Interested in doing a PhD in Design?
The Open University Design Group has many years of experience of doing interesting and foresightful design research. The group has consistently performed well in the Research Excellence Framework (REF) in Design. We explore research methods that fit to design research beyond its discipline edges and often focus on the interdisciplinary interconnections and intersections that permeate contemporary society issues and where design plays a role in framing new opportunities and solutions.
If you are interested in doing research in design at The Open University then keep reading. You can also find out general information about PhD level study at the OU on the Research Degrees pages.
Subject and area of interest
The most important thing to consider is what you are interested in studying or knowing more about. Once you have that, it’s important to check whether it aligns with our areas of research interest or possibly even with a particular researcher.
You can look at our current research interests here. And, you can contact Design academic staff directly to discuss how your own interests link to our research landscape or you can contact our post-graduate research lead who will be able to guide you as to whether we have the research scope to support your project area.
Time and resources
Doing a PhD can take a number of years and involves a level of personal commitment.
Typically, a full time PhD takes three years to complete. A part time PhD can take between 3–6 years.
For both full and part time study, you begin by undertaking a initial Masters level study as a way to consolidate your topic area, explore existing knowledge, establish your research questions and direction, as well as outline your methods and approaches to conducting your research. Additionally, you will undertake training in research an scholarship, become part of the School itself, and meet regularly with your supervision team to discuss and review your progress.
At the end of this initial period, your work will be assessed to check that you are ready to commit to the remainder of a full research programme.
Fees and Funding
You can find out more about the fees associated with PhD study at the OU on the Research Degrees pages.
We occasionally have funded PhD opportunities and have, in the past, been part of Doctoral Training Programmes, such as the AHRC funded Open-Oxford-Cambridge Doctoral Training Partnership.
Preparing a proposal
If you are really interested in pursuing PhD study then a good next step is to begin work in preparing a proposal. This allows you to focus what you’ve found out so far, explore the subject a little bit further, and can highlight some things you might not have thought about.
Even in design research, different topic areas can involve different ways of preparing a proposal. And these sub-topic areas will usually have their own existing knowledge in the form of books, journals, and scholarship communities.
For any design PhD proposal, it’s worth looking at some of the main research journals in those areas to get a sense of the subject area as well as what academic writing in that areas looks like.
You can find out more about preparing a Design PhD Proposal here.