Key details
Time
- 4pm – 5pm
Location
- Online
Price
- Free
Who can attend
- Everyone
Type
- Webinar
Prof Ron Wakkary, in conversation with RCA School of Design academics and researchers Dr Rob Phillips and Dr Delfina Fantini van Ditmar, will address how to acknowledge the interconnectedness of humans and non-humans as a foundation for design.
How can design create systems of care, collaboration, and reciprocity with more than the human world?
Prof Ron Wakkary's book Things We Could Design: For More Than Human-Centered Worlds (MIT Press) explores alternative perspectives that challenge human-centeredness, encouraging designers to think beyond human agency and embrace the complexity of interactions in the more-than-human world.
Looking at more than human design from a systemic viewpoint, this conversation with Ron and RCA School of Design academics and researchers Dr Rob Phillips (ESRC Ecological Citizens) and Dr Delfina Fantini van Ditmar (ESRC/AHRC Becoming Regenerative) addresses how to acknowledge the interconnectedness of humans and non-humans as a foundation for design.
Ron Wakkary is a Professor in the School of Interactive Arts and Technology, Simon Fraser University in Canada, where he is the founder of the Everyday Design Studio. In addition, he is a part-time Professor in Industrial Design, Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands. Wakkary’s research investigates the changing nature of design in response to new understandings of human-technology relations, multi-species worlds and posthumanism.
He aims to reflexively create new design exemplars, theory, and methods to contribute generously and expansively to understanding ways of designing that are more accountable, equitable, and foster more-than-human cohabitation. Wakkary’s recent books include Things We Could Design for more than Human-Centered Worlds (MIT Press, 2021) and The Importance of Speculation in Design Research (Springer Nature, 2024).
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About Design for Good
Design for Good is a non-profit alliance that aims to directly deliver measurable impact on society’s biggest challenges, on a scale only possible through global collaboration. Established in 2022, Design for Good’s founding alliance comprises leading organisations including General Mills, Logitech, McKinsey & Company, Microsoft led by Xbox, Nedbank, Nestlé, PepsiCo, Philips and the Royal College of Art.
Running from September 2024 – April 2025, the academy consists of 8 taught Modules plus 3 expert Masterclass talks with over 500 participants. It aims to empower experienced professional designers with the knowledge and skills to create solutions that address the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Read the news story here
In the series
The Royal College of Art, in collaboration with Design for Good, is launching a free, public Masterclass talk series as part of an exciting new initiative: the RCA x Design for Good Academy.
