Juthamas Tangsantikul (PhD)

Associate Professor Juthamas Tangsantikul (PhD) lectures and conducts research in the Department of Industrial Design at Chulalongkorn University. A graduate of Chulalongkorn’s Faculty of Architecture, she pursued advanced studies in design in the UK, earning an MA from De Montfort University (1996), an MPhil from the Royal College of Art (1999), and a PhD from the University of Westminster (2002). Her doctoral research explored gendered identities in digital communities and was among the first to integrate qualitative methods into design research. Juthamas’ research investigates the intersections of design and everyday life from both contemporary and historical perspectives. Central to her approach is the development of novel forms of knowledge production about material culture, drawing on theories and methods from the social sciences, humanities, and creative arts. Her work on the material cultures of manners has opened up new areas for design inquiry in Thailand. Her 2021 article, ‘Manners as Cultural Capital in 1950s Thailand’, was published in the influential journal SOJOURN. Her ongoing explorations of the film essay as a method for producing and presenting knowledge about design will appear as a chapter in the forthcoming edited volume The Space of the Image (Intellect, 2026). An exposition of her innovative use of literature in design research has also been commissioned for the Research Handbook for the Sociology of Consumption (Edward Elgar, 2026). In 2009 Juthamas co-founded the BFA in Communication Design (International Programme) at the Faculty of Architecture. The programme is regarded by the creative industries in Thailand as the best in the region. In 2023, she co-founded the MFA in Communication Design, a research-led programme with a particular emphasis on Southeast Asian visual cultures. Juthamas presently holds the position of the Chairwoman of the MFA and is the Head of the Department of Industrial Design.