Heitor Alvelos, designer and cultural operator, has pioneered the implementation of Design Research in Portugal.

Born in Viseu, Portugal, in 1966, Heitor Alvelos is a cultural operator, designer, sound carrier and media researcher.

A Ph.D in Design (Royal College of Art, 2003) and Master in Visual Communication (School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 1992), he has pioneered the implementation of Design Research in Portugal, both as member of the Scientific Board for Humanities and Social Sciences of the National Foundation for Science and Technology, as well as Director of ID+ (Institute for Research in Design, Media and Culture) on behalf of the University of Porto.

Since 2006 he has been developing R&D within the UTAustin-Portugal program for Digital Media, where he is now National Outreach Program Director, and where he curates the annual digital media festival FuturePlaces since 2008.

Since 2003, under his alias Autodigest, Heitor has released a series of sound documents on various music labels (Ash International, Touch, Cronica Electronica, The Tapeworm). With these labels he has also produced stage visuals for Fennesz, Biosphere and BJNilsen, among others.

Heitor is currently art director for the editorial outcomes of Manobras no Porto, a singer at Stopestra, and co-owns the random music label 333. His research interests currently gravitate towards participatory media, creative citizenship action and cultural criminology.

Personal Views Series Six

Conference - Heitor Alvelos