THE GLASGOW SCHOOL OF ART
DESIGN RESEARCH CLUSTERS

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The School of Design’s Research Clusters initiative challenged staff to grow inclusive research networks from the ground up, consisting of both experienced and emergent researchers. The ambition being that staff confidence in their research, and its quality, would be enhanced.

Initial seed funding supported the Clusters to form interdisciplinary groups coalescing around shared interests and themes of enquiry, in order to further practice and research.

One year on, there are currently seven clusters at various stages of development: Visible Word; Image|Imaging|Interior; ~~S H O PP I N G~~; Post-Digital Ornament; Drawing Threads; Print; Modern Design; Health Humanities. A full day symposium at GSA (modern design), and a public exhibition at the New Glasgow Society (visible language) are two recent examples of recent public-facing events.

The goal is to develop the research clusters through attracting increasing doctoral student membership, while deepening their outcomes, leading to significant outputs of both national and international significance.

RESEARCH ENVIRONMENT

School of Design Research Clusters bring together colleagues from different specialisms and professional backgrounds who are at different stages in their academic careers to provide a focused platform for practice-led inquiry across the School of Design addressing social, economic, technological, ecological, and global contexts of design history, theory and practice. Grounded in the experience and priorities of design practice and pedagogy – shared and disseminated through their series of open talks, presentations, symposia, workshops and training events, and collaborative public exhibitions – the Research Clusters act as a catalyst to unlock potential new directions of staff research and intra- and inter- institutional collaboration and fostering exploration of innovative research-teaching linkages. The Research Clusters are inclusive, collective and cohesive, outward-looking, vibrant grass roots initiatives which have been integral to enhancing GSA’s research environment.

Clusters support development of Senior, Mid-Career and Early Career Researchers alike and provide a platform for ECRs to gain valuable research management skills, funding bid writing, and build external networks to support wider interdisciplinary collaboration. Post-graduate researchers are embedded in each of the emergent Research Clusters and this further enhances and supports the critical and practical contexts of emerging design research and future pedagogy. As such the Research Clusters advance GSA’s strategic mission which “aims to foster creativity and critical thinking through pedagogy, research and studio culture producing independent and outward looking faculty and graduates who work and collaborate locally, nationally and internationally.”

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