Design for Sustainability
Development of new sustainable materials, research on product/service systems for sustainability, sustainable consumption and research on sustainability transitions.
Aalto Design Research
Aalto Design Research is at the international forefront of enquiry into and through design.
Our Research
Aalto Design Research seeks both rigour and high societal relevance. Our research environment fosters goal-oriented research, imaginative experiments, critical discussion and cross-disciplinary enquiry. A high proportion of its work involves multi- and trans-disciplinary collaboration. It is also characterized by engagement with societal challenges and collaborations with organizations in the private and public sectors and with civil society actors. We work with businesses, scientists, technologists, sociologists, policymakers, public sector organisations and communities of interest towards a more just and sustainable world.
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In addition to research group foci, the department sustains research strengths across the following thematic areas
Codesign and Human-Centred Design
Codesign and Human-Centred Design research includes co-design, service design, interaction design, user experience, end-user innovation and open design.
Materials, Textile & Fashion Design
Research on fashion and textile design and design strategies, and textile and fashion knowledge building, particularly sustainable fashion and textiles.
Practice-Based Design Research
Practice-based design research includes artistic research, design-driven exploration on emerging technologies and materials, and the action research–oriented development of new design methods and approaches.
Research Groups
The department’s research is organized into six groups that lead its main research activities.
The department sustains research strengths across the following thematic areas
Participatory design, participatory planning, codesign, citizen engagement, user involvement, open innovation, living labs, design communities, community design, infrastructuring, design ethics, equality and justice.
Key research groups INUSE, ENCORE
Faculty members: Sampsa Hyysalo, Tuuli Mattelmäki, Turkka Keinonen, Andrea Botero, Joanna Saad-Sulonen
Postqualitative inquiry, experimental studies around soil, water ecosystems and seaweed, indigenous knowledge, ethics and care, collaboration between art and science.
Key research group: EMPIRICA
Faculty members: Maarit Mäkelä, Julia Valle-Noronha, Julia Lohmann, Priska Falin.
Emerging materialities, bio-design, bio-economy, bio-based materials, bio-based colours, designers in lab.
Key research groups: Fashion/Textile Futures (FTF)
Faculty members: Barbara Pollini, Kirsi Niinimäki
Transition design, transition arenas, systems thinking, sustainable product-service systems, critical and transformative futures.
Key research groups: NODUS, INUSE, Fashion/Textile Futures
Faculty members: İdil Gaziulusoy, Sampsa Hyysalo, Kirsi Niinimäki, Tatu Marttila, Maarit Salolainen, Julia Valle Noronha
Futures studies, critical and transformative futures, anticipation studies, experiential and embodied futures, speculative futures, imaginaries, imagination.
Key research groups: NODUS, INUSE, Fashion/Textile Futures
Faculty members: Kirsi Niinimäki, İdil Gaziulusoy, Tatu Marttila, Antti Salovaara, Emmi Pouta, Sampsa Hyysalo, Maarit Salolainen
Employee experience, Flourishing at work, AI and automation at work, Future of work.
Key research groups: ENCORE.
Faculty members: Virpi Roto, Martina Čaić
Inventive methods and ethnographic experimentation, design anthropology, de-colonising, feminist and queer theories and the fashion and design industries, mobilities and displacement, digitisation and the fashion industries, practices and social meanings design and fashion, alternative material narratives of modernity.
Key research groups: Design Culture
Faculty members: Annamari Vänskä, Namkyu Chun, Eeva Berglund, Heidi Paavilainen, Guy Julier
User experience (UX), interaction design (IxD), user research methods, prototyping, evaluation, human-AI interaction, algorithmic design.
Faculty members: Andrés Lucero, Virpi Roto, Antti Salovaara, Martina Čaić, Severi Uusitalo
The Department of Design also features more informally organized knowledge sharing networks across its groups and focus areas.
DesignSTS Network
Network connecting and facilitating knowledge sharing among researchers whose work intertwines design and science and technology studies.
Design integration and transformation network
Design integration and transformation network coordinates knowledge sharing across research focal areas in design.
Department Of Design | Latest Publications
Latest research output and publications from the Department of Design.
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Design Research News
Design strengthens industrial competitiveness – human-centered factory work at the core
Factory work is undergoing a transformation: new technologies and artificial intelligence are changing the content and roles of work. Aalto University’s Department of Design is studying this change from a human-centered perspective in the HiFive project.
Miklu Silvanto, who has worked with the world's most well-known brands, how do you nurture creativity?
Oura’s Chief Design Officer and Professor of Practice at Aalto University's Department of Design Miklu Silvanto talks about creativity.
Textile artist Juha Vehmaanperä received the Taito-Finlandia award
Vehmaanperä is known for their knitwear that breaks the boundaries of handicrafts.
Professor Tuuli Mattelmäki: “Insight often comes through surprise”
Professor of Design is researching how creative and empathetic working methods can promote social change and eco-social sustainability.Design Research Events
Design After the Cuts
As design functions face cuts and restructuring worldwide, Arianne Miller invites the community to examine the identity crisis, celebrate resilient practices, and imagine more lasting, human-centered models for public-sector innovation.
Care and Climate in an Age of Vulnerability. Aalto University Design for Government Final Show 2026
Aalto University Design for Government Final Show 2026.Doctoral Studies at Aalto Design Research
Interested in studying for a doctorate with us? We offer an international doctoral programme for those seeking careers in design. Admission period is in early spring each year.
Contact Aalto Design Research
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