Design re-thinking. Some issues about doctoral programmes in design Fatina Saikaly ABSTRACT Different philosophical assumptions, aims, structures, contents and processes underlie the Ph.D. programmes in design offered in different socio-cultural contexts. In order to get a deep understanding of the actual state of doctoral research in design, a comparative study of ten selected programmes was developed. The study covered universities from the North of America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Each case study was divided in three parts. A first part was related to the study of the doctoral programme. The second part was the study of selected Ph.D. theses. And finally an interview took place with one of the programme advisors. In this paper I will present the results of the comparative study. The points to be discussed are: (i) The different philosophical assumptions that guide doctoral programmes in design; How these different philosophical assumptions led to different learning experiences and contributed to the development of different skills and competencies; (ii) The different positions and roles of the design project in different research settings. I will conclude the paper by introducing two points that deserve further exploration. The first one is related to the practice-centred Ph.D. programmes in design. The other one concerns the reasons why the role of the design project in doctoral research is evolving and gaining more status. INTRODUCTION 'Design research is alive and well, and living in an increasing number of places.' 1 (Cross, 1999). Doctoral programmes 2 in design are one of these places. The purpose of doctoral studies in university disciplines is to learn to do research through the development of an original contribution to knowledge (Phillips and Pugh, 2000). Therefore the ' […] concern in design research has to be the development, articulation and communication of design knowledge.' (Cross, 1999) Most of the Ph.D. programmes in design were launched during the 1990s 3 . They are offered in different socio- culturel contexts and belong to different educational systems. The epistemological and methodological issues related to design research are still at the center of the debates of the international community of design researchers. In order to get a deep understanding of the different philosophical assumptions, aims, structures, contents and processes that underlie and guide these Ph.D. programmes, and the different positions and roles of the design project in different research settings, a comparative study of 11 programmes was developed. Each programme formed a case study. Each case study was divided in three parts: the study of the doctoral programme, the study of selected Ph.D. theses developed within the programme and an interview with one of the programme advisors. Design pedagogy: basic design and academic experiences / 1