Monday, March 20 – Design + Patient-Centeredness / Food Insecurity (Opening Day)

Tuesday, March 21 – Design + Healthcare / Data Embodiment

Wednesday, March 22 – Workplace Innovation (Design Museum Day)

Thursday, March 23 – Design + Artificial Intelligence

Friday, March 24 – Education with XR/VR (Closing Day)

Design Research Week 2023: Design + Patient-Centeredness / Food Insecurity (Opening Day) | Monday, March 20th

Schedule of Programs:

10:30 -11 AM: The Undisciplined – Design Research Week opening, led by Paolo Ciuccarelli and Estefania Ciliotta Chehade

Welcome to the DRW 2023 – brief overview of the week 

12- 1:30 PM: Patient Perspectives of Patient-Centeredness. Discussion Roundtable #2

Hosted by the Center for Design in collaboration with CHeT  with presenters Miso Kim, Michael Arnold Mages, Estefania Ciliotta Chehade, Paolo Ciuccarelli, Uri Seitz, and Christine Zizzi. Panelists include Kate Milliken, Dr. Danny Sands, Chief Advocacy Officer, Co-Founder of SPM, Frank Cuttita, Alex Fielding, Katherine O’Connor, Ayodeji Dapherede-Otusanya

We will discuss the concept of patient-centeredness and share the results of our literature review and case studies about the meaning of patient-centeredness in different contexts, as well as collected cases. The goal of our round table discussion is to develop an understanding of the different definitions and understandings of “patient-centeredness” from a patient’s point of view. Participants’ perspectives bring important context from their previous experiences by participating in a group discussion about Patient-Centered-Design in various contexts and healthcare interactions and engaging with audience members in Q&A.

2:30-3:30 PM: Addressing Boston’s Food Insecurity with Design Research

Hosted by the Center for Design in collaboration with Scout Labs + Monum, with presenters Chloe Hudson Prock and Nicholas Pietrinferno

One in three Massachusetts college students experience food insecurity, and Roxbury — a historically Black neighborhood near Northeastern where many students reside —experiences food insecurity at the highest rate in Boston. Scout Labs partnered with the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics (MONUM), Northeastern’s Center for Design (CfD), and the Office of Food Justice (OFJ) to research and ultimately implement an actionable prototype to improve food access in and around the Northeastern community.

4-8 PM: PhD Event

Hosted by PhD Students: Alayt Abraham Issak, Jailyn Zabala, and Jules Rochielle

Join us on March 20th from 4-8 PM to learn about the CAMD’s exciting new PhD program in Interdisciplinary Design and Media. This innovative program takes a globally-aware, human-centered approach to advanced graduate study, emphasizing practice-based research and scholarship conducted through making or creation. This event explores the boundaries of theory and practice, featuring a lineup of guest presentations and a short discussions from leaders in the field of Interdisciplinary Design Research. Attendees will also have the opportunity to view poster presentations from students, providing a glimpse into the cutting-edge research happening in the field.

In addition to the informative presentations, attendees will have ample opportunities to network, socialize, and collaborate with fellow researchers and experts in the field. Don’t miss out on this unique opportunity to engage with the latest developments in Interdisciplinary Design and Media.

Design Research Week 2023: Design + Healthcare / Data Embodiment | Tuesday, March 21st

9 AM- 9 PM: The Magic of Medical Device Design: Design Sprint 

With collaboration from Jeanette Andrews, Stephen Wood, Linda Tvrdy, Miso Kim, Michael Arnold Mages, Estefania Ciliotta Chehade in collaboration with Bouvé College, Magic and Medicine Lab, and the Alumni Relations office. The first portion of this event will be held in the Curry Student Center Ballroom and the adjacent Dance Studios. A team of staff will redirect back to the Center for Design for the Pitching and Voting Processes.

Design ideas can come from the most unlikely of sources… MAGIC! This day-long hackathon seeks to find design solutions to create safer, less wasteful medical devices including central line kits (used to insert venous catheters to administer medications, measure pressures within the body and to draw blood and labs) by drawing inspiration from the design of props used in magic performances. While at first blush magic and medical devices seem an unusual combination, those in attendance will start to instantly see the correlations between the object design strategies used in magic to design the seemingly impossible and how those can be utilized in design exercises to inspire safer, more patient-centered medical devices.

Participants of all disciplines are encouraged to attend and will receive an introduction to magic prop design (as well as a workshop on a basic magic trick/effect) as well as background information on medical device design. They will form teams to design from the perspective of different users and practitioners. In-person attendees will have hands-on design experience and those engaging virtually will participate in ideation and remote design. The event concludes with each team presenting their ideas and judging from a panel of experts with prizes awarded in several categories.

This event is co-hosted by the Northeastern Center for Design, the Bouvé College School of Nursing, and the Magic and Medicine Lab to bridge communities and foster truly cross-disciplinary collaborations.  Prior registration to participate in the Design Sprint is required.

12-1.30 pm CAMD faculty lunch + Open Discussion/Brainstorming about DRS 2024 topics 

2:30 -4 pm Data Embodiment

Hosted by the Data Sonification Archive Speakers: Dietmar Offenhuber, Pedro Cruz, Paolo Ciuccarelli, Stephanie Polsky, Sara Lenzi (TU Delft) and Lins Derry (metaLAB (at) Harvard) . This event will take place in the Center for Design. 

How can the artificial separation of sensorial modalities in data representation be reconciled to enable more holistic experiences? A panel will discuss actual and potential intersections across data visualization, data sonification, data physicalization. 

Design Research Week 2023: Workplace Innovation (Design Museum Day) | Wednesday March 22nd

Join us on March 22 for the 2023 Workplace Innovation Summit: A Call for Radical Change in the 21st Century Workplace. The program is designed to foster community among design change makers and give attendees the tools to promote social, cultural, and environmental impact across industries. Design Museum Everywhere invites you to collaborate and explore the intersection of three high-level topics: culture, impact, and the built environment — with stories, interactive workshops, and experiences, designed to inspire and demonstrate meaningful change.  

In 2020, our society experienced a radical shift in the way that we approach work, the workplace, and how we relate to each other. Fast forward to 2022, and Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace says only 15% of employees are engaged in the workplace, costing the U.S economy over $500,000 billion every year. With employee engagement continuing to decline and a competitive employee-centric job market, we have the opportunity to investigate new possibilities for workplace culture and address the needs of a dramatically different workforce.  

The program is open to both designers and design enthusiasts. The Workplace Innovation Summit will provide the space to facilitate shared idea generation for attendees to transform their workplace culture. This is an event for everyone that wants to participate in social change in their organization (corporate, non-profit, government, start-up, etc.). Join us and our forward-thinking panelists as we collectively re-imagine a more inclusive and exciting workplace. For more details, see the summit schedule on the Design Museum website here. 

Design Research Week 2023: Design + Artificial Intelligence | Thursday, March 23rd

Schedule of Programs

All events aside from the keynote conversation will be held in the Center for Design in Ryder Hall

12-1 pm Living Intimately with Machines: Can AI Be Disabled?

Hosted by Laura Forlano, in collaboration with the Burnes Center

The event will discuss the author’s research. Here is a snippet: “This is not a research project that I chose but rather one that landed on me in 2011 when I learned I was a type 1 diabetic. For four years, from 2018 to 2022, I used one of “the world’s first” automated systems for delivering insulin to manage and control my blood sugar. I identify, research, and write as a disabled cyborg. I am a cyborg not because my body is (partly) made up of machines (the insulin pump and sensor system) but rather because of my interest in cyborg knowledges, practices, and politics [1], which take disability into account in order to question the myth of technological perfectionism and solutionism while at the same time seeking out possibilities for more generative questioning and engagement…”

2-3 pm What does it mean to design AI?

Hosted by Ryan Bruggeman, in collaboration with the College of Engineering

Current design research focuses on the collaboration of designers and AI during the design process. This approach is hindered by the fact that design is only commenting on the collaboration with AI after it has been developed. What does it mean for design to engage with AI during its early development stages? What happens when the problem of developing AI becomes a design problem? During this presentation I will highlight the shifting role of designers, discuss how it is time to move away from the paradigm of adopting AI into the design process, and introduce how to develop the design process of AI.

3-4:30 pm Threads of Assumption: AI-service design and Weaving

Hosted by Sofie Hodara, Martha Rettig, U-Meleni Mhlaba-Adebo, Maria Finkelmeier, Threads of Assumption Artists, in collaboration with Estefania Ciliotta

Relying on our expertise as artists and designers, we cultivate a meditative space for contributing sensitive stories. Participants will experience how hands-on activities, like writing and weaving, can personalize abstract and sensitive topics and make complexity tangible and accessible. Participants will leave with a blueprint of best practices for facilitating a workshop for qualitative data collection, tools for integrating physical making into workshop design, and an expanded understanding of how gender bias affects them, their communities, and the service design process.

5-6:30 pm Design and AI at Play: Ani Liu and Michelle Millar Fisher on Design as Research

Hosted in collaboration with the Center for the Arts. The keynote conversation with artist Ani Liu will take place in West Village F, followed by a short reception at Gallery360.

Ani Liu is a research-based artist working at the intersection of art & technoscience. Through her work with emerging technologies, Ani examines the biopolitics of reproduction, labor, care work and motherhood.

Liu’s project A.I. Toys, which explores the role of emergent technologies and how they shape our perceptions of “play,” is featured in Gallery 360’s current exhibition At Play. On Thursday, March 23rd, Ani will be in conversation with curator and design historian Michelle Millar Fisher in West Village F, followed by a post-keynote reception in Gallery 360, located on the first floor of Curry Student Center. They will discuss the role of A.I. in developing this project, her research-based artistic practice, and the future of teaching the next generation of designers and thinkers with emergent technologies. To learn more about the current exhibition, “At Play,” click here.

Design Research Week 2023: Education with XR/VR | Friday, March 24th

With the intersections between ‘Design’ and ‘Research’ still debated and open for interpretation, CAMD’s Center for Design promotes and hosts the annual “Design Research Week”, in partnership with the Design Museum Foundation, CHeT, Center for the Arts, Bouvé College of Health Sciences, The Magic and Medicine Lab, and more. All events for Friday, March 24th of Design Research Week will be held in the Center for Design in Ryder Hall.  

To register for in-person events, here.  To register to attend these events virtually, click here. 

Schedule of Programs: 

11 AM -1 PM Education with XR/VR
Hosted by Mark Sivak, and Jamal Thorne