I am associate professor in design history and design theory at Umeå Institute of Design, and Director of PhD studies in industrial design.
I teach and do research in design, specializing in the areas of design history and design theory. I hold a PhD in industrial design. In my dissertation, , I argued for the need of activating a historical awareness in designing. .
My research and teaching sits in the intersections of design historical and practice-oriented design research, exploring how transitional design histories can work as prototypes for unpacking and reframing core concepts in contemporary and emerging design practices. Purposefully destabilizing and constructively complicating assumptions and values embedded in design methods and processes, transitional design histories are made from the outlook of practice, as formed in a nexus of situated individual and collective doing, knowing, making and thinking.
I am part of the artistic research environment Design after Progress: Reimagining design histories and futures (Swedish Research Council, 2023-29). During the study year 2025-26, I am RJ-Fellow in the project at the CAS Centre for Advanced Study at the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. Between February and September 2021, I was Senior Resident Researcher at the Department of Design, Politecnico di Milano, Italy, working on the project Mapping Design Methods: Exploring past and present methods development to face emerging practices and unstable futures.
Background
I was born here in Umeå, grew up in Saudi Arabia, and have since then mostly lived in Umeå (with stints in Gothenburg and Italy). My educational background is in the History of Science and Ideas at Umeå University, and I have also studied semiotics and aesthetics at the University of Bologna, Italy. I have been a PhD student and teacher in the field of history of ideas, and started teaching as an external teacher at UID in 1996 where I have been employed since 2006. Between 2009 and 2018 I was a part of the school's leadership team: Deputy head of department 2009-12, Head of department 2013-15, and Vice rector 2015-2018. Between 2022 and 2025, I was Director of PhD studies in industrial design.
My main areas of teaching are design history and theory, focusing on ideas and practices central to critically probing matters of concern in contemporary designing. At Umeå Institute of Design (UID), I teach and tutor on all three cycles of the studio-based education in industrial design, and I have taught design theory in other Nordic and international design schools.
I have been a part of the teaching team in pedagogical courses for university teachers at the Centre of Teaching and Learning (UPL) at Umeå University, and have also with UPL developed pedagogical courses for design teachers. In 2015, I was awarded recognition as 'recognized university teacher' in our university's pedagogical qualification model.