As of 1st of March two new PhDs are joining our project. We are proud to welcome them on board.

YOUrban has three doctoral level researchers, one funded by AHO and two by the Research Council of Norway. Today Jørn Knutsen joins the project at the Institute of Design where he’ll be working on the STROLL sub project along with his fellow design grad colleague Einar Sneve Martinussen who’s now one year into his PhD connected to the project. YOUrban is also linked to the Institute of Urbanism and Landscape at AHO and its there that Erik Strutz also begins as a new interdisciplinary PhD on the sub project called OVERLAY. Erik joins us from former master’s studies in media and communication at the University of Oslo.

Mobile antennas overlooking the streets of Berlin.

These three doctoral researchers are central to the liveliness and innovation of the project. We’re delighted to have them on board. The recent presentation by Einar at the Cognitive Cities conference in Berlin’s an excellent example of how research by design is being carried out in the project, just one way that it’s addressed at the Institute of Design. This work connects back to related design and research reflection by Timo Arnall (in the final year of his PhD with us at the institute).

We encourage active exchange and collaboration between our doctoral students. We value the ways they engage in various design venues and events in order to communicate research. Design research needs to investigate multiple means of mediating its processes and findings and films, live presentations and blog posts such as the one Einar developed for the conference all in their own ways augment more formal, accredited academic publication, such as the related book chapter Einar has in press: see Hensel, M. (Ed.) 2011.