Collaborative Doctoral Award: History, Craft and Practice in the Evolution of Vehicle Design Science Museum / Royal College of Art
History, Craft and Practice in the Evolution of Vehicle Design
The Royal
College of Art and the Science Museum in London seek
to appoint a student to undertake a PhD by thesis on the history of design
practice in the UK
car industry. This studentship is funded by an Arts and Humanities Research Council Collaborative Doctoral Award.
Despite its
central role in the conceptualization, testing, mediation and manufacture of
cars, the history of modeling and visualization in the British automotive
industry has received virtually no scholarly attention. This is all the more
surprising given the flurry of attention in other design fields such as
architecture to the roles played by new technologies of imaging in creating and
communicating design, partly provoked by and as a way of understanding the shift
from analogue and hand-modeling to digital design practices (CAD) in design and
manufacturing in the 1980s and 1990s. Clay modeling remains the classical
method of developing and finally evaluating new vehicle shapes for sign-off,
while the combination of computer drawing systems with projection systems for
viewing virtual models (often in 3-D) can often short-circuit and reduce the
numbers of physical models made, particularly in studios catering for high
volume production and rapid product cycles. However, the conceptual steps
pioneered by General Motors with the original studio system, taking a car
design from concept sketch through to developed renderings and drawings,
models, and finally to an unambiguous definition for tooling still remain.
This PhD draws
together methodologies, knowledge, supervisory expertise and archival access in
vehicle design history and practice, the history of design and technology and
the curation of design and technology history to identify and interrogate the
causal factors and impact of emergent modeling and visualization techniques
from the 1930s onwards. It will explore these apparently simple
changes in car
design practice and ask larger historical questions about the relationship
between design process and result in manufacturing. Although a focused study on
a hitherto ignored area of automotive design process, it has the potential to
contribute to its constituent fields as well as further interdisciplinary
thinking and research. As such, applications are welcomed from candidates with
a background interest in, but not limited to: histories of technology, science
and culture, in design and engineering, in craft, making and manufacturing.
Working
towards a PhD, the student will make an original scholarly contribution to the
understanding of manufacturing and the role that mediation technologies play in
the design and making process. The project will make use of archival resources,
material collections, industry contacts and key methodologies drawn from the
history of design, history of technology and design research. Outcomes will
include scholarly publications contributing to specialist and student knowledge
in history of design, history of technology and the study of innovation. It
will also contribute, within the Science
Museum, to the expertise
and historical insight that may be deployed in communicating and interpreting
the role of designing in everyday life for a broad public audience.
The project
will be supervised by Professor Dale Harrow (Vehicle Design) and Dr Sarah
Teasley (History of Design) at the RCA, and Dr Andrew Nahum (Senior Keeper, The
Science Museum). As the supervisory structure suggests, the project aims to
unite museum research with investigations into recent and current practice,
using the partner institutions’ extensive access to historical collections and
past and present designers in the world automotive industry. The Science Museum
is Britain's premier Museum of Science, Technology and Medicine. It
holds collections, amassed since the 19th century, of international
significance as well as relevant archival resources. Its permanent galleries
and temporary exhibitions represent not only the history of science, technology
and medicine but also address its present manifestations and future potential.
The Vehicle Design postgraduate programme (in the School of Design)
at the RCA is the world’s premier programme in automotive design. Its former
students are found at the highest levels of design in the world’s automotive
industry and the department is fortunate in maintaining excellent ongoing
relationships with these alumni. Through the expertise of its own staff, and
the ongoing contacts with industry, the department maintains an excellent
overview of the past, current and evolving trends in vehicle design practice.
The History of Design Programme (in the School
of Humanities, shared with the Victoria and Albert
Museum), is the leading
centre for postgraduate study in design history, and an
internationally-recognised hub of research excellence.
The successful
applicant will be registered as a student at the RCA and will follow the RCA’s Research Methods Course during the first year (one
day per week). He or she will be attached to both the Vehicle Design Programme
in the School of Design,
and the History of Design Programme in the School of Humanities.
Joint affiliation will allow the student to access relevant supporting sessions
in both programmes to further the development of appropriate historical
research methodologies and the understanding of technical processes. At the Science Museum, he or she will be based in the
Collections Department , and will receive appropriate induction in accessing
collections and in the use of three-dimensional records. At both institutions,
the student will become part of a vibrant research culture, which is already
supporting several CDA students in related fields of design and historical
research in a museum context including the History of Design Programme and the
Science Museum co-hosted AHRC CDA on ‘Atomic, Molecular and Orbital Iconography
in Post-War Design', which began in autumn 2011.
Potential
students should apply using the RCA’s application system. The application
should contain a clearly defined research proposal which outlines a potential
subject within the broad parameters outlined above. This means articulating a
clearly-defined research field; outlining key collections or works of arts
and/or archive material which is available for study; submitting a bibliography
of relevant primary material and existing relevant secondary scholarship. An
academic reference is also required.
The applicant
should have completed or be nearing completion of a masters level degree in a
related field (e.g. Industrial Design, Vehicle Design, Engineering, Business or
Social History, History of Design, Science, Technology and Engineering,
Museology).
Applicants
must also be UK or EU
citizens and be ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom. Further information
on eligibility requirements is available from the AHRC website: http://www.ahrc.ac.uk.
The
scholarship is for three-years, full-time study. It has been funded by the Arts
and Humanities Research Council. The
AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award in the 2012/2013 academic year provides a
maintenance grant payment of £15,590 p.a.and fees of £3,732 p.a. Please note
that this award includes the Royal College of Art's contribution to the top-up
fee. EU applicants without UK
residency status can apply for this award but, if successful, will only be
entitled to a bursary covering the fees.
To apply,
complete the online application, available here:
Applicants
should indicate on the on-line form that s/he is applying for a PhD to be funded
under AHRC CDA Scheme: History, Craft and Practice in the Evolution of Vehicle
Design
An academic
reference is also required.
In the case of
queries about the application process, please contact the RCA Research Office at research@rca.ac.uk
The closing
date for applications is 3 September 2012.
Tim
Dr Tim Boon,
Head of Research and Public History,
The Science Museum,
Exhibition
Road,
London
SW7 2DD