Hi Stephen

        I can certainly empathize with your comments with reference to
the position of Ph.D education in
        design. I am in the process of completing a Ph.D at Gray's
School of Art, but do not fit 
        your supposition of educational develpment. Although I have
completed an BA and an MA in 
        Design, I have also been involved in sales and marketing, have
(and still) develop my own work in 
        the area of furniture design, undertake product development, do
a little teaching, am involved in 
        curriculum development and am completing a Ph.D related to the
careers of Artists and Designers.
         
        I feel that this multi pronged strategy of business and academic
development is typical of 
        contemporary practice. I'm sure that not all BA design graduates
will undertake doctoral study, but 
        it is clear through myself and through my peers that  a model
exists which transcends practice and 
        education. 

        The Ph.D undertaken by Katie Bunnell 'Re:Presenting Making' is a
good example of 
        practice based research, which as a requirement needs a
background of practice. I think that the 
        belief that the future of Doctoral study follows a path based in
education is too simplistic, if not a 
        little defeatist and that the role of the expert is fundamental
in  the development and contributing of 
        new knowledge within this subject area.

        I hope this raises some debate and goes part way to answering
your questions

        Regards

        Martin

> From:         Stephen Scrivener
> Reply To:     Stephen Scrivener
> Sent:         Wednesday, October 31, 2001 13:55 PM
> To: 
> Subject:           Re: PhD, MFA, research, and practice
> 
> Jacques seems very confident about the future of design education and
> the role of doctoral programmes both educationally and in terms of the
> development of design. On the other hand, the responses from Sharon,
> John, Lorraine and Wendy echo some of my concerns.
> 
> I'm thinking ahead to the future, let's say 20 years, when I reckon
> that
> the great majority of design lecturers in Universities will hold
> doctorates and when we will be producing more doctoral students than
> available lectureships. My questions are:
> 
> 1. If students go from undergraduate/postgraduate to doctoral study
> (which is the norm in many disciplines) where will they get there
> practice experience? Can anyone comment on this from experience?
> 2. Will it be possible for a lecturer to practice, research and teach.
> If design follows other disciplines, career progression will become
> increasingly contingent on research standing and this may squeeze out
> practice? Can anyone comment on this from experience.
> 3. For those who don't go into education, will a doctorate offer added
> value  to practice (it must have a value to both the holder and
> employer
> for it to be worth doing)? Can anyone comment on this from experience?
> 4. Will it be possible to research and practice, or will research
> become
> a distant memory for the Ph.D. practitioner? Can anyone comment on
> this
> from experience?
> 
> I predict that if we cannot find ways of integrating practice and
> research, then practice will become an increasingly small part of the
> doctoral design lecture's life and research will become an
> increasingly
> small part of the the doctoral practitioners life. I can't see that
> this
> is desirable.
> 
> Precedents exist for this view. For example, the professions rather
> than
> academia appear to be the main force driving the development of
> professional doctorates. In the UK the teaching company scheme was
> introduced by the Engineering and Physical Research Council to
> accelerate transfer of advanced knowledge into small companies and to
> refresh academics' industrial experience.
> 
> Finally, I'm interested in understanding the nature of Wendy's
> 'struggle', and yes, it would be very interesting to hear about the
> post-doctoral experience of recent design PhDs.
> 
> Steve
> 
> 
> Wendy Siuyi Wong wrote:
> 
> > With one article published in
> > Journal of Design History and severals on
> > communication journals, I found myself have been
> > struggling between practice-led design
> > community/academic, and non-design intellectual
> > community.
> >
> > I don't know how any people with a relatively new
> > Ph.D.-Design out there, but I certainly interested to
> > know about their life after "Ph.D.-Design".
> >
> 
>