Danish Design Research Has Reached ‘Good International Standard’

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EDITORIAL In the spring of 2010, the Danish Ministry of Culture launched a comprehensive evaluation of the design research under the ministry. In the overarching report the evaluation panel concludes that the design research has ‘mainly been of very good, and in some areas excellent, quality’. Dorthe Mejlhede, director of the Danish Centre for Design Research, highlights some of the main points from the evaluation report, emphasising the capacity of design research to promote Danish innovation.

Danish design researchers and their institutions under the Danish Ministry of Culture have delivered a very good effort over the past six years. That is the conclusion of the international panel that was established by the Danish Ministry of Culture in spring of this year to evaluate the design research at the ministry’s schools of architecture and design: the Aarhus School of Architecture, The Danish Design School, the Kolding School of Design and the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture. In four reports, the panel evaluates the design research at these four institutions. The fifth, overarching report also includes the Danish Centre for Design Research, which is charged, among other things, with coordinating and promoting the design research at the four institutions. In this report, the panel concludes that the design research under the Ministry of Culture has ‘generally spoken, reached a good international standard’.
I see this as an achievement that the environment as a whole can rightly feel proud of, and which makes a contribution that holds a considerable potential for Danish society – in part by providing a research basis for the educational programmes and in part by constituting a field of research that has the capacity to promote Danish innovation and competitiveness.

Admirable Progress Since 2003

The overall evaluation shows that design research in Denmark has ‘mainly been of very good, and in some areas excellent, quality’. The panel further concludes that design research has made rapid and admirable progress since 2003, when the institutions began to make serious investments in design research and education up to the level of Ph.D.
The panel also highlights the increasing communication between the schools’ research environments and the international design research environment as well as private and public recipient organisations.

Potential for Further Maturation in Coming Years

The idea of having a joint unit such as the Danish Centre for Design Research (DCDR) to support and promote research is unique, says the evaluation panel. In the panel’s assessment, the centre has played an important role for the development and tasks of design research, and the activities have matured since the reorganisation in 2006.
In the overall report, the evaluation panel makes recommendations concerning the research environment as a whole as well as the continued collaboration and the services provided by a joint unit such as the DCDR. While the current research does meet international standards, the panel notes that it may reach further maturation in coming years. Although the four schools –soon to be three, with the upcoming merger in 2011 of The Danish Design School and the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture – are developing into more self-sustaining research units, their research environments are still rather small.

Developing Current Joint Activities

It seems natural, therefore, that the schools’ research environments should continue to carry out joint activities, to some extent with support from a joint centre such as the DCDR, says the report. The panel also suggest that new services should be considered – for example a help desk for applicants for national and international research funds, research lobbyism, and the inclusion of a broader design research landscape by inviting institutions outside the area under the Danish Ministry of Culture to join the network.
Doctoral School for Design Should be Established
The panel has also assessed the Ph.D. education in the design research environment and found that the current doctoral schools lack sufficient volume and content to ensure qualified Ph.D. education in the field of design research. Therefore, the panel applauds the actions of the Danish Ministry of Culture in modifying the framework for Ph.D. education under the ministry. On average, the DCDR has held one week-long Ph.D. course a year. These Ph.D. courses have received very positive evaluation from the Ph.D. scholars and are also assessed very positively by the panel, which recommends the establishment of a doctoral school for design – and of a joint administration and practical organisation of the doctoral education.

The Basic Funding System Versus the Political Focus on Design

The evaluation panel also suggests in the overall evaluation of the research that the current basic funding system for the field of design as a whole should be reviewed, and that the funding should be better balanced with the political focus on design as an important future innovation area.
In connection with the political focus on design the panel points to the need for continued network activities in relation to industry, suggesting that a possible new joint unit should also promote design research to companies.
Finally, the research evaluation panel describes the DCDR’s research dissemination – including the webzine Mind Design and the research journal Artifact – in highly favourable terms. The research dissemination is described as genuine and successful. The panel finds that this dissemination has helped introduce design research as an established area of research in the overall scientific environment and recommends that this joint activity be continued.

As I see it, the overall research evaluation has given Danish design research a well-earned pat on the back as well as valuable pointers for future developments.


Dorthe Mejlhede
Director