Eva Liisa Kubinyi is a design researcher and educator at the Faculty of Design at the Estonian Academy of Arts. Her doctoral research explores how critical service design can enable community-based institutional transformation. More broadly, her work examines the societal roles and agency of children and youth, leading to the development of workshop formats, service models, and theoretical frameworks that support more community-based service designing. She holds an MFA in Child Culture Design from HDK-Valand, University of Gothenburg (Sweden), and previously worked as a designer at VIVISTOP Telliskivi (Estonia), a creative accelerator for children and young people. In 2023, she was awarded the Friend of the Youth Field recognition by the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research.
Eva Liisa was kind to do a little Q&A about her new role and goals. Questions: Triin Männik from Research and Development Office.
Q: Since this year, you have been the representative of doctoral students on the Doctoral School Board — what motivated you to take on the role of EKA doctoral students’ representative, and what goals have you set for yourself for the next two years? In other words, what do you definitely want to accomplish?
A: The support and encouragement of my fellow doctoral students motivated me to take on the role of doctoral students’ representative. As a designer, I see this position as an opportunity to advocate for the values that matter to me and to cultivate an open and respectful culture of participation within a highly institutional environment.
Over the next two years, my goal is to strengthen communication between the Doctoral School Board and doctoral students, primarily by increasing transparency around ongoing changes. Above all, I believe it is essential that students’ voices are genuinely heard and taken seriously, even when their proposals seem impossible to realize within the constraints of the educational system.
If I’m not mistaken, your doctoral research focuses on change-makers — what kind of change-maker do you consider yourself to be, and what do you plan to bring into your new role from your previous research and design practice?
Do you believe that change is possible? Or do you mainly see harmful effects?
Each of us has our own understanding of change, which inevitably influences what opportunities we see and how we implement them. I believe change is possible, but only when it is grounded in awareness and genuine willingness to change ourselves. At the same time, the impact of organizational culture cannot be underestimated: the broader environment either supports or hinders the opportunities to change.
From my research and design practice, I bring to my new role the ability to create processes that foster trust, openness, and ongoing dialogue. Change cannot simply be imposed; it must be intentionally cultivated and thoughtfully shaped.
Call for action: Who should contact the doctoral students’ representative, and with what kinds of questions?
Both doctoral students and anyone concerned about the well-being and development of early-career researchers are warmly invited to reach out to the doctoral student representative. Questions may concern the organization of studies or the working environment, as well as the broader role and position of doctoral students at the university.
At the same time, it is important to acknowledge that no single person can fully represent the diverse concerns, experiences and aspirations of more than 80 doctoral students. For this reason, it is particularly important to foster a student-centered study environment based on open communication and shared responsibility.
Find Eva Liisa Kubinyi contacts here.