We have a vacant PhD fellowship in Systemic Design and Sustainability at the Department of Product Design at OsloMet. The candidate will become part of the research group Systemic Design and Sustainablitity. The PhD work will contribute to the theoretical fields of systemic design, sustainability in design as well as circular solutions for plastics and aquaculture.
The position is located at our Campus at Kjeller near Lillestrøm. The duration of the position is three years. The position requires admission to our PhD program Innovation for Sustainability.The aim of the SirkAQ project is to promote the transition from linear to circular economy in aquaculture by establishing and implementing sustainable circular value chains for plastics from end-of-life equipment from the aquaculture industry through reuse, repair, lifetime extension and use of recycled materials in new products. The purpose is to optimize resource use as well as reduce the environmental and climate footprint of aquaculture, where the vision is “zero plastic waste by 2030”. SirkAQ is a Green Platform funded project and the candidate will work actively with all involved partners in the project which are: SINTEF Ocean, OsloMet, Norner Research AS, Future Materials, Oceanize, Sinkaberg-Hansen, Hallingplast and ScaleAQ.
Area of Work
Systemic design can be described as the combination of systems theory and design practice. This involves investigating systemic structures, dynamics and relationships related to the area being studied in order to better describe the effect of a design intervention. In this context, design is considered to include the development and change of product, service, organization and social structure as well as system.
Through system dynamic methods, the PhD candidate will map, visualize and analyze relationships and dynamics based on data obtained both in the various work packages in the project and through their own study. The candidate will also describe possible interventions and the potential effect these may have on the aquaculture industry and the environment in general on the basis of the research.
In general, the programme will provide new knowledge in the fields of circular design and systemic design. The PhD delivery will seek to communicate end results to both the aquaculture industry in general and will further be relevant to the areas of business planning (industrial ecology), natural resource management, production, maintenance, communication and cooperation between developers, authorities, industry, etc.
The PhD candidate will be supervised by internal supervisors at OsloMet Professor Tore Gulden and Associate Professor Kristin S. Wigum. The PhD candidate will be included in the academic environment at the department and international research networks in systemic design and sustainability. The aforementioned supervisors are active in the development of the international research environment in systemic design and sustainability in the collaborative and teaching network European Systemic Design Lab ESDL and the research conference Relating Systemic Desgin RSD to name a few. The PhD candidate with supervisors will participate in international conferences with a view to networking and presentation of research methods and results.
