Design ethnography, and more generally user research, are important functions across product, service and systems design companies globally. Demand for user researchers and design ethnography is growing steadily and new markets such as India and Japan are opening up.
The MSc in Design Ethnography is the first taught postgraduate programme to address the specific information, skills and knowledge needs of the next generation of design ethnographers.
Students will study alongside design and engineering students - giving them real insight into the needs and contexts of the primary consumers of user research in the design process. A three month long major personal field study at the end of the course gives students an opportunity to develop their skills responding to realistic, and in many cases industry-partner set, project briefs.
In summary, the course provides a rich, practice-based opportunity to engage with the challenges of doing user research in the 21st century.
Admissions
Linda Spalding
l.s.spalding@dundee.ac.uk
Tel: 01382 385298
Detailed Enquiries
Dr Catriona Macaulay
c.macaulay@dundee.ac.uk
Tel: 01382 386522
VIDEO INTERVIEWS - (COMING SOON!)
Dr Catriona Macaulay & Professor Peter Gregor
The New Masters in Design Ethnography
Dr Catriona Macaulay
Dr Catriona Macaulay, Course Director of the MSc in Design Ethnography, explains how the idea for the world’s first taught masters degree course in Design Ethnography came about, and why Dundee is the perfect place to do it. Catriona also gives us a hint of some of the exciting challenges that students on the course can expect to meet, and how the development of the course has provided a focus for many exciting new inter-disciplinary research avenues. Sadly she doesn’t tell us what the ‘real green button’ story is – for that you’ll have to come and join us!
Peter Gregor
Professor Peter Gregor, Dean of the School of Computing, explains the School’s long history of engaging with what are typically regarded as ‘extra-ordinary’ users (older people, people with disabilities, etc.) has led to a diverse staff team that certainly does not fit most people’s stereotypes of what a School of Computing would be like. From psychologists to theatre directors and design ethnographers, Peter outlines how the staff in the School of Computing have combined to create a rich, dynamic and exciting research environment that averages in excess of £1 million research funding annually.
Professor Mike Press
The New Masters in Design Ethnography
Mike Press
Professor Mike Press, Head of the School of Design, explains what design ethnography has to do with preventing crime! The School of Design has a long history of research into how design thinking can be applied in ‘non-traditional’ design contexts. In this brief interview Mike tells us how exploring how design thinking might help tackle social problems like crime, he discovered design ethnography and related forms of user research as a valuable tool in helping define and scope the nature of the design challenge, and point the way towards possible solutions.