CENTRAL THEMES FOR DRS2016

1. FUTURE-FOCUSED THINKING:

Papers, case studies, or designs that anticipate developments in one or more of the three areas of Design, Research and Society.

2. PAPERS CRITICALLY ENGAGING WITH OUR KEY CONFERENCE QUESTIONS:

How can design research help frame and address the societal problems that face us?
How can design research be a creative and active force for rethinking ideas about Design?
How can design research shape our lives in more responsible, meaningful, and open ways?

3. 50 YEARS OF DESIGN RESEARCH:

Papers looking critically at key contributors and contributions over the past 50 years of Design Research.

CALL FOR PAPERS

DRS2016 invites new and challenging paper submissions from any area or discipline of design research. We embrace research looking at and using design in the widest possible sense with interdisciplinary work and work responding to the conference themes particularly encouraged.

Papers may be submitted to the General Call for Papers (outlined above), one of the Special Interest Groups, or one of the Additional Themes. 

CONVERSATIONS AND EXPERIMENTAL SESSIONS

Submissions for structured discussions, experimental sessions and workshop formats that advance conversation around emergent forms of design research will form part of DRS2016. As with DRS2014 these sessions have been conceived as alternatives to the traditional paper/presentation format to provide innovative venues for project-based research and work that is not easily captured or conveyed by the scholarly paper.

Further details about the submission of proposals for conversations and experimental sessions will follow for the deadline of 1st February 2016.  The deadline for Workshop sessions will be 1st March 2016.

PHD BY DESIGN EVENT

PhD By Design will hold a one-day event at DRS2016 to vocalise, discuss and work through some of the many issues of conducting a practice-based PhD in Design. This event will be made up of informal presentations of work as an opportunity to explore what the future holds for practice-based PhDs. It will bring together designers undertaking practice-based doctoral research, as well as supervisors, MRes students, and MPhil students within and outwith Design Departments. On the day we will produce an Instant Journal documenting discussions and outcomes and available during the conference.

Contact details and Information about past events is available at: www.phdbydesign.com

Registration details will be available in November 2015, with a deadline for applications to the PhD by Design Event of 6th March 2016.

CONTACT

Any queries about the conference should be directed to: admin@drs2016.org

TIMETABLE TO DRS2016

  • Deadline for additional theme sessions: 27th July 2015
  • Submission system opens: 1st September 2015
  • Deadline for full papers: 9th November 2015 ***Extended to 16th November***
  • Deadline for Conversations: 1st February 2016  ***Extended to 8th February***
  • Notification of accepted papers: 17th February 2016
  • Deadline for Workshops: 1st March 2016
  • Application Deadline for PhD by Design: 6th March 2016
  • Deadline for full paper revisions: 14th March 2016 ***Extended to 17th March***
  • Final acceptance of revised papers: 24th March 2016
  • Author registration deadline: 22nd April
  • Conference Dates: 28th-30th June 2016

SUBMISSION

Papers should be up to 5000 words, excluding abstracts and references, and should adhere to the conference paper submission guidelines given in the full paper template.

We also seek more experimental submissions (full papers) for design research that might, for example, include a textual narrative alongside more visually-oriented, time-based, or networked material. The document format should still form the basis of such a submission, with reference to large media files made through web-links.

All submissions must be in the English language.

The full paper template contains guidance about the submission and review process in addition to information about how to format the content of your paper.

Download the Full Paper Template

PEER REVIEW

Review for DRS2016 is by full papers only. This is a general design research conference and it is expected that a wide variety of work and projects will be reported. Irrespective of the range and stage of your research, we expect the highest standards of scholarship and clarity in terms of establishing context, explicating methods of inquiry, and reporting results. Papers will be selected through a double blind review process conducted by an international review panel.

Our aim is to increase the quality of peer reviewing for DRS2016. The review process for each sub-theme of the conference will be managed separately by a sub-chair who will oversee the peer review process of around 20 submissions. This will involve allocating reviewers, resolving any conflicts, and making recommendations to the overall DRS2016 review committee. Authors will have an opportunity to evaluate the reviews they receive, which sub-chairs will factor into making their final recommendations.

CONFERENCE PRESENTATION AND PROCEEDINGS

Authors of accepted papers are expected to attend and present their work at the conference in one of a number of formats. Papers of exceptional quality (as judged by reviewers) will be presented with discussants and where appropriate papers may be accepted as posters and allocated to sessions with shorter time slots.

All accepted papers will be published in the online conference proceedings and be available to view approximately one month before the beginning of the conference. This is intended to stimulate debate prior to the conference and help to facilitate deeper interaction during the conference.