The focus of the research means that one area of study is design for sustainable behaviour, one example of which is the design of packaging and how it influences the way in which people discard it. The research also considers overall questions such as how the design of products can contribute to sustainable development in a world in which the middle class is rapidly expanding.
One early area of special focus was the design of hand-held tools, and LiU also boasts a long tradition in the design using different types of wooden materials. This has been carried out in recent years in close collaboration with Carl Malmsten Furniture Studies, Lidingö.
Industrial design, the sustainable design of products and intelligent material selection, have been for many years important components of the education at Linköping University, not least within engineering programmes. Some research has been carried out, but resources allocated to this have been limited. LiU’s first professor in design specialising in technical design was appointed in 2015, and the complete field of research is now being expanded and reinforced.
Campus Valla has a well-stocked materials library.
