Professorship in Transversal Design

Professorship Transversal Design (80–100 percent)
The teaching and research activities of the Basel Academy of Art and Design Basel FHNW (HGK Basel), within the Institute of Experimental Design and Media Cultures (IXDM), focus on the development and communication of norm-critical, transversal, and post-disciplinary design practices. The thematic orientation of the professorship also aligns with the focal topics of the IXDM labs HyperWerk and Critical Media Lab—specifically justice, sustainability and digitality. 

Your tasks
–management of the MA Transversal Design programme: responsibility for budget, personnel, strategy, development, planning and implementation
–serving as a member of the IXDM leadership team; engaging in internal and external committee work
–development of transversal theories, learning approaches, and practices in design and strengthening education and research in the field
–networking and positioning of the MA Transversal Design in a regional and international context
–acquisition of third-party funded research projects; writing of scientific publications; communication of research results via conferences, festivals, and exhibitions
–active participation in the strategic development of the IXDM as a whole
–networking of research and teaching in the MA Transversal Design as well as with other MA programmes; supervision of PhD students in the MAKE/SENSE PhD programme

Your profile
You hold a university degree (MA) and a doctorate (PhD) or have several years of equivalent distinguished research experience in a design discipline. Furthermore, you meet the following criteria: 

–extensive design knowledge, practice, and leadership experience – particularly in one or more of the following areas: Transversal Design, Design Justice, Collaborative Design, Environmental Design or Situated Practices
–experience with innovative teaching methods, including the use of process-based approaches, hands-on engagement, and digital media
–expertise in curriculum development and delivery of high quality, research-led teaching
–excellent communication and organisational skills
–You can demonstrate high quality research outputs at an appropriate quality and already have successfully acquired external funding for research projects
–You contribute to the international research network and the promotion of the personnel and thematic diversity at the HGK Basel
–You hold a qualification in higher education didactics or are willing to acquire this within the first year
–You possess excellent German and English language skills in both spoken and written form, or the willingness to acquire these skills during the first years

MA Transversal Design at IXDM
Transversal Design launching in 2024 is a research-oriented, transdisciplinary master’s programme. It focuses on developing design practices that work across disciplinary boundaries—thinking and acting transversally to consider social, political, economic and ecological processes. Students develop practices that include alternative media, speculative models, practices of care, tools for solidarity and radical proposals for worlds in transition. More details.

Research at IXDM
IXDM Research nurtures a set of activities and a community of students & researchers working at the intersections of design, media, arts & technology. We focus on practice-based and creative situated approaches for configuring other infrastructural realities and grounded imaginations. We work on future-facing, collective research that has an agenda. We work on what’s needed to articulate, imagine and reconfigure media and infrastructures. We aspire to do critical work to strengthen the struggle against extraction, oppression, and exploitation, pursuing an agenda of justice and material equity.

Our current research attends to (but is not limited to) infrastructures for energy, AI, XR, NetZero, future work, green transitions, computation, biodiversity, digital publishing, video archiving, toxic materials, institutional operations, urban resilience, urban commons, decolonial listening, social transformation, life affirmation and critical access. Our practices depart from trans*feminisms, queer theory, computation, intersectionality, anti-coloniality, disability studies, historical materialism, design and artistic practice to generate currently inexistent vocabularies, imaginaries and methodologies.

Start date: July 1, 2024 or by agreement. Apply here. We look forward to receiving your application by November 30, 2023.

Questions about the position: Prof. Dr. Helen Pritchard, Head of Research IXDM, T +41 61 228 44 45 / Questions about the recruiting process: Nadja Brunazzi, HR Lead, T +41 61 228 43 48

*Images above: (1) Jamming with fertiliser synthesisers and prototyping of soil sensors; Workshop Regeneration 2030. Organised by the research project “Regenerative Energy Communities” with Prof. Dr. Helen V. Pritchard, Head of Research IXDM in collaboration with Climate Neutral Växjö 2030. (2) Tool belt from the “Nani&Friends Performance” and installation “Bubbles and Giggles”; Collaboration between Master students, artists and researchers at the “Energy Giveaway at the Humuspunk Library”, AIA gallery, Zurich Art Weekend, inspired by the master’s workshop on “Productions of Care”. (3) Curated by students of process design at HyperWerk. Instead of paying with money customers at the Open House 2023 of the HGK Basel could exchange anything from the assortment for stories, drawings or a vocal performance. (5) How and for whom do we create shared spaces? Process designers at HyperWerk gather different approaches to coming together and bring them into an exchange: spaces are not simply there, they are made through collective action.