Conference Agenda

Aim: In design education, ethical challenges often arise when design research involves recruiting stakeholders for primary research. This leads to project delays due to increased approval times, suitability of research topics, qualifications of the researcher, or additional ethics committee approvals. As such, many undergraduate design projects may not be compliant with university ethics procedures. Therefore, this study proposes a framework that assists design researchers in identifying suitable alternatives to engaging stakeholders, especially those considered vulnerable, thereby keeping their research within less complicated ethical boundaries.

Methods: Publicly available ethics committee protocols from European academic institutions were reviewed to assess frequency of REC meeting, project information required, and participant recruitment information. Ethics applications from a science and engineering ethics committee, and their feedback were reviewed for instances of participant recruitment. Recently graduated product designers were interviewed to understand their stakeholder requirements and ethical considerations, and potential workaround they employed when engaging with design projects at an academic level.

Results: A co-design research model was developed to prompt researchers to identify alternatives to higher-risk stakeholders at two milestone stages of the design process: research and design validation. Criteria for identifying potential surrogate participants is also suggested. This model can be used to prompt design researchers to recruit suitable surrogate participants based on the type of project.

Conclusions: There is a need for a more streamlined ethics approval process for design research, especially at undergraduate level with tight deadlines. The proposed model enhances clarity in the design research process, maintaining research integrity and improving ethical compliance while minimising time costs. By proactively identifying surrogate participants, researchers can reduce future ethical complexities, although this may involve a trade-off between research depth and participant suitability.

This paper draws on a body of research undertaken by the author to determine how effective a student-centred flipped classroom intervention can be when used as the framework to enhance and transform student learning and professional identity formation through reflective practice. This research examines student experience of a professional practice module on the BSc. Product Design at TU Dublin. The motivation for the development of the structure of the module was to improve student engagement and learning through creating a student-centred experience that enabled students to optimise their learning opportunity while meeting the educational outcomes. The module was designed to be student centred in terms of their own learning enabling strong feedback for co-creation of this experience. This paper also presents some insights into the way this format can be used to enable a type of discourse that can assist students/graduates in forming values around ethics and responsibility within the profession but also as citizens.

Identifying design opportunities through a human-centered approach requires immersive contextual research—an essential process that can yield insights into stakeholder needs during the critical front-end phase of design. This paper presents a structured and rigorous framework for translating observational data into actionable design insights and opportunity spaces, a process relevant to both professional and student design researchers.

The research team conducted over one hundred hours of observational shadowing within the postnatal unit of a university teaching hospital. Four design researchers collected hand-written notes, which were then transcribed, reviewed for accuracy, and synthesized into detailed vignettes. These vignettes were further coded and clustered into themes and sub-themes, revealing a rich landscape of early-stage challenges and opportunities.

Developing vignettes is a method which offers several key benefits. First, it provides a credible, stakeholder-validated process for translating qualitative data into design insights. Second, the vignette format serves as an effective synthesis tool, facilitating interdisciplinary collaboration and ensuring that sensitive healthcare content is protected and accurately represented.

Finally, this framework demonstrates potential for educational applications, as design students can practice navigating complex observational research and communicating opportunity-focused, evidence-based design decisions.

By sharing this methodology, the researchers hope to bring greater rigor to early-phase design research practices, while also equipping the next generation of designers with versatile tools for transforming observations into impactful catalysts for innovation. This work underscores the value of user-centered design approaches, particularly within sensitive, high-stakes domains like healthcare.

Despite the recent interest in utilizing More-Than-Human Design (MTHD) in design research, education, and practice, its integration into design curricula remains limited. This is because MTHD requires design students to engage with multiple stakeholders during the design process, explore relationships among them, including those of humans and nonhumans, and represent these relations and more-than-human users. This paper addresses this challenge by introducing a categorization for more-than-human (MTH) representation tools and providing recommendations for integrating the MTHD approach into design education and practice, particularly supporting decision-making in preparing MTH user representations.

The field of Design for Women’s Health (DfWH) has gained momentum with the rise of FemTech, a sector dedicated to addressing women’s healthcare needs. From fertility trackers to menopause management tools, FemTech is expanding rapidly. However, many of these products face criticism for lacking scientific validation or failing to meet real healthcare needs, prompting deeper discussion on their actual impact on women’s health outcomes.

In design education, student interest in women’s health projects is increasing, reflecting a broader shift toward gender equity in healthcare. However, these projects present challenges, including limited access to comprehensive research, difficulties in reaching affected women, and ethical and wellbeing concerns when addressing sensitive health topics. Additionally, constraints in real-world testing and prototyping hinder product refinement and validation.

This paper proposes a model for integrating women’s health projects into design education by emphasising interdisciplinary collaboration, specialised resources, and alternative testing methods. Partnering with healthcare professionals and researchers can provide students with valuable insights and access to gender-specific data. When real-world testing is not feasible, virtual simulations and indirect user testing can serve as effective alternatives.

With the right support, students can navigate the complexities of designing for women’s health. By fostering collaboration, providing tailored resources, and encouraging creative problem-solving, this research posits that design educators can empower students to develop innovative, meaningful, and scientifically sound solutions for women’s healthcare.