At Umeå Institute of Design, Umeå University, we acknowledge that research in design is just as important as research in any other discipline. We see our research activities as crucial elements in being able to learn and improve as an organization.
Umeå Institute of Design pursues a design research agenda that is pro-active, creative, innovative, and collaborative. We believe in a design research that seeks to understand, improve, and augment the field of industrial design, by having an impact on education, industry, and academia.
We see our environment as ideal for this kind of constructive research with a strong focus on collaboration with other disciplines and with industry clients. To these collaborative projects, we bring a methodology that everyone can embrace.
Design Research at Umeå Institute of Design is carried out in three highly related and interlinked areas:
Umeå Design Research Group
Umeå Design Research Group is a unique studio-based design research organization located at Umeå Institute of Design, working with high-profile projects in close collaboration with leading industry partners. A multidisciplinary group most unusual to the academic setting, our core competences are in industrial design, interaction design, Human-Computer Interaction, and design research. Current areas of particular interest to Umeå Design Research Group are: Inclusive User Experiences; Digital Service Design; Sustainability in Design; Creative Group Processes; and Dynamic Sketching Techniques.
PhD Programme in Industrial Design
As one of very few design schools in Sweden, Umeå Institute of Design provides a PhD programme in industrial design, focusing on understanding, improving, and augmenting the field of industrial design by high-quality research, impacting and strengthening education, industry, as well as academia.
Artistic Development Work
Since industrial design is a discipline with an artistic foundation, Umeå Institute of Design continually supports the further exploration of and development in the artistic field for all staff and facutly, by annually ratifying a number of projects within our Artistic Development Work program.
