Hi Mark

Your post brings to my mind a dilemma: Do good designers make good
design lecturers (and supervisors)? In my opinion, the two are not
mutually exclusive. With over 12 years experience in practice and
academia, I can recount numerous examples of 'good' designers who do not
make 'good' lecturers, and conversely 'good' design lecturers that
cannot design for toffee!!! That said, they may enable students to
create excellent design work and develop influential design careers (a
long debate about what 'good' means no doubt will ensue...).

You say ...I'd therefore like to offer up the potentially controversial
position that PhD's that include practice as a research method should,
preferably, be supervised by academics that have considerable experience
as practitioners...

The key issue here relates to the validity and nature of the experience
as practitioners. Does considerable experience (length of service?)
imply this experience will result in the ability to effectively
supervise PhD's that include practice as a research?

In principle I agree that PhD's that include practice as a research
should be supervised by individuals that have experience as
practitioners, but... there are some supervisors who will never be able
to see 'examples of poor practice' irrespective of their level of
experience  as practitioners. Perhaps it comes down to nature of
experience as practitioners.

Thanks for an interesting post from a practitioner, lecturer, and (final
stage) PhD candidate.

M

Martyn Evans
Director - MA Design: Management and Policy
Lancaster University
T: +44 (0)1524 593435
W: www.imagination.lancaster.ac.uk/people/martyn_evans/