Every doctoral design researcher must go through the existential crisis of not knowing for a while if that daunting research actually makes any difference in the world. After going through that and reflecting on my trajectory, I concluded that this crisis, and many others that doctoral design researchers face, is not personal or individual. These existential crises are the manifestation of deeper contradictions that deserve investigation. By the end, I share theoretical concepts and tools that can be used to meet people undergoing similar crises and collective existential projects about them, particularly, the Crisis Deck.
Keynote address at the DRS 2024 PhD Consortium.
Video
Slides
