Design Relevant Research Leading to PhD: IIT Guwahati Experiences
Year: 2009
Editor: Chakrabarti, A.
Author: Chakrabarti,Debkumar
Section: Design Training and Education
Page(s): 595-599
Abstract
Design has immerged as an academic subject characterising knowledge integrator which requires constant researching and an area of professional practice that cultivates multidisciplinary approach to solve a problem.It is enriched inducting relevant information from various subject domains through its journey to become a recognised eld. Many design schools also have come up in India, and they are taking shape, where a demand has recently been created to become at per the other courses where the peer group is expecting faculty with PhDs.Thus, there is a need to pursue a research quali cation, speci cally PhD, aiming to cultivate newer insight in various unfolded aspects of design and in relevant areas, which is becoming these days a preferred qualification for a design teacher. Towards satisfying the quali cation requirement, many design institutes have allowed their existing faculty members to undergo the PhD programme elsewhere adopting the perspectives of other discourses.Some expresses concerns, if these degrees make a person more re ned design practitioner or a thinker to further the design. If design schools conduct the program itself, it may have focused attention. In this attempt,for the rst time in India, IIT Guwahati has opened facility with the PhD programme in a department designated to the specific cause of design, i.e., Department of Design.To start with, training the trainer approach was taken as the rst option with those faculty members have PhD in various design relevant areas in supervising fellow faculty members. Thus design teachers getting PhDs would continue with regular students and the trend has come to force.In this paper I would like to share the experiences of nine years of journey as an initiator and supervisor in terms of the concern, detailing the speci c PhD programme
Keywords: Design, Research Leading to PhD, IIT Guwahati Experiences