Pradeep, your experience is similar to mine. When originally looking
for a department in which to study for PhD, I approached two other
universities with design departments. In both cases I was offered
supervision by engineering departments because they had tutors with
successful student completions and thought that 'design' is similar
to 'engineering'. Co-supervision by the design department would have
been by designers with no more training in research than I had (that
is no PhD and no completions). Not only were PhD holders thin on the
ground in design, but there seemed to be confusion between MA (taught/
studio) supervision and PhD supervision, as though experience of MA
necessarily equipped one for PhD supervision, which of course it does
not.
I cannot say that I have tested the industrial market to see if my
PhD is worth anything there, but I suspect that the situation in UK
may be little different to India, USA and elsewhere.
It is sometimes also distressing to meet the anti-intellectual
brigade in universities. These are the folks who believe that what
we teach is just fine, and we can go on teaching it because the world
'out there' is unchanging, and doesn't need what they regard as that
'theoretical' stuff that comes from the research[ing] staff.
I also find that many undergraduates are almost entirely without
knowledge of research. They may acquire some knowledge at MA level,
and indeed some design departments are known to have offered a good
grounding in research skills in their MA courses. It is therefore
not surprising that few have aspirations to undertake research at a
professional level. It is also not surprising that when they do, it
seems most often that the primary motivator is to improve their
design practice. Nothing wrong with this except that such a view
severely limits the scope of research that designers may undertake.
Should any of this be surprising? I think not. We are a very young
area for research studies to be valued by, and have worked their way
into, the universities, consultancies, and industry. In the UK I
guess that most new doctors in design (that is in an art/design
context) will have begun their studies not more than 15 years ago.
There are still relatively few on the ground, still fewer with
substantial completions. This is why I find the advice of people
like John Langrish so informative, as he has been supervising in this
arena for more than 30 years. When we in design have been going for
several more decades, I feel sure that the value placed on
substantial research training will be recognised, and many of the
future doctors will have influential jobs that we can barely imagine
today.
However, it is encouraging, as Pradeep says, that "a whole lot of
Design learning youngsters interacting with me are wanting to do
research".
David Durling
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David Durling PhD
Professor of Design
School of Arts, Middlesex University
Cat Hill, Barnet, Hertfordshire EN4 8HT, UK
tel: 020 8411 5108
00 44 20 8411 5108
email: [log in to unmask]
http://www.designresearchsociety.org
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