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
PhD course “Research on and into Practice”
Exploring the ethnographer's toolbox On January 26 the Social Design Unit delivered a half-day PhD workshop at SDU for doctoral fellows doing research in which understanding “practices” [...]
DESIGN FUTURES AND DESIGN FUTURING
Social Design Unit participate in THE 4TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ANTICIPATION Phoenix, Arizona Date: November 15-18, 2022 To increase knowledge on future studies and the interdisciplinary field of [...]
The Social Design Unit goes to Parsons School of Design/The New School
Social design conversation Date: November 11, 2022 How can socially responsive design practice become a practice of care? What does it require of a designer to engage [...]
New project on sustainable energy consumption in Danish homes
It-vest grant to new collaborative project with the company EWII The Social Design Unit is engaged in a new externally funded 1-year educational project, in which SDU [...]
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
