ABOUT US
The social design research group was established in 2015 at the Department of Design, Media and Educational Science / 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
CoDesign4Transitions (CoD4T) offers 13 PhD positions across eight different universities
CoDesign4Transitions (CoD4T) offers 13 PhD positions across eight different universities The Social Design Unit at University of Southern Denmark, together with beneficiary universities Aalborg University, SWPS University, Vrije Universiteit, RMIT Europe and Politecnico di Milano and associated partners University of the Arts London and Moholy-Nagy Muveszeti Egyetem, has been [...]
Research seminar with Michael Bamberg
Research seminar with Michael Bamberg How can design games be used to help vulnerable young people to talk about their loneliness? What do these conversations tell us about their understanding of loneliness and the means for coping with it? These are central questions for Mads Bährenholdt from the Social [...]
Social Design at “Kulturmødet Mors”
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 art and culture. The event brings together artists, authors, politicians, opinion makers and citizens to take the temperature of current themes in [...]
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 Kjær Minke has resulted in a new co-authored article published in The Howard Journal of Crime and Justice. Based on our prison [...]
Thomas Markussen
thma@sdu.dk +45 93507196
Eva Knutz
evak@sdu.dk+45 93507135
University of Southern Denmark
Department of Design, Media and Educational Science
Universitetsparken 1
6000 Kolding, Denmark
