Prof. Dr. Katja Thoring

Academic Career and Research Areas

Katja Thoring teaches and researches at the interface of product, space, architecture, and technology. Her research focuses on how the spatial work environment can foster creativity and design processes on functional, creative, emotional, social, epistemic, and cognitive levels. She also develops innovative, technology-based research methods and investigates the potentials of Generative AI for the design process.

Prof. Thoring studied Industrial Design at the Berlin University of the Arts and the California College of the Arts, San Francisco, and received her PhD in Design Research from Delft University of Technology, NL. From 2009 to 2022, she was Professor of Integrated Design at Anhalt University of Applied Sciences in Dessau, Germany, before being appointed full professor at the Technical University of Munich. She is a member of the German Society for Design Theory and Research (DGTF), the  Design Society (DS), the Design Research Society (DRS), and a founding member of the Academy of Design Innovation Management (ADIM).

Awards

  • Top 10% of “Reviewers’ Favorites”, DESIGN Conference, Dubrovnik (2020)
  • Awarded as “top early career researcher” ADIM Conference, London (2019)
  • “Best Paper Award” ADIM Conference, Hong Kong (2017)
  • Top 10% of “Reviewers’ Favorites”, ICED Conference, Milan (2015)
  • “Thüringer Preis für Produktdesign”, Nachwuchspreis (1999) (1. Preis)

Thoring, K., Mueller, R.M., (2023). The agile landscape of design thinking, in: Straker, K., Wrigley, C. (Eds.), Research Handbook on Design Thinking. Edward Elgar Publishing, Northampton, MA, pp. 80–101.

Abstract

Thoring, K., Mueller, R. M., Desmet, P., & Badke-Schaub, P. (2022). Toward a Unified Model of Design Knowledge. Design Issues, 38(2), 17–32.

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Thoring, K., Klöckner, H. W., & Mueller, R. M. (2022). Designing the Future With the “Delphi Design Sprint”: Introducing a Novel Method for Design Science Research. Proceedings of the 55th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.

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Thoring, K., Gonçalves, M., Mueller, R. M., Desmet, P., & Badke-Schaub, P. (2021). The architecture of creativity: Toward a causal theory of creative workspace design. International Journal of Design, 15(2), 17–36.

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Thoring, K., Desmet, P., & Badke-Schaub, P. (2018). Creative environments for design education and practice: A typology of creative spaces. Design Studies, 56, 54–83. 

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