An Approach to Knowledge Generation by Research and its Utilisation in Practice - Situating Doctoral Research around Artifacts

This paper explores expertise in industrial (product) design and the contribution of knowledge generated by doctoral research. It stands on the premise that product design research should not function as a distraction from practice, but as a development of it. This is documented by doctoral studies and examples that illustrate how new knowledge can be generated by research and later applied in practice. The doctoral research is situated within the social structure that constitutes people, activity, context and culture where an artifact is seen to be a mediator for the generation of new knowledge and its application. This is demonstrated by two examples of doctoral studies. The paper concludes with remarks about the importance of research and practice integration, and points out that situating doctoral research around artifacts, as mediators of knowledge, is transferable to any doctoral study in design.