Designing Resistance Reclaiming Space Through Material Storytelling with Nila Rezaei Iranian-Australian designer and co-founder of RK Collective, Nila Rezaei presents Crafted Liberation, a global design activism project transforming discarded headscarves donated by Iranian women into stadium seats. What began as a gesture of solidarity with the Women, Life, Freedom movement has become a powerful act [...]

Join us for an immersive exploration of Systems Sensing, a practice that taps into the innate wisdom of our senses to support change makers working on societal, environmental, and social challenges.

Join us for an immersive exploration of Systems Sensing, a practice that taps into the innate wisdom of our senses to support change makers working on societal, environmental, and social challenges.

Dr David Lilley will present his recent PhD research which is part of a quest to understand why health, wellbeing, and equity are not being prioritised in public policy and administration, and to develop means of responding to this situation. It draws on the redevelopment of the Waterloo public housing estate as a case study. David will discuss the

A path to greater connection, creativity & response-ability. By learning how your nervous system responds to stress and safety, you’ll gain practical techniques to cultivate resilience, enhance creativity, and strengthen relationships—at work and beyond.

In this presentation and discussion of her PhD research, Michelle Miller will present her thesis in two halves. The first half will look at the Transition Design case study she undertook to understand how to increase transition to regenerative, ecological, and resilient approaches to agriculture—by design. The second half will then delve into the design-based methodology and

Creative Approaches to Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) in Challenging Contexts Dimitrios Papalexis from Soulgen will discuss how to creatively mobilise local strengths and assets to tackle obstacles in youth and community development. Sharing case studies where ABCD principles have been applied to address community needs, build trust, and reignite engagement, including youth-led initiatives, environmental projects, and intercultural collaborations that

Selling Community Adaptation : Turning a social change, community engagement initiative into a product What happens when you cross a team of nerdy role-playing do-gooders with a film-maker who is passionate about community climate change mitigation? Kiri Bear from Amble Studio tells the story of The Adaptation Game. A collaborative, storytelling board game and community building initiative about adapting to

How might design help to foster systems-level transitions towards regenerative economics and bioregional governance? What is the practical value of design in embedding non-human perspectives and relational ontologies into broader systems of economics and governance, including through systems convening, prefigurative practice, multi-stakeholder forums, theories of change, visual sensemaking, and what are the challenges faced?   Nascent

What’s happening in the world at the moment? Have you too been asking yourself this question? Designers and researchers are navigating the territory of new technologies, complexity and change, organisational pressures and politics, tightening job markets, and many of us experience burn out and misalignments with our personal values. As designers and researchers we help