About this role
We have the strength of over 40,000 students and staff. Students who bring hope for the future. Staff who contribute every day to Linköping University addressing contemporary challenges. Our values are based on credibility, trust, and security. By being courageous, thinking freely, and innovating, we together create a better future through both large and small actions. Welcome to apply for a job with us!
At Malmstens, furniture design meets craftsmanship where tradition meets innovation. Hand tools meet CNC, wood meets biocomposites, and craftsmanship meets robotics. Together, we shape the future's design language and sustainable methods within furniture design and craftsmanship. The future is in motion – how can analog and digital craftsmanship create new expressions and strengthen education, research, and society?
Become a PhD candidate with us and help build tomorrow's craftsmanship and design heritage. Shape the future!
Your Responsibilities
The purpose of this PhD position is to explore how new design languages and aesthetic expressions can emerge when classical principles of furniture design and historical craftsmanship techniques meet today's digital manufacturing possibilities.
By combining traditional knowledge in furniture manufacturing with, for example, CNC and robotic processing, additive manufacturing, and digital simulation, the research investigates how the aesthetics and production methods of the future can be shaped in this dynamic interplay between the analog and the digital.
A central focus is on material interactions – how different types of wood, biocomposites, and hybrid materials react and collaborate when processed with both traditional and computer-controlled techniques. Through practical experiments, the PhD candidate will push the boundaries of these materials, discover new design expressions, and deepen the understanding of sustainable processing in complex production chains.
Precision and resource efficiency are combined with the ambition to create aesthetically innovative results. The goal is to integrate functional and environmentally conscious solutions while opening up new opportunities for formal experimentation.
The PhD research also aims to establish new methods that can be shared within education and research. By developing systematic process descriptions, open manuals, and pedagogical models, knowledge transfer in real-time is enabled, ensuring that results can be quickly applied in teaching, supervision, and collaborative projects at Malmstens.
As a PhD candidate, you will focus on your doctoral education and the research project you are part of. Your work may also include teaching or participating in other departmental assignments, up to 20 percent of full-time.
Your Qualifications
You hold a master's degree in furniture design, industrial/product design, craftsmanship, or technical design, or have completed courses totaling at least 240 higher education credits, of which at least 60 credits are at the master's level, including 30 credits for a thesis, or equivalent. Your degree must be completed by the time the employment decision is made.
Since parts of the project are intended to be carried out through Research Through Design in close relation to experimental practice, it is advantageous if you can demonstrate previous experience, either through professional work or student projects, in furniture design, craftsmanship, or experimental manufacturing. This can be shown in a digital portfolio (e.g., PDF, video, or website).
Additional qualifications are given if you have experience or interest in working with digital manufacturing tools and visualization software such as CAD/CAM, or other platforms for exploring material and design processes.
As some scientific publications may be in English, good proficiency in English, both spoken and written, is required.
Your Workplace
Malmstens Linköping University (MLU) is a creative center for Furniture Design, Furniture Craftsmanship, and Upholstery, rooted in Carl Malmsten's vision of "hand and thought in vital interplay." At the Lidingö Campus (Stockholm), students and researchers work closely with the industry, conducting projects that often result in prototypes and demonstrators. Workshops, studios, and galleries provide an inspiring environment where craftsmanship and innovation thrive. At MLU, the creators of the future not only shape furniture but also a meaningful and beautiful future through skilled hands and visionary ideas.
Read more about our activities here: https://liu.se/organisation/liu/iei/mlu
About the Employment
Upon taking up the position, you will be admitted to the doctoral program. Read more about the respective faculty's doctoral education here.
The employment is limited to a normal duration of four years full-time. Extension of employment up to five years may occur based on the degree of teaching and departmental assignments. In special cases, further extension may be granted. You will initially be employed for one year, and thereafter the employment will be renewed for a maximum of two years at a time, based on the achieved study plan.
Start date is by agreement.
A security check may be conducted before a decision on employment is made.
Salary and Benefits
The PhD salary is regulated based on a locally agreed salary scale. Read more about employee benefits here.
Union Contacts
For information about union contacts, see Help for Applicants.
Application
You apply for this position by clicking the "Apply" button below. Your application must be received by Linköping University