The Impact of a PhD on Design Practice

Design PhDs for Practice assesses the value and impact of design PhDs for design practitioners, exploring in detail and through perspectives from a range of international designers how a doctorate can develop research and critical thinking skills that will enhance their professional practice.

The book develops the contribution of Laurene Vaughan's earlier work Practice-Based Design Research in furthering the global understanding of this dynamic and expanding area of design education. Whereas the earlier work provided a survey of key issues and developments in doctoral education in design globally, this book delves deeper by focusing on the experience of those who have undertaken design PhDs and taken their expertise into industry settings. Designers from Europe, the USA and Australasia working in a range of design disciplines provide perspectives on how they have used project design, research, analytical and writing skills and developed as a result of completing a PhD to enrich their professional practice and add value to their organisations.

Design PhDs for Practice is relevant not only to doctoral students who anticipate an academic career, but also to practitioners and those interested in undertaking doctoral research in order to bring their insights from their research to practice.