School of Design Alumna Sofía Bosch Gómez Receives Inaugural Rachel Cooper Award for Emerging Design Research Leadership
Carnegie Mellon University School of Design alumna Sofía Bosch Gómez (PhD in Transition Design '22) has been named one of the inaugural recipients of the Rachel Cooper Award for Emerging Design Research Leadership, presented by the Design Research Society (DRS) at its 2026 conference in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Established in memory of former DRS President Rachel Cooper, one of the most influential figures in contemporary design research, the award honors emerging scholars whose work demonstrates exceptional leadership and impact in the field. The recognition was presented during the 60th anniversary year of the Design Research Society, the world's longest-established multidisciplinary organization dedicated to advancing design research and scholarship worldwide.
For Bosch Gómez, the recognition came as a complete surprise.
"I was genuinely surprised. I was not expecting it at all, so there was a moment of real disbelief," she said. "But once I was at the conference and the award was announced, my heart was exploding with happiness. This is recognition from my peers at an international level, and that means everything to me."
Beyond honoring research excellence, the award specifically acknowledges leadership within the design research community. That aspect of the recognition was particularly meaningful to Bosch Gómez.
"Part of the award focuses on leadership, which is something close to my heart," she said. "I try to lead in ways that are horizontal and collaborative, so having that recognized gave me a sense that this kind of leadership is valued in our field."
Today, Bosch Gómez is an Assistant Professor in Northeastern University's Department of Art + Design and founder of the Public Design Collective, a research group dedicated to understanding and advancing public-sector design and innovation. Through the Collective, she works to deepen understanding of how design is being used in government contexts across Latin America while building connections between researchers and practitioners across national boundaries.
The award is named for Professor Rachel Cooper, an internationally respected scholar, educator, and advocate whose work helped shape the fields of design management, design policy, and design research. Throughout her career, Cooper championed design's role in addressing societal challenges and mentored generations of researchers around the world. The award bearing her name celebrates emerging leaders whose work demonstrates the potential to advance the field in similarly meaningful ways.
Bosch Gómez's research focuses on understanding how design and designers are shaping public-sector innovation in Latin America, an area she believes is gaining increasing visibility within international design discourse.
"This means a great deal to me because it signals that the work I do—understanding how design and designers are shaping the public sector in Latin America—is becoming a central conversation in the international design sphere," she said. "That is the most important part for me."
Her work explores both the opportunities and limitations of design within government contexts, helping to build a more nuanced understanding of how design can support public institutions and democratic futures.
"If we can better understand the possibilities of design in government contexts, what it can support and where its limits are, we can shed light on the remarkable work happening in Latin America and also address some of its challenges in an informed way," she said.
Bosch Gómez completed her PhD in Transition Design at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Design in 2022. Her dissertation focused on building a systemic understanding of public service and innovation through design pedagogy.
Following graduation, she moved to Boston for a postdoctoral appointment jointly housed in Northeastern University's Burnes Center for Social Change and the Department of Art + Design. She later joined Northeastern as an Assistant Professor, where she teaches graphic design studio, experience design studio, research methods for design, and design systems.
Her doctoral work at Carnegie Mellon continues to shape her research, teaching, and leadership today.
"My PhD research was the foundation for the Public Design Collective and everything I do today," she said. "It gave me the theoretical and methodological tools to pursue a line of work I had been drawn to long before the PhD, but didn't have the frameworks to develop rigorously."
The School of Design also influenced her development as an educator.
"SoD gave me something I deeply value: the experience of teaching," she said. "I loved working with undergraduate and graduate students there during my doctoral journey, and many of the pedagogical approaches I developed during those years I continue to use with my students at Northeastern today."
Looking ahead, Bosch Gómez plans to continue expanding the Public Design Collective's research agenda and international reach.
"I will continue working on this topic and growing the Public Design Collective, the research group I founded and lead," she said. "The work ahead is about deepening our understanding of public design in Latin America and building the transnational networks that can connect this work to broader global conversations."
While the award recognizes accomplishments already achieved, Bosch Gómez sees it as encouragement to continue pursuing work that supports more democratic and equitable futures.
"Ultimately, what drives me is supporting democratic futures in the region," she said, "and I intend to keep working hard toward that."