Short News #46

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PhD defense at Aarhus School of Architecture

Mette Volf defends her PhD thesis

When Someone Laughs, Something's At Stake - An investigation of the design process as a social construct?? - including the importance of humor to creativity in the design process 

on 24 February 2012 - please see program (in Danish only) and English summary.

Research Seminar About EU Funding of Design Research

The Danish Centre for Design Research hosts a seminar for researchers at the conference centre Klarskovgaard by Korsør from 6 March (18:00) until 7 March 2012 (16:00). The topic for the seminar is EU funding of design research projects. The programme includes a visit from an expert who will indicate opportunities for design research in the future EU research programme Horizon 2020, which stretches from 2014 through 20. For further information, please contact Research Coordinator Hans Emborg Bünemann, heb@dcdr.dk.

Conference on User-Friendly Packaging

Together with the Danish Technological Institute, the Danish Rheumatism Association, representatives from the packaging industry and others, the Aarhus School of Architecture hosts the conference OPEN HERE on 8 March 2012, where they will present new guidelines to industry about user-friendly packaging. The conference will be in Danish. You can see the programme and additional information here (in Danish only).

Norwegian Professional Board Visits the DCDR

15 representatives of the Professional Board for Design Education in Norway pay a visit to the Danish Centre for Design Research in March 2012 as part of a study visit to Copenhagen. The purpose of their trip is to gain greater insight into design research and design education in Denmark.

The Professional Board aims to use their meeting with the Danish Centre of Design Research to learn more about how design research is organised and practised in Denmark, as that is one of the board’s top focus areas in Norway.

The Professional Board for Design Education in Norway is a national board under the Norwegian Association of Higher Education Institutions. The board’s member institutions include the state-run design education institutions, including Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Science, The Oslo School of Architecture and Design and the art colleges. A total of nine educational institutions are represented on the board. The board also includes observers from the Norwegian Design Council and the Foundation for Design and Architecture in Norway, Norsk Form.

The DCDR’s Annual Publication 2011 Released – English Edition Available in Early March

The Danish Centre for Design Research has released its annual publication for 2011, titled Design Research – Creating Innovation and Value. You can download it from our website or request a print version from our office, tel. 45 32 68 63 68 or dcdr@dcdr.dk. The Danish version is available now; the English edition will be released in early March 2012.

Annual Publications from the Schools

The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture also recently released its publication for the academic year of 2010/11.

It is available from the Library for Architecture, Design and Performing Arts with parallel English and Danish text; the price is 100 DKK.

The Kolding School of Design similarly released its annual report, also with parallel English and Danish text. The report is available in an electronic format here. To order a print copy, contact the Kolding School of Design.

New Rector at Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts

Architect and Managing Director Lene Dammand takes up the position as rector of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Schools of Architecture, Design and Conservation (RDAFA) on 1 April 2012. An important factor for the board in its decision to appoint Lene Dammand Lund was her experience with modern management and her thorough professional experience and insight.

The current management team, Sven Felding, RDAFA, School of Architecture, Tine Kjølsen, RDAFA, School of Design, and René Larsen, RDAFA, School of Conservation, will head the RDAFA until 1 April, when Lene Dammand Lund takes up her new position.

Read more on the RDAFA website.

Interdisciplinary Research Projects at RDAFA Launched

Researchers at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Schools of Architecture, Design and Conservation (RDAFA) launch six interdisciplinary research projects and networking activities based on a six-million-kroner grant from the Danish Ministry of Culture. During 2012 further projects will be added.

The grant from the Ministry of Culture aims to promote the integration of the three educational fields in the three schools. So far, that has resulted in projects and networking activities within a wide range of topics: LED lighting research, Danish chair design, the scientific status of experiments in artistic development work, inclusive design, the importance of representation forms and last, but not least, new technology and the modelling of building information.

Read more (in Danish only) about the research projects and network activities on the RDAFA website (pdf); here you can also see the contact information for the coordinators of the respective disciplines.

Research Seminar In Kolding on Wool and Ethnography

9-12 January, researchers of The Wardrobe Network visited Kolding School of Design to participate in the workshop ”Indigenous Fibres” and subsequent seminar ”Wardrobe Ethnographies”.

The Wardrobe Network is a group of Nordic, British and American researchers with an interest in ethnographic and anthropological methods applied in design research. This includes so-called wardrobe studies where researchers explore the wardrobes of selected persons and interview them about their style, shopping patterns, etc.

Read more on the homepage of the Kolding School of Design.

New Report About PhDs and Productivity in Private Enterprises

PhD graduates who have their main occupation in private companies on average earn ten percent more than employees in private enterprises with other academic degrees, when personal and company-specific characteristics are adjusted for.

Furthermore, companies with at least one PhD on staff have 30 percent higher productivity, although the advantage in small companies is only 11 percent.

These are some of the conclusions in a new report, Ansættelse af ph.d.er og produktivitet (Employing PhDs and productivity), which was prepared by the Copenhagen Business School on behalf of the Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation. It compares the presence of PhDs on staff with productivity in Danish companies over the past ten years.

However, the report also documents that there is still room for improvement. Not all private sectors or industries are equally open to PhD graduates.

Another finding in the report is that small companies who employ PhDs generally pay out higher average salaries than companies who do not employ PhDs.

You can read the report here (pdf, in Danish only).

See also the article Using a Ph.D. Degree – in a Business Career in Mind Design #43 about PhDs working in private companies.