Application deadline: August 25, 2016; at 4pm CEST
Konstfack University
College of Arts, Crafts and Design
LM Ericssons väg 14
Stockholm
Sweden
T + 46 8 450 41 00
Form of employment
Fixed-term appointment in accordance with the provisions for employment as a doctoral student in the Higher Education Ordinance (~4 years for full-time studies). The doctoral programme Art, Technology and Design (KTD) is a collaboration between KTH and Konstfack. The programme has its basis in the major contemporary challenges faced by society—for example climate change, urbanisation processes, migration, increasing social and economic inequality and the dwindling supply of non-renewable resources. These challenges require new approaches and a holistic, process-oriented way of thinking. The overall objective is to unite research and education with a radical rethinking of the individual-society-environment relationship and the transition required for sustainable social development. Artistic exploration and experimentation is seen here as a central component of this development.
We are particularly looking for those with a background in socially conscious design, craft or art, who are willing to connect the practices of making with advanced theoretical and methodological perspectives. Konstfack’s generously equipped workshops provide unique opportunities to develop knowledge through action and materials. The studies are based on the programme’s courses and seminars, as well as on the student’s individual research project. We are looking for well-qualified and strongly motivated doctoral students who want to contribute to the development of new knowledge. This is where we can shape dynamic encounters between artistic and scientific approaches and between three different perspectives: art, technology and design.
Duties
Doctoral studies within the doctoral programme KTD are fundamentally interdisciplinary thanks to their focus on encounters between perspectives and tangible materialisation. As a doctoral student you formulate your own research project that you will conduct in parallel with your studies (courses, seminars and workshops). The research project is supported by the resources of both KTH and Konstfack and will be based on a critical analytical approach that can be applied, in terms of research, to material, artistic and performative experiments, as well as in discursive investigations.
The programme offers plentiful opportunity for collaboration with researchers and doctoral students within closely related fields and environments. For collaborations with external partners within, for example, the cultural sector, enterprise sector or public sector, Konstfack and KTH’s shared centre of excellence is available as a resource. Parts of the doctoral programme can be conducted in institutions and research centres abroad in order to deepen the innovative, critical and global perspectives of your work.
A limited part of working hours, max. 20 percent, may consist of departmental service in the form of teaching, for example. Only those that have been admitted to doctoral studies can be offered employment.
Konstfack is Sweden’s largest academy of art. Each year about 1,000 students participate in Bachelor’s and Master’s programmes, teacher training, and professional courses in art, design, and the applied arts. Research is organised around five themes: design-driven and creative knowledge production, material cultures, narrative processes, sensorium—spatial perceptions, and visual cultures and learning. The exhibition spaces, specialised workshops and extensive library collections on art, craft and design at Konstfack constitute a resource that is unique in Sweden.
KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm is the largest and oldest technical university in Sweden. No less than one third of Sweden’s technical research and engineering education capacity at university level is provided by KTH. Education and research spans from natural sciences to all branches of engineering and includes Architecture, Industrial Management and Urban Planning. There are a total of 13,400 first- and second-level students and almost 1,900 doctoral students. KTH has 4,900 employees.
