Bilge Merve Aktas

Doctor of Arts, Postdoctoral researcher

Bilge Merve Aktaş is a maker-designer, currently working as a postdoctoral researcher at the department of design. She holds a BSc degree in industrial product design from Istanbul Technical University (2012), MA degree in Design, Technology and Society programme from Koç University (Istanbul, 2015) and DA degree in Design from Aalto University (2020). In her practice-led doctoral research, she studied the interaction between humans and materials during making and designing processes. Her research investigated the entanglement between humans and nonhumans from the material agency perspective. She conducted her research with studies in felt making that include her own practice in the studio and observations done at felt studios. Her research interests cover issues like textile crafts, makers, materiality, nonhuman agency and local knowledges.

In her postdoctoral research, Bilge works in Academy of Finland funded Maker Studio Pedagogy project that investigates the studio pedagogies of makers/designers from a creativity perspective. She also works in transnational Erasmus+ funded Design Doctoral Education project to build transparency and networking among institutions across Europe that offer or are interested in doctoral education in design.