Introduction to Research in the Fields of Design and Architecture

Course Description:

The course introduces research within design and architecture and associated fields to PhD fellows in the early stages of their PhD. It will help PhDs develop a general understanding of research through in-depth engagement with research components such as research questions, contextualisation, methods, research design and findings. The course alternates between lectures, discussions and workshops. This format will let the participants test, develop and discuss the content of the lectures on their research projects to expand and sharpen the focus, scope and methodologies. The course is based on an inclusive methodological and topical approach but will address the role of designing as part of the research process.

Teaching formats: Lectures, discussions, participant presentations, workshops. The course requires the preparation of project presentations and literature reading before and between the two parts of the course. The participants will receive a reading list.

Course instructors:

MSO Professor Claus Peder Pedersen, Aarhus School of Architecture

Associate professor Richard Herriott, Kolding Design School

Bibliographies of course instructors:

Claus Peder Pedersen is an MSO Professor at the Aarhus School of Architecture, where he is head of the joint PhD School of Aarhus School of Architecture and the Design School of Kolding. His research focuses on architectural design methodologies and creative processes with an interest in representation and digital design tools. He actively promotes practice- and design-driven research as part of the CA²RE network and previously the ADAPT-r Marie Curie ITN. He is educated as an architect from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and holds a PhD in architecture from The Aarhus School of Architecture.

Richard Herriott is Associate Professor of Industrial Design at Design School Kolding. He currently researches design processes and methods in Universal Design. He also writes and teaches about research methodology, and design theory (aesthetics and research design). Richard Herriott has worked with the concept of Inclusive Design in his PhD project, which is a method that originated in product design. His PhD project examined this in relation to public transport, where the methods and intentions of inclusive design are applicable but where there are different design conditions. The PhD project was completed in 2014 at the Aarhus School of Architecture. Richard Herriott is author of The Aesthetics of Industrial Design (2022, Routledge).

Target group: The course targets PhDs in the early stages of their research project.

Number of participants: minimum 6 and maximum 18

Course language: English

ECTS points: 4 ECTS

Location: Aarhus School of Architecture, Exners Plads 7, 8000 Aarhus C

Dates: November 22nd-23rd & December 5th-6th 2023

Registration deadline: November 1st 2023

Registration via e-mail to PhD Coordinator Mia Mimi Flodager, mmf@aarch.dk.