coordinator: Raffaella Fagnoni

scientific committee

Università Iuav di Venezia

Alberto Bassi, Francesco Bergamo, Emanuela Fanny Bonini Lessing, Alessandra Bosco, Fiorella Bulegato, Luca Casarotto, Rosa Chiesa, Pietro Costa, Davide Crippa, Maddalena Dalla Mura, Raffaella Fagnoni, Luciano Perondi, Raimonda Riccini, Michele Sinico, Gianni Sinni, Simone Spagnol

PhD students

Francesca Ambrogio, Pierfrancesco Califano, Nicolò Carpignoli, Elena Cavallin, Massimiliano Cason Villa, Enrica Cunico, Giampiero Dalai, Michele De Chirico, Melani De Luca, Carmelo Leonardi, Marco Limani, Maria Manfroni, Eugenia Morpurgo, Giovanna Nichilò, Giulia Nicosia, Valentina Nitti, Paolo Pasteris, Emilio Patuzzo, Dorotea Petrucci, Ludovica Polo, Omri Revesz, Simone Rossi, Folco Soffietti, Manuel Zanettin, Nicola Zolin

PhD students with Iuav grants in doctoral courses of national interest

Sandra Coppola - Università degli Studi della Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli"

Carmen Digiorgio Giannitto - Università degli Studi della Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli"

Calogero Mattia Priola - Università degli Studi della Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli"

Efren Trevisan - Università degli studi di Roma “La Sapienza”

Marta Vitale - Università degli Studi della Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli"

Research in Design Sciences deals with the theoretical, historical, and methodological issues of the discipline in its many facets, also addressed through design and experimental research. Starting from the basic references of the design sciences and a stabilized system of knowledge and know-how, research in this field addresses the adaptive, plural, and expansive dimension of design, shaping tools and methods, evolving into interdisciplinary dialogue, and aiming to trigger positive change at a societal level. It drives a plurality of activities that cross material and immaterial culture, hybridising design with engineering, biotechnology, philosophy, the arts, natural, social, ecological, and economic sciences, and developing the possibilities offered by data systems, the ability to analyse them, manage them and make them interactively usable through information management.

The research in Design Sciences pursues the objective of allowing PhD students to acquire personal autonomy in research and the mastery of a system of knowledge and critical tools to understand the contexts and issues of research activities. It aims to train researchers capable of addressing their own research topics in relation to issues of the public good. The activities and methods proposed aim to develop useful and appropriate skills to work in collaborative contexts and interact with institutions, the cultural design system, and companies. The work path, which necessarily considers the roots and cultural references of the context in which it is set - Italy and Venice in particular - aims to combine specific research situations with the most innovative design trends in relation to the environment, culture and society.

Regarding the specific teaching and research activities that complement the transversal training provided by the Bembo Writing Workshop, the study programme in the field of Design Sciences is indicatively structured as follows:

1. First year: focus and definition of the research demand and approach

To be admitted to the following year, students are required to present an activity report and a proposal of the research structure and the related progress report. The PhD students present their research reports and the committee, meeting collectively, will then discuss the evaluation

2. second year: thematic and methodological insights

For admission to the following year: report on the activities carried out, the topics covered relationship with research progress; progress report on the thesis and its analytical structure, from the state of the art to the methodologies. The PhD students present their research reports and the committee, meeting collectively, will then discuss the evaluation

3. Third year: thematic and methodological insights.

These activities are carried out through meetings and the 'Thematic Tables', which takes place twice or three times a year, usually after the sessions in which the PhD present their progress. The 'Thematic Tables' bring together 4/5 PhD students and a few lecturers to discuss and debate their research issues through a previously established key cross-cutting theme. The activity brings together PhD students from the different cycles according to common themes.

Several meetings with external guests are organised every year, including seminars, masterclasses, and research workshops.

Every year, the following are organised:

- seminars on research methodology (some of the questions addressed: what research is; when research can be defined as scientific; the constituent materials of research; the scientific method; the nature of research in design)

- meetings and seminars related to the research topics proposed by tPhD students

Every two years, the Design Sciences research unit promotes the FRID meeting - doing research in design (https://www.frid.it/), a national forum for research doctorates in design, organised in collaboration with the SID - Scientific Reference Society of the design disciplines, which places Iuav doctorate school at the forefront at the national level as a reference for exchange activities and disciplinary debate