Designers need research, research needs designers!

The researchers at Strate are deeply involved in research and action-research projects, exploring methods, transversal and projective ways of thinking, and designers' approaches across four research themes, connected to action research projects:

• Ecologies of living together with EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES: by experimenting with uses and forms of living together, question the place of these technologies as well as their role and impact in the contemporary world
• Design for the TRANSITION OF ORGANIZATIONS: from inner transformation to renewed relationships with living milieux, supporting human organizations in their search for more sustainable operating modes. .
• FORESIGHT by design: Using design fictions, scenarios and prototypes to experience and question the desirability of plural futures, 
• Ethics & Design PEDAGOGY: fostering the mutual empowerment of the school’s actors by developing self-awareness, critical thinking, and a sense of responsibility among designers.

Research at Strate is developed in an active, situated, and engaged manner, within projects that can be both collaborative and forward-looking. It is also embedded in the implementation of a "Pedagogical Research Pathway for Designers," spanning from the 1st to the 5th year.

Thanks to its strong anchor in design practice, Strate Research leads the school's scientific teaching and introduces students to research methodologies. This work is structured around three key pillars:

• Teaching humanities and social sciences: Understanding the state of the art and academic consensus, mastering survey tools (ethnographic/sociological methods), and developing a critical perspective on the discipline.
• Teaching writing: Enhancing clarity in written expression, developing the ability to defend, summarize, and narrate a project, learning to write as an argumentative form, and using writing as a tool for design practice.

Introducing scientific methods and design research: Exploring foundational texts in design studies, design exploration, and design practice, fostering a critical mindset that contextualizes sources, encouraging perspective-taking, presentation, and debate. This also includes the development of self-reflective processes, as well as the introduction of design research tools, approaches, and methodologies, combining both theoretical learning and hands-on practice ("learning by doing").