ALEKSANDAR
KOSTADINOV
Nationality: Macedonia
Current Job: Research Fellow, National University of Singapore
Graduation: 2020
Degree: PhD
Faculty and Department: Industrial Design, School of Design and Environment
Undergraduate University: University of Arts and Industrial Design Linz, Austria
LinkedIn Profile: Aleksandar Kostadinov
Why did you choose to do a PhD?
I wanted to embark on a new adventure and continue the exploration of questions that emerged from my previous investigations i.e. bachelor and master’s thesis.
Why did you choose to do graduate education at NUS? If you received offers from other universities, why did you pick NUS?
I think that NUS, more than any other local university, reflects the spirit of Singapore, thus representing a balanced mix of healthy ambitiousness, intellectual receptiveness, and exceptional human capital.
How does graduate school compare to your undergraduate experience?
There is certainly more freedom to one’s activities but it comes with a price tag which means more responsibility.
Briefly share about your research or thesis (i.e. dissertation topic for Masters by Coursework students).
In my thesis, I wanted to explore how different certain professions go about designing certain robotic configurations. I noticed that in many cases, the designers start with a big idea that they want to recreate with various tools and mechanisms. Having realized that the majority of those approaches were not able to yield robust results, I decided to take a different path by starting with a very simple idea and slowly working towards a larger configuration. The results of this design approach lead to a much better performance of the final design.
On hindsight, would you have chosen the same research supervisor for your graduate programme?
I would definitely have chosen the same supervisor. He is an expert in his domain, which is probably one of the main reasons for the positive results presented in my thesis.
What impact do you hope to have with your research?
I hope that my research will teach aspiring scholars, who have a background in Industrial Design, to be more aware of how valuable their skills are outside of their profession, especially in academic research for the 21st century.
Briefly share a highlight from your graduate school journey.
One of the highlights was life on campus and the opportunity to meet and befriend people from various parts of the globe. There is a vast diversity of graduate research students hailing from every corner of the world, which renders NUS a vibrant and colorful academic melting pot.
What message would you like to give to students interested in graduate studies in NUS?
Pursuing academic research is an adventure that nurtures and teaches curiosity, resilience and resourcefulness. If you are willing to embark on this journey you will be rewarded with skills that cannot be acquired anywhere else and you will experience personal growth beyond your imagination.