Nothing about Mikael Fernstrom is typical. Not the way he looks - his long hair, beard and big Scandinavian jumper make him stand out among other technology researchers at the University of Limerick.

Not the way in which the Swedish lecturer made the decision to move to Ireland - by making a shortlist of countries in which he might like to live and going to visit each (a holiday cottage in west Clare won out over visits to other western seaboard countries).

Not in the way he composes music - which is by taking scientific data from Irish weather patterns or Shannon salmon fishery statistics or - his current project - the human genome, translating data into sound by running them through a computer algorithm (mathematical formula), and using the musical output as the basis for highly unusual works.

And not in the way he runs his course, guiding 21 postgraduate students a year through the University of Limerick's challenging Master's in Interactive Design, a daunting but inspirational blend of technology and artistic endeavour. He also teaches on the musical technologies programme at the university, which is home to the Irish World Music Centre.

Intended to produce "a new kind of graduate - someone who could design but also who could take management responsibility", the interactive design course "has become a spawning bed for graduates that feeds into the research side of the house" at UL, he says.

A measure of the flexibility of the programme is that students can take either a master of arts or a master of science degree when they complete it, he says. The students "come from all walks" - business, biochemistry, graphic design. They must have at least a 2.2 degree and a portfolio, which the course directors are willing to define in the broadest possible way. A portfolio might contain paintings, commercial brochures, or circuit designs, but must demonstrate creativity and confidence. Only the top 21 students get offers.

"What we really want the students to think about is design," he says, noting that many initially are "too technical - they're afraid of dealing with the design and creativity bit." He wants to produce graduates that are stronger and more versatile, he says - that have the design skills to understand key technology issues like usability.

Design tends to be ignored in traditional programming courses, he says and "therefore so many products are rubbish". He cites Eircom's new touchscreen public telephones as an example of poor design - "Two user actions into using it, you run into serious usability problems. God forbid one of my students should design something that bad," he growls.

Mr Fernstrom says the part he enjoys most about teaching on the course is watching students go through the early creative stages of their projects, all of which go on display in an annual September exhibition called DAWN (digital arts week now).

For most students, their biggest challenges come at the beginning of their projects and near the end, Mr Fernstrom says. At the beginning, they often underestimate how involved the winnowing process is to come up with a pursuable project idea.

"People think you come up with 'an idea'. That's wrong. You come up with hundreds of ideas and then you evaluate them. For some students, this can be a scary process," because it requires intense creative focus, he says.

Also, they often have "very big ideas and it's a matter of rapidly cutting it way down to something manageable," he adds.

"But the most difficult moment for most students is when they realise how little time they have for their actual thesis project, and they have to source everything themselves. Need material? The campus is full of skips. Or they must go to one of the many technology companies in the area and see if they can get sponsorship. We're not building anything for them," he says.

However, research students in the department seem a contented bunch. Working at desks covered in papers, programming texts, postcards, and small toys, they demonstrate ongoing projects to produce everyday objects that can interact with a visitor in creative and informative ways - the prelude to a special interactive historical exhibition at Limerick's Hunt Museum this June.

They experiment with new ways that people can interact with and be guided by sounds on a PC, and show off interlocking "smart tiles" filled with computer sensors that would know where people were as they move across a floor. Part of the excitement is in figuring out how such capabilities could be applied practically.

"What we want to do with design is empower people," says Mr Fernstrom.