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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.