The Danish Centre for Design Research is on a good path. In 2008, we have achieved positive results in terms of expanding our collaboration with institutions under the Danish Ministry of Culture that carry out research within the field of design. These activities will help prepare our research environment for the 2010 research evaluation.

By Dorthe Mejlhede, Director

The Danish Centre for Design Research has dedicated a lot of effort to enhancing Danish design research. According to director Dorthe Mejlhede, the DCDR office supports the design research community with communication and the Master in Design, among others. Photo: Henrik Petit.

Welcome to the first issue of Mind Design in 2009. At the time of writing, a few weeks into the new year, we can look back at a dynamic and rewarding year for the Danish Centre for Design Research and look forward to an exciting 2009 with many upcoming initiatives for design research. The head office contributes by providing research-promoting activities and research dissemination.

Activities for Researchers
In August 2008, the DCDR held the annual research rally; it addressed research-based education and included the more than 40 researchers attached to the DCDR. In a follow-up to the rally, we established a task force with representation from the four institutions behind the DCDR. The task force has now articulated a proposal for initiatives for design researchers which the head office will be implementing. This involves activities for Ph.D. scholars about educational approaches and the preparation and presentation of conference papers, a course in scientific theory and method, and a course for Ph.D. supervisors. On the drawing board is also a workshop about a curriculum (literature canon) for design research as well as a Ph.D. course in research techniques and method development in practice-based research. In November 2008, the DCDR also held a well-structured, week-long Ph.D. course, The methodical and scientific foundation for your dissertation.

Master of Design
Team II of the DCDR's master programme, which has 22 students, recently embarked on its final semester with exams coming up in June. The programme, which is research-based and financially neutral, is now accepting new applicants for the course beginning in August 2009. There are already many interested applicants.

Developments in Research Dissemination
With regard to research dissemination, 2008 saw strong developments, both in the international dissemination to other research communities and in the broader dissemination efforts. One specific example is the Danish developed, international research journal Artifact , which is run by the Danish Centre for Design Research and published by the major British academic publishing house Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group. In the summer of 2008, the international design research community ranked it the world's ninth-best design research journal.

Another example is the externally funded webmuseum.dk, which is due to open in spring 2009. It is the world's first web museum and addresses the development of the World Wide Web from the early 1990s until today. In 2008, webmuseum.dk received renewed funding of 365,000 DKK from the Nordea Danmark Foundation. This will enable us to finalise the last activities before the opening in April 2009.

In addition to this, of course, the design research environment has presented findings and ideas in books, newspaper articles etc., and the Danish Centre for Design Research has held dialogue meetings between the design trade and the research environment.

Three Platforms
The DCDR has also produced three new dissemination platforms. One is the annual report: Indblik i Dansk Designforskning (in Danish only) which contains a list of the design researchers' publications through the Danish Centre for Design Research as well as journalistic articles on developments within our environment.

The other platform is the DCDR's new web site www.dcdr.dk, which is used to disseminate news about the DCDR's work and design research in general. The web site offers current news and information about events in the field of design research.

The web site is also home to the third communication platform: the monthly webzine Mind Design , which is released 10 times a year. All the web publications are published in a parallel English-language version. As the electronic media are becoming increasingly important, this approach enables us to deliver our research findings in a quick and flexible manner to researchers as well as international e-media with a broader audience. The English-language research dissemination is making it easier for us to optimise the links between Danish and international research.

With these activities, which promote research in all the four institutions, and with our broad research dissemination in Danish and English, we are looking forward to an exciting 2009, which will contribute further to equipping the research environment for the upcoming research evaluation in 2010.

Mind Design #15, 2009