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 marginalized 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
Fieldwork initiated in Germany and Denmark
Cancer patients evaluate the Patient Empowerment Kit The Patient Empowerment Kit is currently being evaluated by cancer patients in the EU-funded research project Heracles. This is part [...]
Article presented at the Design Research Society Conference
What can design of social games tell us about troubled prisoner families? Together with our close research collaborators Valentijn Visch from T. U. Delft and Ed Tan [...]
Merging speculative and participatory design
New publication in the Proceedings of the Design4Health Conference How can speculative design be used in participatory design research to lay bare barriers and conditions for future [...]
Families playing board games in uncertain times
Interview in Danish newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad Families in Denmark resort to playing board games in their self quarantine during the outbreak and spreading of the corona-virus. Sales [...]
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
