NEWS Professor of design, Johan Redström, has been appointed the new Rector of Umeå Institute of Design (UID) at Umeå University. Starting September 1, he will lead the school together with a new rectors group.
“It is a privilege to be a part of and to be given the opportunity to contribute to such an astonishing place as Umeå Institute of Design. Design is inherently about collaboration, and this new leadership structure is a response to where we think design is heading” says Johan Redström.
Former UID rector Anna Valtonen, now Dean at Aalto University School of Art, Design and Architecture, is looking forward to future collaborations.
”I think Johan is a great choice” says Anna Valtonen. ”I personally recruited him to UID and very much look forward to see him in this role, I think he will be excellent in it.”
In addition to Johan Redström, the new rectors group of Umeå Institute of Design consists of Vice rector Maria Göransdotter and the three Deputy rectors Niklas Andersson, Demian Horst and Monica Lindh-Karlsson. This new rectors group marks a change of the leadership structure at UID.
“In the process of recruiting a new rector for UID, we have been looking for both a person with the right competence and leadership skills, and a way of working that is sustainable. With Johan Redström and the rectors group, I believe that we have found just that, and I am very glad that everyone involved accepted their new roles” says university Pro-Vice-Chancellor Anders Fällström, chair of the recruitment committee.
The educations in industrial design at UID are some of the most successful of its kind. Students from all over the world make the school a vibrant international community, and after graduation, many of them continue as leaders and developers of the design field.
“Our biggest challenge will always be to give our students the best possible start for professional careers as industrial designers. Our ambition to educate industrial designers at the highest international level requires constant development and reflection as the field of design evolves. Indeed, the subject itself is about change, about making things better or about doing things in new ways. Our long term ambition is to become as successful in developing the subject of industrial design as we now are in educating industrial designers” says Johan Redström.
Johan Redström is Professor of design at Umeå Institute of Design, Umeå University. He has previously, among other, been Design Director of the Interactive Institute (Sweden) and Associate Research Professor at the Centre for Design Research at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture, in Copenhagen, Denmark. His background is in interaction design and philosophy. In 2001, he received his PhD from the University of Gothenburg, where he also became Docent in Interaction Design in 2008.
Umeå Institute of Design (UID) provides education and research in industrial design. Our educations range from basic and advanced to PhD level courses and programmes with specialisations in transportation design, product design and interaction design. The education is based on an artistic foundation, and is often carried out as projects with external partners. UID is part of the Faculty of Science and Technology at Umeå University, Sweden. The institute has around 140 full time students from over 30 countries. For the last three years, the organisation Red Dot has ranked UID as the best design school in Europe, North America and South America. UID was awarded as the world’s best industrial design school at the International Design Excellence Awards, IDEA, 2013, and has three times been part of Business Week’s listing of the world’s 30 best design schools.
Johan Redström, Rector, Umeå Institute of Design, Umeå UniversityPhone: +46725136190
E-mail: johan.redstrom@umu.se
Maria Göransdotter, Vice rector, Umeå Institute of Design, Umeå UniversityPhone: +46907867036
E-mail: maria.goransdotter@umu.se
Elin Andersson, Communications officer, Umeå Institute of Design, Umeå UniversityPhone: +4690786 90 31
E-mail: elin.andersson@umu.se
Photo for download, Johan Redström
Photo for download, Maria Göransdotter
Editor: Anna-Lena Lindskog