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Associate Professor
Institute of Design and Visual Interaction
Silje Alberthe Kamille Friis
My research is situated within design methodology and focuses on how people, groups and organisations can develop their capacity for sustainable transformation. I investigate how awareness of different ways of knowing can contribute to regenerative design practices by reconnecting people with their inner nature, with each other and with the wider living systems of which they are part.
Silje Alberthe Kamille Friis
Current work
My current work focuses on the development of human capacity for regenerative transformation. It is grounded in the context of contemporary society, where rational thinking, speed, efficiency, and extroversion are often prioritised over sensing, reflection, and inward attention. While these qualities have contributed significantly to innovation and progress, an overemphasis on them can limit our ability to imagine futures beyond the dominant values and assumptions of our time.
Through practice-based research with design students and professional practitioners, I explore arts- and nature-based methods that support embodied, intuitive, and tacit forms of awareness alongside more analytical approaches to design. A central focus is how designers can become aware of their own inner nature and develop the capacities needed to work holistically – recognising their interconnectedness with others and larger social and ecological systems.
Regenerative transformation is not only a matter of changing external systems but also of developing the inner capacities that enable us to imagine, relate to, and create new ways of being in the world. Recent work includes studies on regenerative design, visualising inner landscapes in design practice, and arts-based methods in collaborative design processes.