Applying Design Thinking in Postgraduate Research (Problem Identification)

Speaker:  Prof. James Agutter
                 Director of Spark Design Initiative, College of Architecture & Planning, University of Utah
                 Associate Professor, School Of Architecture, University of Utah

Venue:  Room 6558 (Lift 27-28)

“Design thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the designer's toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success.” —Tim Brown, president and CEO of IDEO

Workshop Overview:

Design thinking is a solution-based thinking that starts with a specific goal and goes through multiple iterations to solve complex problems in a human-centered way.  Can design thinking help people do better in their research?  Applying design thinking in research helps researchers to discover and explore the potential solutions to problems in their research area. In this workshop, you will learn how design thinking can apply in your research and the interactive discussion will help you to look at problems in a new light, identify crucial problems, and articulate research opportunities utilizing design thinking needs identification methods.

This will be an interactive discussion with specific examples and methods introduced.

About the Speaker:

James Agutter is the founder of the Multi-Disciplinary Design Program and the Director of the Spark Design Initiative.  His work has focused on the application and translation of design principles, practices, and processes in a variety of domains.  These range from product design and evaluation in numerous fields, social entrepreneurship, and higher education program development. He has published widely, generated over 10 million dollars in grant awards and been awarded 7 United States patents.   He has won numerous awards for his work, including Creative Achievement Award by Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, University of Utah Early Career Teaching Award, University of Utah Beacon of Excellence Award and the University of Utah Distinguished Innovation and Impact Award. He is an Associate Professor of Design in the College of Architecture + Planning at the University of Utah.

All Research Postgraduates are welcome

*Light refreshment will be served

For enquiries, please contact Miss Phoebe Mok (2358-6297, phoebe.mok@ust.hk).

Organized by:

Center for Education Innovation (CEI)