Roberto Rota is a PhD Candidate in Advanced Design Processes at the University of the Aegean, where his research investigates the transformation of contemporary design practice across two interconnected fronts: the redefinition of design processes through AI and data science, and the organisational implications that emerge in distributed, non-co-located contexts. He focuses on AI-augmented ideation methods, the translation between generative output and parametric modelling, and the design technologies that sustain these workflows; in parallel, he examines the emergence of post-hierarchical forms of practice and new models of DesignOps.

Alongside his academic research, he is a designer and executive design manager with an international professional background spanning Italy, Greece and China. He is the founder of Ate Rote Design Studio (https://www.aterote.com) and has served as Executive Design Manager for Artop Group, one of China’s leading design organisations, where he contributed to large-scale product development and advanced concept design pipelines for global manufacturing ecosystems. His practice operates across cultural and organisational contexts, bridging European design research with East Asian models of industrial innovation.

This dual positioning informs his research orientation: AI-mediated design is investigated not

as a technical add-on, but as a shift in how design is conceived, organised and enacted. His broader interests include AI-enhanced TRIZ methodology, design for deindustrialised territories, AI and design policies, and the role of DesignOps as the infrastructural layer of contemporary design work.

Research Interests

• AI-Augmented Design Processes
• Data-Driven and AI-Enhanced Concept Design
• Prompt Engineering for AIGC-to-Parametric Workflows
• Design Technology and Operational Infrastructures
• Socio-Technical Organisation of Non-Co-Located Design Practice
• Post-Hierarchical Organisation of Design Work