In June 2023 the Social Design Unit received the wonderful news that we have become partner in a new, unique Doctoral Network, entitled Sustainable Transition through Democratic Design that is EU-funded by the Marie Slodowska Curie Actions program.

The network will be led by Lucy Kimbell from University of the Arts London and Marzia Mortati from Politecnico di Milano and will offer no less than 13 open PhD positions, inscribed into the doctoral programs at 6 leading European universities. Upon recruitment, each PhD student will receive specific training in how practice-based design research, social design and transition design can be used to prompt sustainable changes in various private and public sectors. One of the unique elements of the network is that each PhD student will be supported by an interdisciplinary team of 5 supervisors coming from both academia and practice. On top of that summer schools and conferences will be organized to enable research exchange among PhD students and the participating researchers.

The conceptual framework of the network will be founded upon Democratic innovation, Design Research and Climate transition.

The total funding is 3,487,000 Euro.

Announcements and recruitment will start in the spring 2024. More info will follow soon!!