Research infrastructure DCODE is a European network and PhD program. We train researchers and designers to guide society’s digital transformation towards inclusive, sustainable futures.
DCODE guides society’s digital transformation towards inclusive, sustainable futures
DCODE's partners include: Umeå Institute of Design | TU Delft | University of Edinburgh | Aarhus University | University of Copenhagen | TSI | Amsterdam University of Applied Science | Philips Design
Inclusive and sustainable digital futures call for fundamentally new design competences and practices. DCODE combines advances in engineering, social sciences and humanities to provide the necessary connection between human experience (one-to-one relations) and the societal system (end-to-end relations). In doing so, we position the crafting of agency as foundational to digital design today, just like function was critical to industrial design.
We cut across industries and sectors, connecting domains such as sustainability, mobility, and healthcare. DCODE researchers understand that future design practices must integrate design intervention levels: from algorithms through terms of service, UX, and business models, to governance. This unique, holistic approach enables responsible digital transformation.
DCODE associated partners and their network of stakeholders play a key role in setting up the context. Our partners identify concrete design challenges in AI, healthcare, mobility, and digital ethics. Cases and assignments help individual PhD researchers and DCODE prototeams develop demonstrators and counter-narratives that foster actionable insights and postdisciplinary solutions.
DCODE prototeams deploy researchers from diverse disciplines in real-world, cross-sector contexts. While PhD projects have individual focuses, we integrate high-level learnings from the prototeams via a structured exchange of experiences and results during the summer/winter schools. This innovative, reflexive practice leads research and education beyond state-of-the-art knowledge and training.
DCODE exposes the next generation of European researchers to a plurality of intersectional, cultural, and societal perspectives. Our program and network integrate heterogeneous values, knowledge traditions, and real-world cases. We leverage the diversity of scenarios and contexts to boost postdisciplinary, innovative design research.
