Doctorate of Design
2 Years Full-Time | January and October Start
Option for Placement Year
Option for Study Abroad
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The Doctorate of Design provides both practical and theoretical content that reflects the professional requirements of your field, making you stand out to employers. During the Professional Practice Design Research module teaching will take place on a weekly basis and you will also engage in independent study, with online and/or face-to-face tutor support. We will cover a range of theoretical principles, such as: redirective practices, a reflective and transformative approach to design practices and subjects, responsible innovation and design development, and the understanding / practice of distinctive processes of design ethics. In addition, you will cover core practical research methods that will help you to effectively frame your design practice as research.
Research contribution is a key focus on this course. You will be expected to identify, appraise, and analyse the potential impact research can make to professional design practice - culminating in a thesis or practical portfolio that will inform your own practice and the wider practice in the field of design.
You will be supported academically on the programme through a combination of module tutor and supervisor guidance and assistance. All teaching and assessment materials will be available electronically on our E-Learning system, including recorded teaching materials and/or streamed material for distance-learning.
The course has been designed for professionally qualified individuals based in the UK and internationally - covering a range of design disciplines, including but not limited to industrial, graphic, digital, interior, multisensory and fashion. This programme will substantially benefit you if you wish to pursue an academic career in the field of design and develop both conceptual and practice-led research outputs and projects.
There may also be the opportunity for students to engage with professional industries and design studios as part of their thesis research, given the practice-led nature of the programme.
Level of Study
Postgraduate
Mode of Study
2 years Full Time
1 other options available
Department
Arts
Location
City Campus, Northumbria University
City
Newcastle
Fees
Fee Information
Modules
Module Information
You will gain a foundational knowledge in research methodology, design concepts and theory, ethics, and research design principles by means of the 30-credit taught core module (Level 7). Teaching will take place on a weekly basis and can be delivered face-to-face or online (synchronously and asynchronously), using cutting edge software such as Blackboard Collaborate and Panopto.
Across the taught element, there will be a combination of structured lectures, workshops, directed learning activities, group work and seminar presentations. With a focus on creative student-centred learning and self-evaluation/reflection at each juncture. You will be taught by suitable academically qualified staff and research active members of the School of Design.
By the end of the taught element you will be required to produce a research proposal. This is the equivalent of the PhD Project Approval and meets the same criteria. Once successfully completed, you will further develop and progress your research during the independent research phase of the DDes (supported by your supervisor).
You will be assessed on a Pass/Fail basis for the taught Professional Practice Design Research module and your thesis will be reviewed as part of the Annual Review process within the Faculty of Arts, Design and Social Sciences and will be formally assessed in a viva voce examination.
With many years’ experience supporting design students, our expert team will be there as a support through every step of the programme, ensuring students leave with confidence and the professional knowledge needed to succeed in the field of design practice.
You will be supported pastorally most immediately through your allocation of a Principal Supervisor based in the School of Design, and you will also have an additional Second Supervisor who will also give you both academic and personal support.
Furthermore, additional PGR support is provided by the School of Design’s Lead of PGR, the Faculty Lead of PGR, and Northumbria’s Graduate School.
Throughout the duration of your programme, you will have access to state-of-the-art facilities such as our University library – which is ranked in the top three in the UK – and well equipped working space, The Hub, which is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Your learning experience will be enhanced though the use of technology and learning materials such as module guides, assessment information, lecture presentation slides and reading lists will be available via our innovative e-learning platform, Blackboard. You can also access student support and other key University systems through your personal account.
You will work with your supervisory team which will help you to locate and critically evaluate and apply up-to-date design research to enable you to engage in research independently, which forms the basis of Year 2 study (and Year 3 if you are a part-time student).
The programme will support you in becoming a researching professional by studying a professional doctorate, rather than an academic researcher by studying a PhD. In this way, the DDes assists practitioners looking to develop their experience and employability through research training, which will substantially benefit you if you wish to pursue an academic career in the field of design and develop both conceptual and practice-led research outputs and projects.
You will complete a review of your planned and completed research training at the end of the Design Research module (and when applying for subsequent annual progressions). This review requires you to reflect upon your training and experiences to date and allows you to identify any further training requirements that you feel you may need to complete your thesis. Additionally, you will be able to employ effective information searching strategies to identify and retrieve current literature relating to their research using appropriate information resource tools to undertake your research.
The professional basis of the programme means that you will be engaging with research that is directly relevant to design-based industries and design-based academic institutions. In terms of practical skills that will enhance employability, the Professional Design Doctorate includes creative thinking, group work and presentations of research questions and findings, it will enable you to hone your expertise and clearly communicate the impact you can make in different practical contexts.
Most fundamentally, the doctoral programme is designed to enable design-based practitioners to develop as research-active academics. Generating research that will centrally address relevant issues, developments, emerging practices, and challenges relating to design industries. This unique career trajectory can also have relevance for post-doctoral industry engagements and start-up business initiatives, in the industrial context of design and design development.
Learn more about the Northumbria Design School and the opportunities we will provide you with.
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Candidates joining the Doctorate of Design should have one of the following:
Where English is not the applicant's first language, either an IELTS score of 6.5 (with no component below 6.0), or an equivalent as recognised in the University English Language Admissions Guidelines for the current academic year is the minimum requirement for consideration.
Candidates will be assessed on these criteria and utilising the University’s APEL, APL and AWBL policy for entry, 150 credits of advanced standing will be recognised against the existing Masters qualification. Where a candidate holds a UK Masters award that satisfies the learning outcomes at Masters level, advanced entry to the DDes programme is permitted.
Evidence of qualifications and professional work experience must be provided, with detailed documentation of the content of Postgraduate awards provided for an assessment of eligibility to be made.
UK Fee in Year 1: TBC
International Fee in Year 1: TBC
Scholarships and Discounts
ADDITIONAL COSTS
There are no Additional Costs
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Module information is indicative and is reviewed annually therefore may be subject to change. Applicants will be informed if there are any changes.
DE7027 -
Professional Practice Design Research (Core,30 Credits)
Through a combination of lectures and seminar discussions you will engage with academics and other practitioners to examine how professional knowledge can be constructed and defended. These activities will help you define a research problem, formulate a research statement, and form the clear and critical research question that will guide and inform your doctoral project. You will examine the nature of practice-led research from the perspective of design and consider how to effectively develop concepts, use theoretical frameworks and apply reflective approaches to support the development, undertaking, and successful completion of a practice-led and practice-based design research project. You will appraise how the development of evidence enables an analysis of the saliency or usefulness of emerging practices and how a practice context can develop evidence about how design integrates with other change agents to build intelligence for strategic decision making and systemic change.
The core of the module will enable you to learn key contemporary design theoretical approaches that will be applied to your professionally related thesis subject. In this regard, you will cover key and distinctive theoretical and conceptual subjects and approaches such as redirective practice, a body of thought which cultivates and inspires a self-reflective and ultimately transformative design attitude and practice. You will also learn socially and environmentally responsible innovation, design for strategy and social development and design ethics. These topics and knowledge forms will enable you to conceptualise your practical experience in a contemporary manner that stresses the transformative role that designers have and therefore facilitates a viable and relevant research topic and research process strategy. Furthermore, you will learn the principles of key research methods such as key qualitative approaches (unstructured and semi-structured interviews, textual and material analysis, focus groups, and key ethnographic approaches) and quantitative methods and data analysis principles (surveys, for example). You will also engage with the ethics of research, which are a fundamental component of research and engagement with the social world.
Finally, you will be taught effective research proposal design, an essential aspect of the programme that will assist you in formulating a clear and original design-based doctoral subject, which will be the basis of your subsequent study for the duration of the doctoral programme and which will result in the production of an original research project that enhances professional design practice and produces fresh design-oriented critical knowledge.
Module information is indicative and is reviewed annually therefore may be subject to change. Applicants will be informed if there are any changes.
DE7027 -
Professional Practice Design Research (Core,30 Credits)
Through a combination of lectures and seminar discussions you will engage with academics and other practitioners to examine how professional knowledge can be constructed and defended. These activities will help you define a research problem, formulate a research statement, and form the clear and critical research question that will guide and inform your doctoral project. You will examine the nature of practice-led research from the perspective of design and consider how to effectively develop concepts, use theoretical frameworks and apply reflective approaches to support the development, undertaking, and successful completion of a practice-led and practice-based design research project. You will appraise how the development of evidence enables an analysis of the saliency or usefulness of emerging practices and how a practice context can develop evidence about how design integrates with other change agents to build intelligence for strategic decision making and systemic change.
The core of the module will enable you to learn key contemporary design theoretical approaches that will be applied to your professionally related thesis subject. In this regard, you will cover key and distinctive theoretical and conceptual subjects and approaches such as redirective practice, a body of thought which cultivates and inspires a self-reflective and ultimately transformative design attitude and practice. You will also learn socially and environmentally responsible innovation, design for strategy and social development and design ethics. These topics and knowledge forms will enable you to conceptualise your practical experience in a contemporary manner that stresses the transformative role that designers have and therefore facilitates a viable and relevant research topic and research process strategy. Furthermore, you will learn the principles of key research methods such as key qualitative approaches (unstructured and semi-structured interviews, textual and material analysis, focus groups, and key ethnographic approaches) and quantitative methods and data analysis principles (surveys, for example). You will also engage with the ethics of research, which are a fundamental component of research and engagement with the social world.
Finally, you will be taught effective research proposal design, an essential aspect of the programme that will assist you in formulating a clear and original design-based doctoral subject, which will be the basis of your subsequent study for the duration of the doctoral programme and which will result in the production of an original research project that enhances professional design practice and produces fresh design-oriented critical knowledge.
The following alternative study options are available for this course:
Oct, Jan start
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