Collaborations:
We are open to partnerships with industry, academic institutions, and community organizations. Industry collaborators might include textile manufacturers, wearable technology companies, medical device developers, or apparel brands interested in research-driven innovation. On the academic side, we are particularly interested in cross-disciplinary projects that bring together design, engineering, health sciences, or the social sciences. We also value community partnerships where design research can serve a direct public benefit. If you have a project idea or want to explore what a collaboration might look like, get in touch with a brief description of the problem you are working on, and how you imagine WearLab contributing.
Graduate Students:
We mainly recruit graduate students through the UC Davis Design MFA program. Skills particularly relevant to our current projects include digital knitting, e-textiles and soft electronics, garment construction and pattern making, CAD embroidery, and digital fabrication. In your application, name Professor Gozde Goncu Berk and describe the specific questions driving your practice. We strongly encourage a brief email introduction before you apply, share your portfolio and tell us what you want to build. Our primary output is research papers targeting top design research publication venues including ACM and DRS conferences, although we also pursue design dissemination opportunities such as exhibitions and demonstrations when possible. If your primary interest is in pursuing an independent studio practice, WearLab is probably not the right fit.
Undergraduate Students:
UC Davis undergraduates can join active research projects for pay, course credit, or on a volunteer basis.
Visiting Scholars & Postdoctoral Researchers
We welcome visiting scholars and postdoctoral researchers whose work intersects wearable design, smart textiles, computational fabrication, or adjacent fields. Postdoc positions are contingent on available funding; visiting appointments may be arranged on a case by case basis.
Contact:
Send a brief email to [email protected] introducing yourself, a link to your portfolio or relevant work, and a few sentences about what you want to research and why specifically at WearLab, generic inquiries will not be responded to.