Prof. Dr Sarah Owens becomes Head of the Institute Digital Communication Environments (IDCE) and a member of the Management Board of the HGK Basel from 1 December 2026.
The Basel Academy of Art and Design FHNW is happy to welcome Prof. Dr Sarah Owens to the HGK Basel as Head of the Institute for Digital Communication Environments (IDCE) and as a member of the Management Board from 1 December 2026.
The selection committee, chaired by Prof. Dr Claudia Perren (Director HGK Basel), unanimously chose Prof. Dr Sarah Owens. Members of the selection committee were: Prof. Isabel Seiffert (external Expert, based in Zurich/Vienna, Professor of Communication Design and Visual Literacy, HfG Karlsruhe), Prof. Marion Fink (Head of BA Visual Communication and Digital Spaces, IDCE, HGK Basel), Dirk Koy (Lecturer, IDCE, HGK Basel), Dr Linda Ludwig (Research Office, MOM Representative, HGK Basel), Timon Senn (Student), HGK Basel, Annette Schönholzer (Member of the University Board FHNW) and Nadja Brunazzi (HR Manager, HGK Basel).
Prof. Dr Sarah Owens studied Communication Design at Augsburg University of Applied Sciences (Germany) and obtained a Master of Arts in Design History at the Royal College of Art / Victoria & Albert Museum in London (UK). In 2012, she completed her PhD in Typography and Graphic Communication at the University of Reading (UK). In 2009, she was appointed as a lecturer and in 2014 as a professor at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK), where she taught in the fields of Visual Communication and Visual Cultures. Prof. Dr Sarah Owens will move to the HGK Basel from the ZHdK on 1 December 2026, where she most recently headed the Visual Communication department, the corresponding Master’s programme and the associated research unit.
Sarah Owens has two decades of teaching experience at art schools in Switzerland, the USA and the UK – at all levels from BA through MA, CAS / MAS to PhD. Her teaching approach combines design practice with critical theory, exploratory research methods and distinctly transdisciplinary didactics. A central concern for her is to empower students to develop an independent perspective and to participate actively in cultural and social processes of change. Her research focuses on the social, cultural and epistemic dimensions of visual artefacts. She has initiated and led a wide range of research projects. At the IDCE, she will take also on the role of Head of Research in addition to her role as Head of the institute.
As the founder of the Hybrid Media Lab, she stands up for publication formats that enable new forms of knowledge transfer by combining analogue and digital media. In the field of basic research, she has explored image-theoretical questions concerning visuality, imagination and processes of (un)learning in the Reframe to Redefine project. She continues this research in the Seeing book series, which she co-founded. For over fifteen years, she has also been investigating design as an everyday phenomenon and analysing the conditions for the democratisation of design processes in the digital age. She has also carried out extensive projects in design and cultural history research – such as the collaborative project Swiss Graphic Design and Typography Revisited (2016–2020), which brought suppressed voices and alternative perspectives on design history into focus, or her latest SNSF research project, which dealt with the design history of the SBB (2022–2026).
In 2021, Sarah Owens was awarded the Grand Prix Design by the Federal Office of Culture in recognition of her long-standing commitment to design education and research. She has also been involved with the Swiss Design Network since 2016, initially as a board member (2016–2020), then as president (2020–2025) and currently as vice-president. She regularly organises symposia and conferences, including Counterparts: Exploring Design Beyond the Human (2022) and Design History(ies) of the SBB (2025), and is active in social discourse through her cultural work, such as co-founding the Black Film Festival Zurich and participating in literary events.
In its current development, HGK Basel is increasingly focusing on contemporary, high-quality degree programmes that strengthen research, teaching and collaboration. Diversity, sustainability and current social transformations play a major role in this. In Prof. Dr Sarah Owens, HGK Basel has gained another dedicated professor who excels in this field.
HGK Basel wishes Prof. Dr Sarah Owens every success as Head of the Institute of Digital Communication Environments (IDCE), Head of Research IDCE and as a Member of the Management Board at HGK Basel!
The date of her inaugural lecture will be announced later.
Prof. Dr Sarah Owens’ contact details will be available on the website of the HGK Basel from December.
