Bridging the research-practice gap: understanding the knowledge exchange between design research and social design practices
This paper in the Journal of Engineering Design addresses the question of how knowledge exchange between design research and practice can be understood and improved. ESC-professor Wina Smeenk, ESC researcher Marieke Zielhuis and professor Koen van Turnhout introduce and investigate a social co-design case study in their article: Bridging the research-practice gap: understanding the knowledge exchange between design research and social design practices. This case study bridges the gap between research and practice and shows how knowledge development within academia, professional and non-professional design practice are intertwined. Wina Smeenk’s Co-Design Canvas is the subject of the case study.
The gap between research and design
Design academics have difficulty achieving effective design practice, while design professionals have difficulty appropriating academic output.
In turn, design professionals create new local knowledge that may not be recognized (as such) by design academics. This situation is seen as suboptimal and problematized as the research- practice gap.
Social co-design case study
The researchers analyze the case through an alternative template analysis that includes four perspectives on ‘the gap’: abstraction, communication, alignment of knowledge needs, support of local knowledge production. These four perspectives are compared and interrelated. This refines the theoretical understanding of the research-practice gap and provides applications and actionable insights about practitioner-centred knowledge production for design academics who want to contribute to design practice.
Wina Smeenk, Marieke Zielhuis & Koen van Turnhout (11 Mar 2024): Bridging the research-practice gap: understanding the knowledge exchange between design research and social design practices, Journal of Engineering Design, DOI: 10.1080/09544828.2024.2322170