Line Ulrika Christiansen
Line Ulrika Christiansen holds the position as Director of Design Foundation at the Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar.She worked several years as an interaction designer and project leader at the e1 (Exhibition Unit) of the Interaction Design Institute Ivrea: a design unit active on various projects for public and private clients.
In 2005 she is co-founder and partner of Interaction Design Lab in Milan, Italy and continues to collaborate and develop projects with Id-lab in spite of her position at the VCUQatar.She is also member of board of the architectural and design oriented studio 3xU in Copenhagen, Denmark.
She holds a Master of Interaction Design from Interaction Design Institute Ivrea, Italy. She received her BA in visual communication concerning traditional graphic design and screen based interactive multimedia from Designskolen Kolding in Denmark.She has taught and gave lectures at various international design institutions in Italy, UK, Sweden, Russia and Croatia.
Pornprapha Phatanateacha
As a designer and educator Pornprapha Phatanateacha has worked to expand the role of design toward a more interdisciplinary practice by focusing on design thinking and strategy development. Originally from Thailand, Assistant Professor Pornprapha Phatanateacha has been teaching at Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar since 2002. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Utah and Master of Fine Arts from Virginia Commonwealth University Richmond, Virginia. She began her career working with the multidisciplinary international architecture firm RTKL and has worked on numerous national and international design projects. Her professional design work spans a variety of disciplines including environmental design, exhibition design, branding, publication design and design strategy development. As an educator she conceived and implemented a Design Studio course with three main goals: creating a transition to professional practice for students, educating clients within the Persian gulf region to the potential of design thinking and the value of design and expanding the types of projects beyond commercial service to include local social and cultural issues and student initiated entrepreneurial projects. She recently pioneered a concept of a design conference that can demonstrate the expanded role of design by reframing the role of designer as a link between design disciplines, ideas, future developments and culture. Currently a co-chair of the Tasmeem Doha International Design Conference 2011
