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Design4Health

Design4Health is the collection of events, publications and networks established by Lab4Living.

Design4Health includes an international peer reviewed journal and a series of international conferences, first convened in 2011, that bring together designers and creative practitioners with researchers, clinicians, policy makers and users to discuss and disseminate their research.

Our publications and events provide an opportunity to reflect on how the disciplines of design and health might continue to develop new ways of thinking and working, and how we might impact positively and sustainably on the social, economic and cultural factors within our communities and beyond.

The next full conference is hosted by Lab4Living in Sheffield from 25-27 June 2024.

We invite you to join the D4H mailing list or follow @design4health for further updates and announcements about the conferernce.

REGISTRATION NOW OPEN

To register for D4H2024 please click on the link below and follow the instructions to the registration payment page. Delegate fees are outlined below as well as on the registration payment page. We look forward to welcoming you. https://register.oxfordabstracts.com/event/4355?preview=false

CALL FOR PAPERS: 20 Sep 2023

Design4Health 2024: Equilibrium in a time of permacrisis.

Conference: Sheffield, UK, 25-27 June 2024

We continue to live in a time of unprecedented change. Since Design4Health2018, we have experienced a global pandemic, been confronted by economic uncertainty, witnessed climate change’s devastating impact, and continue to experience societal inequality. Advances in AI and other technologies promise new opportunities while raising ethical challenges.  

Permacrisis is a term used to describe an extended period of instability and insecurity. We have taken this as the overarching theme of Design4Health 2024, which will be hosted by Lab4Living in Sheffield, UK. History has shown that new ways of thinking can be borne in times of overwhelming change and crisis. We hope the 2024 conference will offer space to pause, reflect and examine the role of design and design research in re-imagining the discipline of design for health in the context of rapidly evolving challenges. D4H2024 will allow us to explore how design research and creative practice might enable us to envision alternative futures as we consider a new equilibrium.

As in previous conferences, we welcome contributions of research that explore any aspect of design and creative practice in the context of health and healthcare. Within the overall theme of the conference, we particularly welcome submissions that consider the role of design in: 

  • Redressing power imbalances
  • Responding to planetary health and our relationships with the planet
  • Exploring future design pedagogies
  • Debating the role of new technologies in health
  • Addressing ethical questions relating to the field

Submission formats

For this conference, Lab4Living invites submissions in the following formats:

Paper submissions: extended abstract

The abstract can include up to 1200 words including references, and may include up to 6 images. Alternatively, you may choose to submit your paper in the form of a 2-minute video proposal.

Abstracts will be blind reviewed by the review panel. If accepted, the author will be invited to present the work at the conference and the abstract published in the online Book of Abstracts. We will not be publishing full proceedings but authors may develop abstracts into a full-length journal article for submission to Design For Health journal which would be subject to the journal’s standard review process.

Proposed structure for an abstract

  • What is the Issue, problem, challenge, or gap you seek to address? What is the specific context?
  • What have others previously done? Situate your work within the research landscape – what is ‘known’.
  • What did you do, and how did you do it? (we encourage the use of process diagrams, schematics etc. to cut down on words for this part)
  • What was the outcome? (for research which is still ongoing, it’s fine to report on initial findings, or say when you expect to be able to report on them)
  • What is the (potential) specific contribution to Design for Health? 
  • References

Poster submissions: poster proposal

A 150-word proposal should summarize the research to be presented in the final poster. You may also include one single-sided A4 or A3 PDF text / visual representation of your work in pdf format. Poster proposals will be reviewed by the review panel. If accepted, presenters are requested to produce a visually engaging poster in A1 format, using a provided template.

Authors of accepted abstracts and posters are expected to attend the conference in Sheffield in person as regular paying delegates.

Design4Health2024 is an in-person conference.

Key dates and submission process

Deadline for submissionsSun 10 Dec 2023 23:59GMT Sun 07 Jan 2024 23:59 GMT
Delegate registration opensEaster 2024
Conference25-27 June 2024
Sheffield Hallam University
Sheffield, UK

We invite you to join the D4H mailing list or follow @design4health for further updates and announcements about the conferernce.

Delegate fees

The following delegate tickets will be available from 12 Feb 2024:

D4H2024Full conferenceDay rate
Early bird£450£200
Student£300£150
Standard (from 1 May 2024)£550£250
Loyalty£400£180

Delegates who have attended two or more previous Design4Health conferences (excluding Festival of Design4Health 2022 and UK Design4Health symposium 2017) are eligibly for the Loyalty rate. Contact Kirsty Christer for eligibility and a coupon before booking your place.

Contact     

Kirsty Christer – Conference Co-ordinator, Lab4Living

Join the conversation: D4H mailing list @design4health #D4H2024.

For the full conference archive, including published proceedings from previous conferences, please visit the original Design4Health conference website.