We’re building on the legacy of the Design Innovation Research Centre to investigate how design can drive social change
Social design research
The Design Innovation Research Centre (DIRC) was established in 2013 and its staff completed over 150 partnered projects during their tenure. The Centre focused on the use of design-based problem-reframing to support social, community and organisational change. Through this work DIRC encouraged safer, active communities, and helped partners move beyond reactive problem-solving towards proactive structural change, whether in the built environment, organisational cultures, service systems or individual mindsets.
The methodological contribution of DIRC, along with their well-respected partnerships, have been invaluable in rethinking UTS’s strength in social design and positioning it in the School of Design.
There is a breadth of social design expertise in the School of Design, ranging from strategic design, transition design, systems thinking, and co-design, to problem reframing, futuring, and social innovation. The School welcomes opportunities to investigate the role of design as an agent of social change, and to partner with public and private sector organisations to effect this change.