Legitimating industrial design as an academic discipline in the context of an Australian Cooperative Centre

Industrial design, unlike its counterpart fields in the product design process such as engineering and material science, is a recent player in the field of academic higher education. In many schools of design, industrial design remains a vocational art form rather than an industry ready research-based field. Collaborative research centers (CRC) in Australia bring different disciplines together to work on government and industry funded projects and here industrial design has begun to play a role. Such projects are often tied to PhD programs for individuals lead by more experienced research and industry experts. It is in such a multidisciplinary context where industrial design can prove its academic credibility and help further its legitimacy as an industry oriented research process. Following a review of the disciplinary rise of industrial design and the nature of the CRC environment the second part of this paper addresses the experience of a recent industrial design doctoral candidate working simultaneously on design and science oriented aspects of a timber research project. The successful outcome of the project leads to conclusions about the development of industrial design as an academic discipline and the capacity of the field to both lead and learn in this environment (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.