Associate Professor, The Ohio State University
Dr. Sébastien Proulx is Associate Professor of Design, Coordinator for the Industrial Design major and Graduate Studies Chair in the Department of Design at The Ohio State University. He holds a PhD in Design and a Master of Applied Science in Design and Complexity from the University of Montreal (Canada). He completed postdoctoral studies in public health at the University of Montreal Public Health Research Center (IRSPUM). During his graduate studies, he completed a doctoral fellowship in political and moral sociology at the Paris School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (EHESS) and master level fellowship at the Institut Design2Context at the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste (Z HdK) in Zurich. In 2022, he received the Industrial Design Society of America (IDSA) Education Award.
Dr. Proulx serves as Co Editor-in-Chief of the francophone peer-review journal Sciences du Design (PUF). He also remains affiliated, as a research associate, to the University of Montreal’s Design et Société research group.
His research program revolves around the role of designers in the development of public services and policies. His approach draws on moral sociology and care ethics to support designers' understanding of the complexity of contemporary social and political realities. His research focuses on 1) understanding designers’ role in the sociopolitical realm (theoretical axis), 2) expanding the horizon of design activities in the development of public services (practical axis), and 3) making designers capable of assuming the responsibilities associated with such a stance (pedagogical axis).
