Transitioning towards Sustainable Futures
School of Design Inaugural Learning & Teaching Symposium
in cooperation with QUT Design Lab & More-than-Human Futures Research Group
held in conjunction with the New Economy Network Australia (NENA) conference 2021
Tuesday 2 November 2021, 9am – 5pm, E Block Level 5 Functions Space, QUT Kelvin Grove – and online via zoom
Design usually doesn’t exist in isolation. It thrives on partnerships with other disciplines and domains, such as design & health, design & technology, and design & sustainability. It thus often fulfills more than just its usual roles of creativity and creation; it is design that provides the lateral thinking skills and polymath diplomacy that is the conceptual glue enabling better collaboration and bringing disparate cognitive areas together, such as STEM & HASS, digital & physical, academia & industry, built & natural environments.
We are facing uncertain times with multiple planetary crises unfolding at rapid pace. Not only does this call for new ideas and innovation, it requires systems thinking and transdisciplinary approaches. We can no longer break up and compartmentalise the urgent task of sustainability into quick technological fixes; bold and urgent reform-work is required that goes beyond science and engineering ingenuity.
This raises some challenging questions: How do we prepare the next generation of design graduates to tackle these wicked problems? And how do we inform teaching pedagogies and practices by research into post-anthropocentric and more-than-human futures?
We invite you to join members of the QUT School of Design’s Sustainability Committee and the More-than-Human Futures research group for our inaugural learning & teaching symposium on the topic of transitioning towards sustainable futures.
The symposium is partly inspired by discussions as part of the Great Transition Initiative’s online forum The Pedagogy of Transition: Educating for the Future We Want.
Meeting ID: 847 1802 2012 – Password: 353814
Agenda:
draft – subject to change
| 0830 – 0900 | Registration |
| 0900 – 0915 | Welcome and Acknowledgement of Country
Professor Marcus Foth, Chair, School of Design Sustainability Committee, QUT |
| 0915 – 0945 | Opening Remarks
Transforming QUT into a Sustainable University Professor Kerrie Wilson, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Sustainability Strategy), QUT |
| 0945 – 1030 | Opening Keynote
Why we need Aboriginal political philosophy now, more than ever Dr Mary Graham, Adj. Assoc. Prof. in the School of Political Science & International Studies, University of Queensland |
| 1030 – 1100 | Morning Tea |
| 1100 – 1230 | Lightning Talks ⚡️ More-than-Human Futures Research Group
chaired by Dr Keith Armstrong, Visual Arts, School of Creative Practice, QUT
|
| 1230 – 0130 | Lunch |
| 0130 – 0230 | Panel Discussion 🌳 School of Design Sustainability Committee
Pedagogy of Transition: Educating for the Future We Want chaired by Dr Liz Brogden, Transdisciplinary Design, School of Architecture & Built Environment, QUT
|
| 0230 – 0300 | Plenary Discussion |
| 0300 – 0330 | Afternoon Tea |
| 0330 – 0430 | Closing Keynote
The ‘ask’ of Designers in More Than Human-Centred Worlds Professor Ron Wakkary, School of Interactive Arts and Technology, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada & Department of Industrial Design, Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), Netherlands; author of Things We Could Design For More Than Human-Centered Worlds (MIT Press 2021) |
| 0430 – 0500 | Closing Remarks
Professor Lisa Scharoun, Head of School, School of Design, QUT |
We acknowledge the Turrbal and Yugara, as the First Nations owners of the lands where QUT now stands. We pay respect to their Elders, lores, customs and creation spirits. We recognise that these lands have always been places of teaching, research and learning.
Details:
| Location: | E Block Level 5 Functions Space, QUT Kelvin Grove [link to map] |
| Start Date: | 02/11/2021 [add to calendar] |
| Start Time: | 9.00 am |
| End Date: | 02/11/2021 |
| End Time: | 5.00 pm |
| RSVP By: | Friday 29th of October 2021 |
| Cost: | free |
| Organiser: | QUT Design Lab, School of Design, and More-than-Human Futures research group |
| Enquiries: | designlab@qut.edu.au |
| Register: |