PhD Corporate Partnerships | Institute of Design

In 2026, after nearly 90 years, the Institute of Design was folded into Illinois Tech's School of Design & Society.
This website is an archive of the impactful and inspirational work produced by the ID community before that transition.

László Moholy-Nagy opened the New Bauhaus in Chicago in 1937, treating design as a discipline that was teachable, testable, and consequential. Nine decades on, its scope had widened from the things people use to the systems they depend on: hospitals, government agencies, classrooms, supply chains, digital platforms. Along the way, ID community members developed the published research, methods, and frameworks that designers rely on every day.

Chief among them is human-centered design: close attention to how people actually live, and advocacy for what that research reveals. It shaped designers who are comfortable with complexity and ambiguity: curious, rigorous, inclusive, and stubbornly optimistic about design's ability to change the systems that shape our lives.

To every one of them, who taught, studied, built, critiqued, and stayed late in the studio: thank you, and keep designing.

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institute
of desiGn

Designed to see the previously impossible.

ID’s PhD Corporate Partnerships program is designed for the experienced professional who wants to find new ways to lead and innovate at their current organization. Invest in and grow strong design leaders while building the kind of knowledge rooted in—and of value to—your organization.

Kaplan building interior

How we find new ways forward.

Partner corporations sponsor one or more design professionals or researchers for three years to lead a collaborative research project between ID faculty and industry experts on a topic central to the sponsoring corporation. Work produced through the corporate partnership is driven by and belongs to the organization.

Residency at the Institute of Design is not required. Candidates can continue their job while working with ID faculty, and spending a one-week immersion in Chicago every two months.

Candidates should have a master’s degree in design (or equivalent) and/or significant experience as a professional designer.

More about ID's PhD in Design

Recent Partners

Expert Faculty

Carlos Teixeira

Charles L. Owen Professor of Systems Design and PhD Program Director

Weslynne Ashton

Weslynne Ashton

Professor of Environmental Management & Sustainability and Food Systems Action Lab Co-Director

Portrait of Ruth Schmidt

Ruth Schmidt

Associate Professor of Behavioral Design and Net Positive Behavioral Action Lab Director

Carlos Teixeira

Charles L. Owen Professor of Systems Design and PhD Program Director

Contact Carlos Teixeira, PhD Program Director, for more information about collaborating on PhD corporate partnerships.

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