PhD | School of Design

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Entrance Year Sep 2025

Programme Code 73601

1. General

Within The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, the School of Design offers positions for applicants who wish to obtain doctoral degrees in design. Operating within a leading design school in Asia, the PhD programme aims to advance knowledge by producing high-quality research. Situated in Hong Kong, the School brings together Asian and Western knowledge to inform scholarly, technical and critical enquiry. As a centre for both design research and design education, the School of Design welcomes diverse approaches within each of these themes, with various methodologies, practices and theoretical positions, through hypothetico-deductive, interpretive, constructive and artistic research. The PhD programme draws together global scholars to generate, exchange and discuss knowledge and ideas on contemporary questions within the pursuit of advanced academic work.

2. Research Themes

Research at the School of Design is grounded in an understanding of design as a social activity that: [a] involves collaboration and sharing among diverse people, [b] is embedded in societies and cultures, [c] gives expression to ideals and values of society, [d] critically explores and interrogates issues in society and [d] goes beyond the design professions.

Moreover, the School research has gravitated towards exploring these social dimensions of design within three distinct realms:

a) Social Design (設計社會學):

collaborative design with communities to improve their lives through participatory, theoretical and critical approaches

b) Design Economy (設計經濟學):

collaborative design that enhances the role of design in innovation and value creation in the private sector

c) Design Making (設計製造學):

user-centred design investigations with communities and practices of making, such as the “maker movement,” with technological, organizational as well as sociological facets.

This work happens in the School’s research centres and research labs:

Each theme is based on the established experience and expertise of the School of Design and its researchers. Each embraces an essential facet of relevant contemporary design research approach.