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The Design Group
Welcome
Our richly varied Design Group includes engineers, architects, product designers, social scientists, mathematicians and computer scientists. All staff are linked by a shared interest in how the principles and processes of design are applied. Our common concern is to advance design knowledge with a view to improving design practice and increasing the effectiveness of design education. We have centrally based academic, research staff and full-time and part-time PhD students.
U101 Design Thinking: New in 2010 |
The Design Group is a subject area within the Department of Design, Development, Environment and Materials (DDEM) in the Faculty of Maths, Computing and Technology at the Open University.
The group is distinctive in being devoted to the subject of Design generally, and not confined to any one professional area of application. Our research and teaching ranges from design thinking, product and information design, through engineering design, to architecture, energy, transport and urban design.
Design Seminar Series
We run a bi-weekly seminar series on a wide range of subjects related to design and designing. Seminars are open to all and also available to view as webcasts.
View our Seminar Archive to see webcasts and presentation details of past seminars.
Exemplar Seminar from 18th April 2012
Angharad Thomas, University of Salford
Our Research
Design research at the Open University is of the highest quality. We were ranked 3rd out of 72 UK Institutions in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, and have been rated 5 in all previous research assessement exercises. Our research is themed into three main areas:
Theme A: Design Processes and Products
Theme B: Sustainable Design
Theme C: Complexity Science and Design
Academic and research staff contribute to one or more themes. We also have several research groups, where academics and researchers focus on a particular research topics.
Our Teaching
The Open University consistently tops surveys of student satisfaction carried out by the Times Higher Education Supplement [pdf], and the group's well-received modules are no exception to the high quality education that the OU provides.
We offer modules at all undergraduate levels which taken together lead to a Degree in Design and Innovation. The most recent module to be launched is a 60pt first-level course in Design Thinking.
We also provide short courses which are proving increasingly popular, particularly in the area of web-design and digital photography. With Design and Innovation as key themes in several discipline areas we also make major contributions to undergraduate and postgaduate education across the university.
Full list of The Design Group modules
Page Last Updated: 23 February, 2013