Design Thinking, Design Research, and Design Experiments 2025

WELCOME TO DESIGN THINKING, DESIGN RESEARCH, AND DESIGN EXPERIMENTS

Dear PhD Students, 

Welcome to our newly developed Design Thinking, Design Research and Design Experiments course. The course consists of four parts: 

SECTION 1: Design Thinking (Monday morning) Linda Nhu Laursen: 

In this first part of the course, we will take you through the development of the design thinking concept. As many academics and professionals within the design field, our relationship to Design Thinking have evolved through the years. We will take you through the development of the design thinking concept with our reflections along the way. We hope this will help you deepen your understanding of the aspirations, the theoretical underpinnings as well as the recent critique of the design thinking concept. We believe it is important for you as PhD students, that have an interest in the concept, understand why, how and which path had led the Design Thinking concept, to the somewhat disputed position, where it is today. 

SECTION 2: Design Experiments (Monday afternoon) Hans Jørgen Andersen:

In this second part of the course, we will address wicked problems that are often seen as related to design problems. We will discuss the “nature” of wicked problems, the continuum from tame to wicked problems, and how this will influence your design of experiments. Dealing with design experiments and research often requires a moral stance from you, as the researcher, and the designer or design subject you investigate. We will discuss different normative paradigms for design thinking and how these relate to your Phd project. What influence and implications may the different paradigms have for your experimental design?

SECTION 3: Design Research (Tuesday morning) Peter Gall Krogh: 

In this third part of the course” Design Research: Epistemic Traditions from within Constructive Design Research” we work with when we drift, how research insights emerge. We discuss “drifting by intention” and four underlying epistemic traditions from within constructive design research. We explore emergence as a feature of practice-based design research, and ask questions on how to understand the knowledge produced: where is its location, what acts create it, how binding it is supposed to be, and ultimately, what drives knowledge creation?

SECTION 4: Discussion on your research (Tuesday afternoon) Everyone: 

In the fourth part of the course, we are hands-on with your PhD research project. You will present your research program, epistemic tradition and experimental setups. Together we will discuss your research design, research approach and the normativity embedded

Best 

Linda Nhu Laursen, Peter Gall Krogh and Hans Jørgen Andersen

Organizer: Linda Nhu Laursen
Lecturers: Linda Nhu Laursen, Peter Gall Krogh, Hans Jørgen Andersen
ECTS: 2
Time: 20-21 October 27th - 28th October 2025
Place: Aalborg University
Zip code: 9220
City: Aalborg
Maximal number of participants: 30
Deadline: 6 October 2025

Important information concerning PhD courses: 

There is a no-show fee of DKK 3,000 for each course where the student does not show up. Cancellations are accepted no later than 2 weeks before the start of the course. Registered illness is of course an acceptable reason for not showing up on those days. Furthermore, all courses open for registration approximately four months before start of the course.

We cannot ensure any seats before the deadline for enrolment, all participants will be informed after the deadline, approximately 3 weeks before the start of the course. 

For inquiries regarding registration, cancellation or waiting list, please contact the PhD administration at phdcourses@adm.aau.dk When contacting us please state the course title and course period. Thank you.