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PhD Projects

Research Studentships

Our research activities include both full and part-time doctoral research with most academic staff supervising doctoral candidates. We have an interdisciplinary group of full-time PhD students based at The Open University, and a group of part-time research students based externally. The diversity and geographical spread of our part-time PhD students is something unique to the Open University.

Full-time PhD students | Part-time PhD students | List of Completed Design PhD Theses

Further information on research degrees at the Open University

Training

Research students receive the U501 multi-media research training pack. This is provided through a co-publication with Sage. Further research training support is provided through the University's Research Degree Skills website and the cross-university Doctoral Training Workshops. Design, as part of a wider Technology Strategy grouping, has Mode A recognition from the ESRC, which involves an MSc in Technology Strategy Research.

Further information on research support

Current Full-time PhD Projects

Title: Ambient Displays and Movement Patterns in Public Architectural Spaces
Student: Tasos Varoudis
Supervisors: Katerina Alexiou, Nick Dalton, Jeff Johnson and Theodore Zamenopoulos
Status: October 2008

Title: Environmental Innovation in a UK Food Processing Firm
Student: Per-Anders Langendahl
Supervisors: Matthew Cook and Stephen Potter
Status: Started 2008

Title: The Pathways Towards a Decarbonised Economy - Efficient Ways of Communicating the Need for the Rational Use of Energy
Student: Ana Faria
Supervisors: Emma Dewberry and Christine Thomas
Status: Started 2008

Title: Change Prediction in Hospital Refurbishment Projects
Student: Pam Garthwaite
Supervisors: Chris Earl and Claudia Eckert
Status: Started 2009

Title: Funding Models for Electric Vehicles
Student: Abukari Atchulo
Supervisors: Stephen Potter and Peter Walton
Status: Started 2010

Title: To Add
Student: Saad Hasan
Supervisors: Chris Earl and Claudia Eckert
Status: Started 2010

Title: Generative Design
Student: Laura Harrison
Supervisors: Chris Earl and Claudia Eckert
Status: Started 2010

Title: Generative Design
Student: Lynne Maclachlan
Supervisors: Chris Earl and Claudia Eckert
Status: Started 2010

Title: Public Engagement Methods for Electric Vehicle Initiatives
Student: Miguel Valdez
Supervisors: Stephen Potter and Sally Dibb
Status: Started 2010

Title: The role of testing within Product Development
Student: Khadija Tahera
Supervisors: Chris Earl and Claudia Eckert
Status: Started 2010

Title: Designing Distributed Simulations to Engage Large Groups in Climate Change Modelling
Student: Stefan Kreitmayer
Supervisors: Stephen Peake, Robin Laney and Yvonne Rogers
Status: Started 2011

Title: To Add
Student: Robina Hetherington
Supervisors: Stephen Peake and Robin Laney
Status: Started ??

Current Part-time PhD Projects

Title: Development of Computer Vision Self-Training Identification Systems
Student: Paul Morley
Supervisors: Jeff Johnson, Anthony Lucas-Smith
Status: Started 2004

Title: Developing a Vision Substitution System for the Visually Impaired
Student: Anthony Johnston
Supervisors: Jeff Johnson and Anthony Lucas-Smith
Status: Started 2005

Title: Solar Photovoltaic Energy in Germany
Student: Steve Plater
Supervisors: Godfrey Boyle, Dave Elliott
Status: Started 2005

Title: Computational Models of Cognitive Growth
Student: Iain Kusel
Supervisors: Jeff Johnson and Anthony Lucas Smith
Status: Started 2007

Title: Developing Creative Thinkers through the School Technology Curriculum
Student: Deborah Winn
Supervisors: Steve Garner and Frank Banks
Status: Started 2007

Title: Embodied Experience in Interactive Environments
Student: Anijo Mathew
Supervisor: Peter Lloyd and Yvonne Rogers
Status: Started 2008

Title: Design Thinking in Collaborative Innovation Processes
Student: Andreas Peter
Supervisor: Peter Lloyd and Nicole Schadewitz
Status: Started 2009

Title: Education for the Creative Industries
Student: Karl Jeffries
Supervisors: Steve Garner and Alison Green
Status: Started 2010

Title: Consumer Attitudes towards Sustainability in Fashion
Student: Philippa Crommentuijn-Marsh
Supervisors: Claudia Eckert and Stephen Potter
Status: Started 2009

Title: To Add
Student: Stephen Moran
Supervisors: ??
Status: Started ??

Title: To Add
Student: Arno Verhoeven
Supervisors: ??
Status: Started ??

Title: Power assessment and influence in supply networks
Student: Yan Liu
Supervisors: Chris Earl and Claudia Eckert
Status: Started 2011

Completed PhDs

2012

Title:An Assessment of the Cost and Environmental Performance of Light Rail and an Equivalent Bus-Based System [pdf]
Student: Paul Hodgson
Supervisors: Stephen Potter, James Warren

2011

Title: Automatic Multilevel Feature Selection in Adaptable Machine Vision Systems

Student: Valerie Rose

Supervisors: Jeff Johnson and Anthony Lucas-Smith

2010

Title: Hydrogen as a fuel source for vehicles: options for a hydrogen bus energy
supply system based on Economic & Environmental considerations [pdf]
Student: Chris Berridge
Supervisors: Stephen Potter, Stephen Peake and James Warren

Title: The Development of Responsibility in Product Designers
Student: Stacey Birkett
Supervisors: Peter Lloyd and Steve Garner

Title: The Potential Contribution of Prefabrication Towards Improvement of Housing Quality in Scotland
Student: Brian Cook
Supervisors: Chris Earl and Anthony Lucas Smith

Title: Sustaining Travel Plans in the Long Term [pdf]
Student: Helen Roby
Supervisors: Stephen Potter and James Warren

Title: Design and Political Resistance: Tactics, Power, and Transformation
Student: Ann Thorpe
Supervisors: Stephen Peake and Emma Dewberry

2009

Title: Form Generation in Design
Student: Gareth Paterson
Supervisors: Chris Earl and Steve Garner

2008

Title: The Analysis of Very Large Systems in Complexity Science
Student: Joan Serras
Supervisors: Jeff Johnson and Stephen Potter

Title: Intelligent Robotics for Remote Exploration
Student: James Law
Supervisors: Jeff Johnson and Anthony Lucas-Smith

2007

Title: Kinematic Morphology of Space Systems [pdf]
Student: John Hobbs
Supervisor: Joe Rooney

Title: Remote Access to Prototyping Laboratories
Student: Stephen Lathwell
Supervisor: Anthony Lucas-Smith

Title: Shape Grammars and Industrial Design [pdf, 11MB]
Student: Miquel Prats
Supervisors: Steve Garner and Chris Earl

2006

Title: Shape Grammars & their Application to Product Design [pdf, 3.49MB]
Student: Iestyn Jowers
Supervisors: Chris Earl and Steve Garner

2005

Title: Analysing the Implementation Process of Urban Road Pricing Schemes [pdf]
Student: Petros Ieromonachou
Supervisors: Stephen Potter and Marcus Enoch

Title: An automated guided vehicle for local transport
Student: Jack Cawkwell
Supervisors: Jeffrey Johnson and Stephen Potter

Title: Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Diagnosing Dental Lesions
Student: John Welford
Supervisors: Adrian Hopgood and Jeffrey Johnson

Title: Machine learning in robotics
Student: Pejman Iravani
Supervisors: Jeffrey Johnson and Lucia Rapanotti

Title: Measures from Complexity Science Provide Manufacturing Companies with Insights Previously Unavailable to Them
Student: Nicholas Scott
Supervisor: Jeffrey Johnson and Gerry Frizzel

Title: Physical computation and embodied artificial intelligence
Student: Sunny Bains
Supervisor: Jeffrey Johnson

2003

Title: Energy utopianism and the rise of the anti-nuclear power movement in the UK
Student: Horace Herring
Supervisor: Dave Elliott

2002

Title: Application of Distributed Artificial Intelligence to the Flow Control of Mobile Robots
Student: Andrew Wallace
Supervisor: Anthony Lucas-Smith

Title: Implementation Strategies for Fuel-cell Powered Road Transport Systems in the United Kingdom [Abstract pdf], [Ch 1], [Ch 2], [Ch3], [Ch 4], [Ch 5], [Annexes]
Student: Ben Lane
Supervisor: Stephen Potter

2001

Title: Eco Design Innovation in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises
Student: Mark Thomas Smith
Supervisors: Stephen Potter and Robin Roy

1999

Title: Designing together apart
Student: Thomas Kvan
Supervisor: Phil Steadman

Title: Object-orientated software representation of polymer materials information in engineering design
Student: Sean Ogden
Supervisor: Adrian Demaid

Title: Organisations as complex adaptive systems: implications for the design of information systems
Student: Kumkum Prasad
Supevisor: George Rzevski

Title: Towards computer supported co-operative design
Student: Susan Turner
Supervisor: Nigel Cross

1998

Title: Intelligent Support for Knitwear Design
Student: Claudia Eckert
Supervisors: Jeffrey Johnson and Nigel Cross

Title: Neural network techniques for invariant image classification
Student: Catherine Grimes
Supervisor: Anthony Lucas-Smith

Title: Bus-based best practice and urban transport emissions
Student: Marcus Enoch
Supervisor: Stephen Potter and Godfrey Boyle

Totle: The potential for fuel cells to reduce energy demands and pollution from the UK transport sector [pdf of thesis] and [updating 2008 paper]
Student: Vic Adams
Supervisors: Stephen Potter and David Coley

1996

Title: Teaching with Style: Computer Aided Instruction, Personality and Design Education
Student: David Durling
Supervisors: Nigel Cross and Jeffrey Johnson

Title: A Low Cost Accurate Instrument to Measure the Moisture Content of Building Envelopes in Situ
Student: Hihui Ye
Supervisor: Chris Earl

Title: The decline of the British motorcycle industry
Student: Anthony Wynne-Jones
Supervisor: Robin Roy

Title: Eco-design - present attitudes and future directions: studies of UK company and design consultancy practice
Student: Emma Dewberry
Supervisors: Robin Roy and Stephen Potter

1995

Title: Graphic Design Evaluation: Towards a Rule-based System
Student: George Glaze
Supervisors: Nigel Cross and Jeffrey Johnson

Title: An Object-Oriented System for Engineering Polymer Information
Student: Vanessa Spedding
Supervisor: Adrian Demaid

1994

Title: Expert Systems in Design
Student: Richard Andrew Murphy
Supervisor: Phil Steadman

Full-time PhD students | Part-time PhD students

Page Last Updated: 8 February, 2011