Paper Tracks

Meta-theme 2: Design, Politics and Social Aspects

Design engages the existing political and social structures in many possible ways. Designing might exhibit a conscious or unconscious, deliberate or non-deliberate approach to and impact on the existing political and social structures. This theme aims to address design’s possible forms of political and social engagement and their impact.

Chairs

Nicola Morelli, Aalborg University
Yekta Bakırlıoğlu, Lancaster University
Claudia Garduño García, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana

2.1 Designing for and with Taboo

Corresponding Chairs

Ana Correia de Barros, Fraunhofer Portugal AICOS
Yoni Lefévre, KU Leuven and University of Edinburgh

Co-Chairs

Petra Salarić, pstaboo
Isabel Prochner, Virginia Tech

2.2 Queer(ing) Design Research/Practice

Corresponding Chairs

Jess Parris Westbrook (they/them), DePaul University
Gem Barton (she/her), Royal College of Art

Co-Chairs

Laura Galluzzo (she/her), Politecnico di Milano
Valentina Ferreri (she/her), Politecnico di Milano
Sloan Leo Cowan (they/he), FLOX Studio
Rose Hsu (she/her), DO School Fellow
Brooke Hull (they/them), Penn State University
Simon Liao, University of Waterloo
Nishanth (Nish) Srikanth, Indiana University
Raphaele (Raphi) Tayvah, Plantayvah
Chenxi Cui, Guangdong University of Technology

2.3 Design and the Public Sector: Contemporary Methods and Practices

Corresponding Chairs

Scott Schmidt, Georgetown University
Sabine Junginger, Northumbria University

Co-Chairs

Federico Vaz, European Commission
Marzia Mortati, Politecnico di Milano

2.4 Design for and with Values in Designing for Social Change

Corresponding Chairs

Değer Özkaramanlı, TU Delft
Fatima-Zahra Abou Eddahab-Burke, TU Delft

Co-Chairs

Sine Celik, TU Delft
Geertje Slingerland, TU Delft
Michael Nagenborg, University of Twente
Natalia Gulbransen-Diaz, University of Sydney
Leigh-Anne Hepburn, University of Sydney

2.5 Design for Equitable Health: Public Policies and Participatory Practices

Corresponding Chairs

Cláudia de Souza Libânio, Federal University of Health Sciences of Porto Alegre
Sara Goldchmit, University of São Paulo

Tiago Barros Pontes e Silva, University of Brasilia

Co-Chairs

Emmanuel Tsekleves, Lancaster University
Leigh-Anne Hepburn, University of Sydney

2.6 The Transformative Nature of Food – Adaptation, Connectivity and Identity

Corresponding Chairs

Dolly Daou, Cindrebay University
Melanie Sarantou, Kyushu University

Co-Chairs

Cláudia de Souza Libânio, Federal University of Health Sciences of Porto Alegre
Juan Montalván Lume, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú

Meta-theme 3: Design, Management, Economy and Beyond

This theme explores how design drives and shapes economic and organizational transformations. It examines the role and impact of design in creating value, fostering innovation, and guiding strategic change across industries and markets. At the same time, it acknowledges that design and its impact extend beyond markets and management: it is inestricably embedded in social, cultural, political and environmental contexts. The focus is on inclusive and diverse understandings of what it means for design to have impact as a managerial and cultural force for businesses and organizations, and as a catalyst for plural, systemic, and globally relevant transformations.

Chairs

Erik Bohemia,  Western Norway University of Applied Sciences
Katja Thoring, Technical University of Munich

3.1 Opening Up Design Impact Assessment: From Singular Metrics to Plural Understandings

Corresponding Chairs

Cyril Tjahja, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Barbara Predan, University of Ljubljana

Co-Chairs

Marina Castan, Elisava
Joana Meroz, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Annamari Vänskä, Aalto University
Harun Kaygan, University of Southern Denmark
Flavia Piancazzo, University of Bologna
Ines Tolic, University of Bologna
Petra Černe Oven, University of Ljubljana

3.2 Designing Strategic Change: Approaches, Methods, and Theories of Strategic Design in Business Organizations

Corresponding Chairs

G. Mauricio Mejía, Arizona State University
Violeta Clemente, Universidade de Aveiro

Co-Chairs

Beatrice D'Ippolito, University of York
Jeanne Liedtka, University of Virginia
Aroop Ratan Guha, Royal Danish Academy

3.3 Responsible Retail and Branded Environments

Corresponding Chairs

Katelijn Quartier, Hasselt University
Mia B. Münster, Malmö University

Co-Chairs

Bethan Alexander, University of the Arts London
Francesca Murialdo, Middlesex University
Marina Ricci, STIIMA-CNR and Politecnico di Bari
Zakkiya Khan, University of Brighton

3.4 Design for Business in the Wild

Corresponding Chairs

Peiyao Cheng, Harbin Institute of Technology
Sylvia Xihui Liu, Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Co-Chairs

Cees de Bont, National University of Singapore
Gianluca Carella, Politecnico di Milano & MIT

Meta Theme 4: Design and Systems

This theme explores how design increasingly engages with complex, interconnected challenges, understanding the world as a network of relationships and structures that make the act of designing inherently systemic. It recognises the consolidation of systemic design (the intersection of systems thinking and design) while seeking to expand beyond it, embracing plural ways of engaging with this intersection. Scholars whose work reflects this paradigmatic shift — across diverse design outcomes (e.g., products, services, communication, organisations, and policy) — will find in this theme a space to share, debate, and develop their contributions.

Chairs
Peter Jones, Tecnológico de Monterrey
Cecilia Landa-Avila, Loughborough University

4.1 Critical Reflections on Systemic Design Participation: Ethics, Care and Justice

Corresponding Chairs

Cecilia Landa-Avila, Loughborough University
Josina Vink, AHO

Co-Chairs

Sine Celik, TU Delft
Simon Downs, Loughborough University
Peter Jones, Tecnológico de Monterrey

4.2 Reframing Practice: Architectural Design Research and the Expanding Role of the Architect in Multidisciplinary Collaboration

Corresponding Chairs

Manuela Triggianese, TU Delft
Juan Sádaba, University of the Basque Country

Co-Chairs

Lee Moreau, Other Tomorrows and Northeastern University
Paolo Ciuccarelli, Northeastern University
Kees Kaan, TU Delft
Georg Vrachliotis, TUDelft
María Risueño, Other Tomorrows

4.3 Navigating Pluralism in Systemic Design: Global Perspectives and Diverse Vocabularies

Corresponding Chairs

Sine Celik, TU Delft
Hannah Goss, TU Delft

Co-Chairs

Jotte de Koning, TU Delft
Mari Suoheimo, AHO
Amina Pereno, Politecnico di Torino
Asja Aulisio, Politecnico di Torino
Silvia Barbero, Politecnico di Torino
Thomas Maiorana, UC Davis

Meta Theme 7: Design Technologies

Technical innovation has always been central to design research, serving as a bridge between fundamental inquiry and applied practice. This track engages with both emerging and established technologies, examining their technical requirements and limitations, societal relevance, successes, and shortcomings. It invites contributions that interrogate the processes through which desired and implemented changes unfold, and explores how technology-driven interventions, their scaling up processes can be enhanced through rigorous testing, critical investigation and user feedback.   

Chair

Itzel Cruz Megchun, University of Portland

7.1 Designing Preventive Health Technologies and Practices

Corresponding Chairs

Ayşe Özge Ağça, University of Lisbon
Teresa Almeida,  University of Lisbon 

Co-Chairs

Armağan Karahanoğlu, University of Twente
Anna Vallgårda, IT University of Copenhagen

7.2 Toward LongevityTech Cities: Designing Age-Inclusive Urban Futures

Corresponding Chairs

Sheung-Hung Lee, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Sofie Hodara, Northeastern University

Co-Chairs

Satu Miettinen, University of Lapland
Bruce Hanington, Carnegie Mellon University
Carla Sedini, IULM University
Andreas Sicklinger, Università di Bologna
Miso Kim, Northeastern University
Joseph F. Coughlin, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

7.3 Design Research During and After Artificial Intelligence

Corresponding Chairs

Matthew Lee-Smith, Loughborough University
Jesse Josua Benjamin, Eindhoven University of Technology

Co-Chairs

Mafalda Gamboa, Chalmers University of Technology
Stephan Wensveen, Eindhoven University of Technology

Meta Theme 8: Design Education

Design education has been a foundational concern of the field since its inception. Questions around what should be learned, what can be taught, and how design education should be structured have followed diverse trajectories. These discourses have evolved in response to shifting socio-technical contexts and emerging pedagogical paradigms. This theme addresses the current challenges facing design education, inviting reflection on its future directions and design education’s formative potential.

Chairs

Nicole Lotz, The Open University
Violeta Clemente, University of Aveiro
Ricardo Sosa, University of Waikato

8.1 Public Design Education: Plural Practices and Situated Teaching and Learning

Corresponding Chairs

Lara Salinas Alejandre, University of the Arts London
Luis García, Carnegie Mellon University

Co-Chairs

Sofía Bosch Gómez, Northeastern University
Geert Brinkman, Erasmus University Rotterdam
Estefania Ciliotta Chehade, Northeastern University
Francesco Leoni, Politecnico di Milano

Meta Theme 9: Design Materials

Design practices cannot be detached from materials and practices used to address human needs and build our environment. This theme addresses aspects related to design materials and looks into the changing nature of the concept of materials over the past 50 years, as well as materials’ actualisations, highlighting diverse forms of material expressions and emerging material ecologies.

Chairs
Maria MacLennan, University of Edinburgh
Roberta Bernabei, Loughborough University

9.1 Bodies in Design: Rethinking Norms, Materials, Technologies, and Methods

Corresponding Chairs

Gözde Göncü-Berk, University of California, Davis
Sarah Kettley, University of Edinburgh

Co-Chairs

Elif Ozden-Yenigun, Royal College of Art
Theo Hughes-Riley, Nottingham Trent University

9.2 Transitional Materialities

Corresponding Chairs

Camilo Ayala-Garcia, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano
Sofia Soledad Duarte Poblete, Politecnico di Milano

Co-Chairs

Valentina Rognoli, Politecnico di Milano
Markus Holzbach, HfG Offenbach
Owain Pedgley, Middle East Technical University
Enza Migliore, Southern University of Science and Technology
Miriam Ribul, Royal College of Art

9.3 Analysing Language Use in Designing: Practices and Performance

Corresponding Chairs

Senthil Chandrasegaran, TU Delft
Lisa E Mercer, University of Edinburgh

Co-Chairs

Nathan Crilly,  University of Cambridge
(Eric) Heng Gu, TU Delft
Terresa Hardaway, University of Minnesota
Peter Lloyd, TU Delft
Vivek Rao, Duke University

9.4 Play Design Materials: Entangled Matter and Making

Corresponding Chairs

Helle Marie Skovbjerg, Kolding School of Design
Mathias Poulsen, Kolding School of Design

Co-Chairs

Tuuli Mattelmäki, Aalto University
Ricardo Concalves Dutra, Aalto University
Sofie Kinch, Kolding School of Design
Jennifer Ann Skriver, Kolding School of Design
Louise Ravnløkke. Kolding School of Design
Hyunjae Daniel Shin. Yonsei University
Eun Sun Park, Yonsei University

Meta Theme 10: Design and Sustainability

This theme addresses the evolving relationship between design and sustainability, recognizing design as both a driver of change and a field shaped by ecological, social, and economic challenges. It explores how design practices can foster systemic transitions, support regenerative models, and enable more equitable futures. 

Chairs

David Sánchez Ruano, Tecnológico de Monterrey
Mike Stead, Lancaster University

10.1 What is Regenerative Design, Anyway? Foundations, Lexicons, and Interdisciplinary Intersections

Corresponding Chairs

Angela Kilford, Massey University
Inge Panneels, University of Edinburgh

Co-Chairs

Iohanna Nicenboim, TU Delft
Sonya Withers, Massey University
Rob Phillips, Royal College of Art
Chris Speed, RMIT University

10.2 Troubling Transitions: Growing Pains in Designing and Researching for Transformation

Corresponding Chairs

Femke Coops, Eindhoven University of Technology
Dan Lockton, Norwich University of the Arts

Co-Chairs

Marysol Ortega Pallanez, Arizona State University 
Joanna Boehnert, Bath Spa University 
Fabrizio Ceschin, Brunel University of London 
İdil Gaziulusoy, Aalto University
Silvana Juri, SARAS Institute & Stockholm Resilience Center 
Anja Overdiek, Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences
Emma Dewberry, The Open University
Alma Leora Culén, University of Oslo
Ida Nilstad Pettersen, Norwegian University of Science & Technology

Meta Theme 11: Design Principles

This theme explores how design engages with and responds to aspects of wellbeing, inclusion, and care across diverse contexts. It examines how design shapes experiences that support human dignity, equity, and quality of life, while addressing the needs of diverse bodies, abilities, and cultures. The theme also encourages critical reflection on the ethical and social responsibilities of design and how we need to engage in inter/transdiciplinary practices to tackle some of these challenges. 

Chairs
Bianca Herlo, Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts
Bianca Kóczán, HBK Braunschweig

11.1 InclusiveSIG: New Agenda for Inclusive Design

Corresponding Chairs

Hua Dong, Royal College of Art
Abdusselam Selami Cifter, Brunel University of London 

Co-Chairs

Yumei Dong, Jiang Nan University
Farnaz Nickpour, University of Liverpool
Stella Boess, TU Delft

11.2 Relationality as Reconciliation – Designing for Equiponderance

Corresponding Chairs

Gwendolyn Kulick, German University in Cairo
Luis Garcia, Carnegie Mellon University

Co-Chairs

Felix Kosok, German International University
Michael Hohl, Anhalt University of Applied Sciences
Juan Montalván Lume, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú

11.3 Central but Decentered: Repositioning the Practitioner in Design Research Involving Practice

Corresponding Chairs

Luis Vega, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Julia Valle Noronha, Aalto University

Co-Chairs

Laurene Vaughan, RMIT University
Brian Dixon, Ulster University
Macarena Gaete Cruz, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

11.4 Design with Care: Theories, Practices, Methods, and Politics

Corresponding Chairs

(Melody) Zixuan Wang, University of Edinburgh
Jiashuo Liu, University of Edinburgh

Co-Chairs

Bow Yiying Wu, The University of Sydney
John Vines, University of Edinburgh
Karey Helms, Umeå Institute of Design
Sarah Kettley, University of Edinburgh
Paul Rodgers, University of Strathclyde
Ann Light, University of Sussex

11.5 Design for Wellbeing and Happiness

Corresponding Chairs

Leandro Miletto Tonetto, Georgia Institute of Technology
Siyuan Huang, University of Twente

Co-Chairs

Ann Petermans, Hasselt University
Rebecca Cain, Loughborough University

Meta-theme 12: Design Aesthetics

As a discipline that forms, gives shape and engages human constructive contingencies, design engages not only with materials, tools and methods that enable transformation, but also with the modalities, perceptions and sensitivities engaged by the resulting objects, experiences, services and design expressions. This theme explores the nuanced and multimodal forms of design interventions, their reception, and the critical reflections they provoke.

12.1 Sketching Futures: Cultural Dimensions, Pedagogies, and Digital Transitions

Corresponding Chairs

Jan Willem Hoftijzer, TU Delft
Bryan Howell, Brigham Young University

Co-Chairs

Mauricio Novoa Munoz, Western Sydney University
Amos Scully, Rochester Institute of Technology

12.2 Mediating Sonic Worlds: Critical Approaches to Boundary Objects in Sound-Driven Design

Corresponding Chairs

Stefano Delle Monache, IRCAM
Nicolas Misdariis, IRCAM
Elif Özcan, TU Delft

Co-Chairs

Daniel Hug, Zürcher Hochschule der Künste
Sara Lenzi, University of Deusto
Sandra Pauletto, KTH Royal Institute of Technology
Davide Rocchesso, Università degli Studi di Milano
Simone Spagnol, Università Iuav di Venezia

13. Situated Track

This theme track proposal is new to DRS2026 and situates design research in the local environment, providing cases and examples of design research being undertaken that are locally situated and relational to place. This theme track provides an opportunity for researchers contributing new insights to our research community based on the unique opportunities presented by the local context, whether that is related to climate, culture, geography, economics, or institutional. The emphasis on this theme is to learn from locally situated cases of design research through projects undertaken “in situ” that demonstrate a sensitivity and understanding of the local context in which they are taking place, raising both awareness of specific local design requirements in lieu of general principles and frameworks, while also highlighting the diversity and plurality of the communities (and their respective local knowledge) in which we operate, and how that impacts design research. For DRS2026, our situated design cases will be drawn from the proximity of Edinburgh and, more generally, Scotland.

Chairs

Arno Verhoeven, University of Edinburgh
Euan Winton, Heriot-Watt University
Kirstie Jamieson, Edinburgh Napier University