Smart ways for engaging customers in design process (RDF17/DES/QIN)

Product design has undergone a considerable shift as it responds to increasingly sophisticated consumer demands. We are seeing a growing need to allow customers to shape products to their particular needs and a move from products manufactured for consumers to products that are made by consumers to meet their needs. This shift asks fundamental questions about the design process of products and the role of customers of these products in the overall process. Step changes are required for future design systems and processes to adopt open innovation principles and build upon the increasing shift to crowdsourcing to align design and manufacturing processes with customers and other stakeholders.

This project aims to apply human-centred design principles and emerging social computing techniques to study smart interfacing and interaction ways in customer engagement tool design. The research focus is on (but not limited to) how to improve design performance and quality by engaging customers in a computer supported collaborative working (CSCW) environment or on a crowdsourcing based new product development platform.

Eligibility and How to Apply
Please note eligibility requirement:
• Academic excellence of the proposed student i.e. 2:1 (or equivalent GPA from non-UK universities [preference for 1st class honours]); or a Masters (preference for Merit or above); or APEL evidence of substantial practitioner achievement.
• Appropriate IELTS score, if required (evidence required by 1 August 2017).

For further details of how to apply, entry requirements and the application form, see
https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/research/postgraduate-research-degrees/how-to-apply/

Please ensure you quote the advert reference above on your application form.
Deadline for applications: 20 January 2017
Start Date: 2 October 2017

Northumbria University is an equal opportunities provider and in welcoming applications for studentships from all sectors of the community we strongly encourage applications from women and under-represented groups.