PhD opportunity: Research Design Management Methods at Ergonomidesign

We are looking for a PhD early stage researcher to join us for a 36 month appointment through DESMA. Applications for the position are accepted until 15th March and should be sent to DESMA at Gothenburg University: desma.gu.se

DESMA is an Initial Training Network in the area of Design Management funded by the European Commission’s Marie Curie Actions (FP7). DESMA combines four leading universities within the area of Design Management, four leading European design consultancies and four complementary product and service organizations in an unprecedented cross-disciplinary effort to understand how design can be exploited as a driver of innovation and competitiveness in Europe.

Ergonomidesign is focused on developing user-centric, product and service solutions and is continuously working on developing and defining their research methods to explore user needs and experiences in new contexts such as design strategy and service design.

Design methods facilitating problem solving in complex contexts |
Preliminary research question
How can design methods be used to facilitate problem solving in complex contexts where the objective is a multi-layered experience including products, services, environments and digital interfaces?

The challenges for innovation practices today is not so much about generating great ideas. Instead, the most pressing challenge is to ensure that the right idea is developed for the right reasons, and that this idea becomes relevant for the users across many channels over time; products, services, interfaces and environments. It creates a complex multilayered experience.

This situation requires new, collaborative, multidisciplinary, experimental and iterative ways of working. It also requires new areas of innovation addressing the need to build entire ecosystems, business models or service solutions in totally new ways. The state of the planet also requires us to carefully consider the resources around us. We need to creatively build resourceful, sustainable systems for delivering relevant experiences that may involve new ways of looking at what really creates value. We are interested in exploring how to create methods and tools to navigate and direct companies and organizations addressing this challenge.

Researcher profile
We are on the look-out for a creative person with a background in business and a passion for design and innovation. In addition to a masters degree in management you have industry experience, ideally more than three years. You have good social abilities, as well as a good network both within industry and the world of research. We will encourage the recruited ESR to apply also for the PhD programme at the University of Gothenburg School of Business, Economics and law, and carry out the major part of her/his doctoral studies during the DESMA project.

Please find out more about the research program, benefits, requirements and how to apply on desma.gu.se or Ergonomidesign.com