ABOUT US
The social design research group was established in 2015 at the Department of Design & Communication / SDU
The group has a keen interest in how people can be involved in participatory design processes leading to social value for the individual and society at large. By social value, we refer to changes at a human scale that is felt to be beneficial for marginalised or vulnerable societal groups and communities.

Design research practice is essential for our work

We use design methods to make sense of wicked problems, as a way of engaging and co-designing with people and as a process of making artefacts or services enabling people to cope with difficult situations in life.
Through a number of research projects we have documented our ability to evaluate social design outcomes by bridging disciplines from the human and social sciences.
RESEARCH AREAS
In our social design unit we are concerned with the urgent societal need for rethinking core services of the Scandinavian and European welfare states. In particular, our research projects lies within the following four areas:

NEWS
Social Design at “Kulturmødet Mors”Â
Social Design at “Kulturmødet Mors” The Social Design Unit will participate at the event “Kulturmødet Mors” – a festival and gathering place for performances and conversations about [...]
New article published in The Howard Journal of Crime and Justice
New article published in The Howard Journal of Crime and Justice The Social Design Unit's close collaboration with the Danish Prison and Probation Service and criminologist Linda [...]
New article on Design Fiction accepted for the IASDR Conference 2023
Design Fiction and the Art of Anticipation Based on our company collaboration with EWII on Sustainable Energy Futures and our continued and ardent interest in speculative design [...]
Social Design Unit part of a new International Doctoral Network
The Social Design Unit joins new international Doctoral Network within Design Research! In June 2023 the Social Design Unit received the wonderful news that we have become partner [...]

Thomas Markussen
thma@sdu.dk +45 93507196
Eva Knutz
evak@sdu.dk+45 93507135
University of Southern Denmark
Department for Design and Communication
Universitetsparken 1
6000 Kolding, Denmark

