Alun
A quick response from South Africa ... this issue was discussed a number of
years ago, and the consensus was that industry linked usually means
industry controlled, which leads to a situation of non-disclosure (the
results of the PhD cannot be disseminated).
A much better approach is to link design research to industry in a
non-specific manner (which many would still not allow ... they would not
even allow students to interview staff without signing a non-disclosure
document, making the interview useless, as useless as a PhD workplace
component would be to the research community at large). Links to industry
can, however, be generic in the sense of being applied research while also
offering " less focused, more experimental possibilities" ...
The irony is that industry needs research that stems from "less focused,
more experimental possibilities", instead of more focused research that
solves specific work-related issues, which their own people should be able
to handle. Research on PhD level, with a university's support structures,
affords a much wider scope, and depth, of research than otherwise.
All our product design students had workplace experience in their 3rd and
4th years (the BTech, research year), and students were always encouraged
to gain as much workplace knowledge as possible, but ... what should be
avoided by any university is the industry link that leads to direct
industry funding.
Johann
--
Dr. Johann van der Merwe
Independent Design Researcher
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