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PhD Research Areas

IDC School of Design invites candidates to apply for PhD in the following core domains­: Industrial Design, Communication Design, Interaction Design, Animation and Film, Mobility and Vehicle Design, Human Factors and Ergonomics. Besides these core domains, the PhD programme fosters an open interdisciplinary approach involving the disciplines such as engineering, social sciences, media and education.

Before applying, the candidates are strongly suggested to refer to the list below, to know about the research areas of the faculty members and the research topics that are suggested for this intake.  

Candidates are strongly encouraged to contact and discuss their research interests with individual faculty members of IDC School of Design before applying, to gain a better understanding of the current research focus. Candidates are also encouraged to work with the faculty member, for a few months, and develop their research areas before the application.

 

Faculty members available to take PhD students for Autumn 25-26:

Anirudha Joshi, Anisha Malhotra, Avinash Shende, Girish Dalvi, Jayesh Pillai, Nishant Sharma, 

Purba Joshi, Sugandh Malhotra, Swati Pal, Venkatesh R, G V Sreekumar.

Below are a few specific PhD topics suggested for the 2025-26 Autumn Semester applications :

Faculty

        Topic

Purba Joshi

  • Designing age-friendly cities of the future (see description)
  • Design for healthcare/ assistive aids for people living with neurological disorders/ design for special needs

Anirudha Joshi

  • AI-based Tools for Text input in Indian languages / Other tools for Indian Languages
  •  Localisation for Indian Needs / Localisation of user interfaces for Indian languages
  •  Usable security and Privacy Research
  •  Design Education for Contemporary India
  •  Design research for emergent users
  • A writeup for some of these topics here: link but please write to me for more details.
G.V. Sreekumar
  • Typography, Calligraphy, Letterform studies
  • Publication design
  • Information Graphics, Data Visualisation
  • Design Pedagogy

Jayesh Pillai

  • Grammar of storytelling in Virtual Reality (e.g. see recent papers 1, 2, 3)
  • Application of immersive media in education (e.g. see project & recent papers)

Sugandh Malhotra

  • Design Forecasting / Design for Future
  • Sustainable Design

Venkatesh R

  • Data Visualization (visual encoding, next billion users, mapping, scientific viz) (e.g. see projects & recent papers)

Swati Pal

  • Design for Elderly
  • Design for Healthcare/Rehabilitation
  • Occupational Health and Safety
  • Designing for Decision Making

Nishant Sharma

  • Designing hospital and home care for ICU patients
  • Evoloving methodologies in teaching Design Thinking
  • PdX: Participatory Design for X (Mobility, Agriculture, Healthcare)
  • Developing assistive mobility aids and devices for para-athletes
  • Developing Vehicle Forms using biomimicry

Anisha Malhotra-Dalvi

  • Designing for children
  • Design Pedagogy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
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