Design School Kolding is looking for a PhD student with a special interest in play experience to contribute in building up an innovative knowledge environment in the field of Design for Play.    

Design for Play 
Design for Play is a Scandinavian hub for play and design that demonstrates how research into play can achieve a practical impact. The founding partners are Design School Kolding, LEGO Foundation, the LEGO Group and a number of other stakeholders.  The initiative will produce specific solutions and encourage a more comprehensive dialogue about exploring and recognizing the potential of play. With an applied research approach, Design for Play is closely related to practice and will include a strong element of making, engaging and co-creating with users. The purpose is to learn from and inspire children to grow up as creative designers of their own life and the world around them. The associated master degree with an area of specialization in Design for Play will educate highly specialized play designers with a unique benefit to all companies and public institutions working with play. The programme affiliates some of the world’s best designers, researchers and knowledge partners in the field.   

PhD in Design for Play and (non) gendered toys 
We hereby invite proposals for PhD projects focusing on Design for (non) gendered toys    

We expect this PhD project to explore and study how we design (non) gendered toys among children. Therefore, we ask the candidates to address some of the following challenges and relate them to the overall focus for the Design for Play initiative:    

• Explore how playing with toys for children can be understood  
• Examine how a (non) gendered perspective can be understood in designing toys 
• How can we design for (non) gendered toys? 
• Use qualitative approaches with emphasis on long-term field studies in combination with interventions.  
• Use design exploration as part of the project´s research design 

About us 
Design School Kolding is an independent institution under the auspices of the Ministry of Higher Education and Science. We offer high quality BA, MA and PhD Degree Programs with teaching based on innovative practice and research in close collaboration with the business community. We also offer postgraduate courses and consultancy services. Our BA program comprises four study programs, Communication Design, Industrial Design, Fashion & Textile Design, and Accessory Design, including interdisciplinary courses within methods, aesthetics, design history, the history of science as well as form studies. Our MA program is an international, cross-disciplinary program that supports and challenges the above-mentioned design fields and allows students to specialize in one of three areas: Design for Play, Design for Planet and Design for People to which we also dedicate our research and development activities. Design School Kolding has approximately 85 fulltime employees. The school offers a dynamic work environment with dedicated colleagues from many different backgrounds. The atmosphere enriches daily work and brings life to the old factory building, which is constantly changing to suit the school’s needs. With the three overall strategic areas of social design, sustainability and design, and design for Play, Design School Kolding is dedicated to improving the world through design. This also means that Design School Kolding has a strong focus on creating an education that is relevant and aimed towards future employability. Another way of strengthening the education is by having research aimed towards the four directions of the programs, as well as towards the strategic areas. The research thus supports and develops the teaching while ensuring that there is cross-pollination between research and teaching with the researchers often using the student projects as data for their research. We offer a dynamic, internationally oriented education and research environment with close collaborations with external actors and research environments.   

The Facts 
The position is a full-time position and salary is according to the current collective agreement that regulates the Danish labor market. For the application to be considered, all three points listed below must be addressed with all mentioned materials enclosed:   

• Project description of 4-6 pages. The project description should contain a letter of motivation, an account of the empirical knowledge/data which the applicant expects to use, a thesis statement, a theoretical base, methodical aspects and a brief overview of existing knowledge, and finally a preliminary research plan. 
• CV of maximum 1 page. 
• Diploma or alternatively a complete transcript of records (for BA and MA degrees). 

  In order to be considered for the position, the applicant must have, as a minimum, a two-year MA degree or have earned 120 ECTS points achieving a similar degree prior to the date of appointment.   

The applicant must further have: 

• MA degree in design, anthropology, pedagogy or other related areas 
• Outstanding oral and written English communication skills 
• You are social as a person and eager to communicate with others 
• Familiar with quantitative and qualitative methods 
• Familiar with designing and facilitating creative processes 
• Familiar with play 

The application and materials must be in English. 
After the application deadline, a shortlist of the most promising applications will be made, which will then be assessed. When the committee has finished its review procedure,  each applicant will receive an assessment of his or her application. We welcome both national and international applications with respect to the fact that Design for Play is rooted in a Danish/Scandinavian context of design and play. Design School Kolding wishes to reflect its surrounding community and encourages anyone to apply for the position, irrespective of personal background. 

The application deadline is August 1st 2019, and the assessment will happen shortly thereafter.    

The position is to be filled by November 1st 2019 or as soon as possible thereafter.   

For further information, please contact secretary of research and development Christina Stind Rosendahl, phone +45 91 33 30 04 or mail: csr@dskd.dk or Professor Helle Marie Skovbjerg at skovbjerg@dskd.dk     

Also, please read the Design School Kolding Research Strategy:  https://www.designskolenkolding.dk/sites/default/files/download/research-plan_layout_final_1.pdf or pay a visit to the school website: www.designskolenkolding.dk   

Read the job description at the university homepage

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Post expires on Thursday August 1st, 2019