Home > Research Groups
Research Groups
The Complex Systems Group
The Complex Systems Group in the Department is led by Prof Jeff Johnson. The group applies complexity science to the design, control and management of technical and socio-technical systems. The Complex Systems Group has an international standing established through publication, dissemination and outreach which includes leading roles in RoboFesta and RoboCupJunior. The group leads the AHRC/EPSRC Designing for the 21st Century Research Cluster “Embracing complexity in design” and is lead partner in the EC Open Network of Centres of Excellence in Complex Systems (ONCE-CS) and partner in others ( eg EC project GIACS). Prof Johnson is Vice-President of the European Complex Systems Society.
Design Transformations
The Design Transformations Group is investigating how designers generate new designs from explicit representations, existing products or the structure and rules embedded in them. The focus lies in studying the processes of practising designers and understanding underlying generative rules for creating designs. One aim is to develop better tools for designers and for the management of design processes.
The Sustainable Technologies Group (STG)
The Sustainable Technologies Group is a trans-departmental grouping, created in 2008 by a merger of two research groups from the Department of Design, Development, Environment and Materials (DDEM) and one from our Faculty's Communication and Systems Department. The research groupings from DDEM in the Sustainable Technologies Group are:
Energy and Environment Research Unit (EERU)
The Energy and Environment Research Unit (EERU) was set up in 1986 to co-ordinate research on sustainable energy technology and to support the development of environmentally sound approaches to the generation and use of energy. It is staffed by members of the Faculty of Maths, Computing & Technology and is currently directed by Godfrey Boyle. EERU runs a course on Sustainable Energy within the Open University’s undergraduate programme and supports a range of post-graduate research work. [more]
The Design Innovation Group (DIG)
The Design Innovation Group (DIG) was founded in 1979 in order to examine the role of design in competitiveness and to identify factors relating to the success and failure of design and new product development in manufacturing industry. The Group has since grown to become an internationally renowned organisation with a membership that includes over twenty members and Associates from other universities, industry and the design professions. Group members at the OU and the former University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology have been awarded research grants worth over £1m and have conducted major international studies of the practice and management of product design and innovation in firms from a variety of industries, ranging from bicycles and plastic products to railways, electronics and computing. Recently, the focus of the group’s work has been on eco-design and sustainable innovation. [more]
Page Last Updated: 22 June, 2011