were not fully 
conversant with the discipline of Design. I was asked to instead explore 
pure engineering areas for my PhD.

I stuck to my guns of wanting to work in Design for my PhD and not take
the side route via engineering or Management or Humanities which was 
available to me.

With the  help of an Understanding Electronics Engineering Faculty
who accepted to become my supervisor on the condition that the entire
responsibility would lie on me and that he was a complete novice as far as
Industrial Design was concerned, but understood my passion and motivation, 
I gratefully  registered under him for my PhD.

I did eventually earn the PhD in 1999 (First one awarded in India
specifically in  Industrial Design) but under the Faculty of Engineering.
Before me an  M.Des in India did his PhD but in the Humanities.
The motivation for me then  and now was to break new grounds in Design
and make Design accepted in the rigid domain of Engineering & Science.
To prove that Design is not all subjective and that it is essentially
multidisciplinary. I had a basic degree in Engineering, an M.Des in
Industrial (Product) design before doing my PhD. I thought other 
disciplines have a problem accepting Design.  Alas after earning a PhD, 
now I realize that it is not other disciplines but our own.

What hurts now is the Indian Designers  attitude to Research and PhD
Title holders amongst them ( Grand total of 3). Many Design educators in 
India actually discount the PhD and even advise young students to be away from all this 
'Research & PhD trap/crap'.
Only of late (2005) it is heartening to see PG design schools in India
start PhD programs which hope to give results some 5 years from now.
To me the Design education fraternity is more an hurdle & de-motivating
factor rather than other difficulties or issues or concerns.
Clannish self defeating attitudes amongst Designers make it difficult for 
acceptance of a PhD as one of the many means of
becoming a better Designer. Clannish attitudes make it even more difficult
for Designers who has a PhD and who have to work with other Designers. 
Even though I have been 'democratically' discounted/ignored by my own 
profession (Design) and  teaching colleagues , I would any day opt
for the experience of doing a PhD, if not for nothing at least to become
aware of how much more there is to knowledge and how little of it I know.
Humbling experience it was and is - indeed.
To day  a whole lot of Design learning youngsters interacting with me  are 
wanting to do research while still in UG programs in my Institution. Things are 
changing albeit slowly in India. Am I a better Designer after doing PhD ( 
I practice Design too) ? yes but what is more satisfying is that I am a better Design Teacher.
Ask my happy Design students.

Pradeep Yammiyavar
Professor
Design Research and Usability Engineering  Group
Department of Design
Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati
Assam India.