Moderated by: Elizabeth B.-N. Sanders
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How Design is Taking its Place in Research
Over the years, design has evolved, expanding its scope in outcomes, values, and methods. Beyond products and services, ‘research through design’ uses design actions to produce knowledge that is generalizable, valid, and applicable. Stappers’ lecture explores design’s evolving role in university research, emphasizing its essential relevance across all research disciplines, beyond aesthetics.
Pieter Jan Stappers, a professor of Design Techniques at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering. After an education in experimental physics (MSc 1984), Pieter Jan Stappers made the switch to Industrial Design Engineering, and followed a research path, which led from human perception, spatial imagery, Virtual Reality (PhD in 1992), to design tools and participatory design techniques, and the value of design skills in research projects. Pieter is one of the driving forces behind discovery-based qualitative research. Key elements in his work are research through design, experiential prototypes and contextmapping.
The Department of Design has a long history of weaving design research and participatory design in undergraduate and graduate curricula. Research topics range from social innovation to sustainability through design, cultural and brand identity, data visualization all the way to the use and interaction of emerging creative technologies.
