Program Overview

Introduction to the Doctoral Program

The Doctoral Program in Design at the Politecnico di Milano is a prestigious program that inherits the legacy of the Doctoral Program in Industrial Design, which was inaugurated in 1990 as the first doctoral program entirely dedicated to design at an international level.

Program Overview

The Doctoral Program in Design operates within the School of Doctoral Studies at the Politecnico di Milano. The program aims to train candidates to understand the nature of research in the field of design and its methodological approaches, design, planning, and development of research, established and new application domains, and impacts. The Department collaborates with other doctoral programs at the Politecnico di Milano and other national and international institutions.

Program Objectives

The objective of the Doctoral Program in Design is to train researchers who can develop their capabilities to positively orient change processes and promote innovation through research in the field of design. The doctoral path is structured into courses, field training activities, and international internships, offering support and mentorship for the development of research activities and the preparation of doctoral theses.

Program Structure

The training path is oriented towards transferring knowledge of research practices to candidates through an in-depth study of methodological aspects, research planning and design, orientation, and impact assessment, accompanying them in the development of original doctoral research that can contribute to the growth of scientific knowledge in the field of design.

Career Opportunities

The profiles formed by the program find employment in Italy and abroad, both in university and research institutions and in other public and private organizations and companies.

International Network

The doctoral program offers the possibility of relating to a wide network of doctoral programs at the national and international level and is part of a network that involves five of the most important university realities at the international level: Aalto University (Finland), Carnegie Mellon University (USA), ID at the Illinois Institute of Technology (USA), Imperial College London (UK), and TU Delft (Netherlands).

Additional Collaborations

The Department of Design also participates in the Doctoral Program in Science, Technology, and Policy for Sustainable Change (STEP Change), which aims to prepare experts in guiding transformation processes towards sustainability in public and private organizations. The Department collaborates with other national and international doctoral programs through the involvement of its teachers as co-supervisors of theses, reviewers, and teachers of formative modules.

Research Areas

• The Doctoral Program in Design focuses on research in the field of design, including methodological approaches, design, planning, and development of research.
• Established and new application domains are also explored, as well as the impacts of design research.
• The program is committed to contributing to the growth of scientific knowledge in the field of design.