DCODE — Fundamentals of Design Competence for Our Digital Future

Results in brief

Fundamentals of Design Competence for Our Digital Future

DCODE project trained a cohort of 15 PhD students (early-stage researchers, or ESRs) from design, engineering, social sciences, and humanities, and equipping them – against the backdrop of current developments in AI – with the knowledge and skills needed to prototype radically new design competences. The project sought to integrate 5 key challenges as means to lay new foundations for designing with AI: (1) Anthropological study and principled engineering of algorithms (2) Design of trusted interactions across decentralised systems (3) Sustainable approaches to value creation in data-driven models (4) Democratic mechanisms for data governance and deliberation (5) Future design practices upholding anticipatory approaches The project brought together an exceptional team of internationally leading researchers in the required subject areas, and non-academic partners from different sectors that brought societal, economic, and political practice to the project and provided multiple platforms for the dissemination of results and best practices. To foster the holistic understanding necessary to design with AI, the project introduced a postdisciplinary mode of working called prototeams: teams of PhD students working in real-world contexts to prototype future professional design competences and practices, including the integration of knowledge across disciplines.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union

Project objective

A fundamentally new kind of design competence is needed to anticipate the digital transformation of society and create the conditions for responsible and sustainable futures. For this, D-CoDE will train a cohort of 15 PhD students in design, design anthropology, media studies, science and technology studies and data science, and equip them with the holistic understanding needed for the human-centric design of product service systems powered by Big Data, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. New foundations for design will require the interdisciplinary integration of five key research challenges identified in both engineering and the social sciences: (1) anthropological study and principled engineering of algorithms as foundation for shaping digital futures; (2) design of personally meaningful and socially appropriate forms of interaction with and across decentralised systems; (3) inclusive approaches to value creation in designing data-driven products, services and business models; (4) principles and mechanisms for public deliberation and governance of data flows across systems; (5) future design practices upholding anticipatory, deliberative and responsive innovation approaches. To foster this holistic understanding – and the integration of knowledge across disciplines it requires – D-CoDE introduces a post-disciplinary mode of working called ‘prototeams’: teams of PhD students working in real-world contexts to develop and prototype future professional design roles and practices, including the scientific knowledge needed to support them. As these research challenges require both deep disciplinary expertise and knowledge that cuts across sectors, D-CoDE brings together an exceptional team of internationally leading researchers in the required subject areas, and non-academic partners that bring societal, economic and political practice to the project and provide multiple forums for the dissemination of knowledge, results and best practices.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITEIT DELFT · DelftCoordinatorNetherlands
AARHUS UNIVERSITET · Aarhus CDenmark
AKCIJU SABIEDRIBA TRANSPORTA UN SAKARU INSTITUTS · RIGALatvia
KOBENHAVNS UNIVERSITET · KOBENHAVNDenmark
PHILIPS ELECTRONICS NEDERLAND BV · EindhovenNetherlands
STICHTING HOGESCHOOL VAN AMSTERDAM · AMSTERDAMNetherlands
THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH · EdinburghUnited Kingdom
UMEA UNIVERSITET · UMEASweden

DCODE · Fundamentals of Design Competence for Our Digital Future

Results in brief

Fundamentals of Design Competence for Our Digital Future

Project objective

Participants

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