Design research degrees

Deepen your design capabilities with a traditional or practice-based research degree in the UTS School of Design.

As a Doctor of Philosophy or student, you’ll join a dynamic community of researchers and practitioners making a meaningful contribution to the global design field.

Areas of practice

Fashion and textiles
Product design
Visual communication
Social, service and transition

When you enrol in a research degree, you’ll deepen your knowledge of design across these fields and deliver practical outcomes that resonate with industry, government and the wider community.

All School of Design research aligns with one or more of our five research themes:

Material ecologies – bringing together studies in material culture, material thinking and material futures.
Critical visualisation – exploring the capacities and politics of the visual in shaping the critical issues and stories of our time.
Intersectional design histories and theories – revealing new inter-disciplinary histories and theories across intersectional genders, communities, workers, ethnicities and sexualities.
Change design – advancing the capacity of design practices and perspectives to support transition toward more just, diverse and safe futures.
Design sovereignty – actioning Indigenous self determination through partnered projects and investigations.

For PhD student Kimberley Crofts, design is a form of activism.
Through her research, she’s exploring the role of community participation in planning the phase-out of coal mining and power generation in the Hunter Valley region of New South Wales, with an emphasis on how designers can contribute to the transition process.
"My hunch is that designers are able to help people think through problems, and one of the key things that we can do is help raise community voices in these sorts of processes. I also want to understand what the role of design can be in community-led transition planning, and for any designer working with communities that aren’t their own."
The research was inspired by Kimberley’s own climate activism, as well as well as her interest in the work of UTS Professor Cameron Tonkinwise, international expert in the field of transition design. Kimberley’s PhD is co-supervised by Cameron and Associate Professor Abby Mellick Lopes, an expert in design-led social research.
"Having both Abby and Cameron as supervisors is a great balance. I admire the way that Cameron brings activism into the design world, and that Abby has such a deep understanding of humans and identity."
This supervision arrangement has further strengthened Kimberley’s belief in design as key to achieving more sustainable futures. And at UTS, she’s found the perfect home.
"Design, as I think about it, is not just aesthetic. The sort of design that I’m talking about now is about the collective shaping of worlds and futures."
Ania Zoltkowski lived and breathed fashion – until she took a long, hard look below the industry’s surface.
She’d spent years working in design, sales and production in Europe but was increasingly concerned by fashion’s impact on the environment – as well as its narrow, Western-centric point of view.
"In fashion, we’re always looking to London, Paris, New York. I’m interested in decentring these monolithic ideas."
Ania’s concerns got her thinking about how else she could use her skills and experience. A PhD in the UTS School of Design, with its emphasis on design’s potential to drive systemic change, felt like where she needed to be.
"I want to transition worldviews of fashion away from this very Western-dominant, colonial way of looking at what fashion is towards the pluriverse where many worlds, worldviews, ways of being and philosophies can co-exist. The School of Design felt like a place where I would be supported [to] bring these ideas to life."
At UTS, Ania’s research is supervised by Professor Cameron Tonkinwise, an international expert in transition design, and Associate Professor Timo Rissanen, who is known for his work in sustainability and social justice as they relate to the contemporary fashion industry.
These differing but complementary skillsets have allowed her to dig deep when it comes to the work.
"I couldn’t ask for two better supervisors. I just feel really supported. The ideas I’m exploring are quite radical for fashion, and Timo and Cameron are both really supportive of that."
While she may have left the fashion industry, she hasn’t lost her love of textiles. Ania’s practice based PhD will see her produce a series of material experiments that embody the theoretical underpinnings of the work and its relation to place.