Keynote addresses will be presented by three distinguished thought leaders in the field of design and innovation: Professor Mugendi K. M’Rithaa from Kenya, Professor Caroline McCaw from New Zealand, and Tracy Lynch from South Africa.
Professor Mugendi K. M’Rithaa is a transdisciplinary industrial designer, educator, and researcher currently serving as Deputy Vice-Chancellor at Machakos University in Kenya. A leading voice in socially responsive and inclusive design, his work explores how design can advance equity, sustainability, and human-centred development across the Global South
Tracy Lynch, a South African-based changemaker, serves as Design Curator for Nando’s and Executive Creative Director of Clout/SA. Through her visionary leadership, she champions South African design and craftsmanship, creating opportunities for local designers to showcase their work on global platforms.
| Tuesday evening 25 November | ||||||||
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| Time | Venue | Event | ||||||
| 14:00–17:00 | Ubuntu Futures: DESIS workshop Please contact tfenn@uj.ac.za for more information |
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| 17:30 | UJ Bus | Travel Auckland Park Campus | ||||||
| 18:00–20:00 | UJ Art Gallery & Piazza | Early Registration | ||||||
| Exhibition Ceramics Southern Africa in the UJ Art Gallery Exhibition Toorbos in the UJ Arts Centre Boardroom |
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| Entertainment Voices+, Saxophonist Christopher Gous |
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| 20:00 | UJ Bus | Transport back to Rosebank | ||||||
| Wednesday 26 November | ||||||
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| 07:30-08:30 | UJ Bus: Transport from Rosebank to Auckland Park Campus | |||||
| 08:00–9:00 | Piazza and Foyer: Registration & morning tea and coffee | |||||
| Time | Keorapetse William Kgositsile Theatre | |||||
| 09:15-09:45 | Welcome Prof Federico Freschi Executive Dean, Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture, UJ, South Africa |
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| 09:45-10:00 | Cumulus Conference President Prof Lorenzo Imbesi Opening Address |
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| 10:00-11:00 | Keynote 1 Prof Mugendi Kanampiu M’Rithaa Deputy Vice-Chancellor at Machakos University, Kenya Transdisciplinary industrial designer, educator, and researcher |
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| 11:00-11:30 | Foyer:Tea/coffee | |||||
| Time | Keorapetse William Kgositsile Theatre | Overtones Choir Room | Tunkie Dance Studio | Khulani Drama Studio | UJ Arts Centre Boardroom | UJ Art Gallery |
| SESSION 1 11:30 – 13:30 Paper presentations | Moderator: Lukasz Pater | Moderator: Amanda Breytenbach | Moderator: Monica Di Ruvo | |||
| Systemic Transformation through Temporary Urbanism and Meanwhile Uses: Insights from the T-Factor Kaunas Pilot Dovilė Gaižauskienė, Rūta Valušytė, Jūratė Tutlytė | Dual-Driven Empowerment: A Teaching Model for Village Regeneration Design Integrating AI Assistance and Indigenous Wisdom Yijin Tao, Ce Li, Zhou Haoming | Effects of Dynamic Artificial Lighting on Operator Alertness in Coal Shearer Cabins under Daylight-Deprived Conditions: The Moderating Role of Colour Temperature Pingping Fang, Liu Yonghong, Zhe Dai, Niu Zhengbei, Huiyun Yu, Jiayi Liu | ToorBos Virtual and physical exhibition |
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| From Us, To Us: Framing a More-Than-Critical Design Approach for the Global South through Ubuntu and Tatuam Asi Philosophies Oratile Rose Mokgatla, Alastair Brook | Liminality as an Interaction Design Approach: A Framework for Ambiguous, Fluid, and Embodied Experiences Moshi Wang | Interaction Design for Long-term Public Participation in Urban Regeneration Based on Al and digital twins Technologies --Taking the NlCE2035 Community in Shanghai as an Example Jiayang Li, Xinyi Ge, Jingyi Ren, Tang Shuqing, Yilun Wang, Yunsheng Su | ||||
| Maak ‘n plan: a potential Southern African design framework Suen Muller, Tamara Anne Weetman | Spatial Turn in Performance Design from the Perspective of Virtual-Real Fusion Yuqing Chen | Co-designing hybrid spaces in the metaverse: the case of OSMOSI action-research project Ambra Borin, Laura Galluzzo, Andrea Manciaracina | ||||
| Enhancing Child Oral Care through Ubuntu-Inspired Intelligent Design: A Paediatric Dental Tester Yilu LiYilu Li, Haining Wang | Ubuntu and New Materiality: Developing a Framework to Inform Sustainable Material Innovation Through Indigenous Knowledge and Ubuntu Principles in Southern Africa Tusankine Salasini, Jianli Hao, Daniel Yonto, Marc Aurel Schnabel | A Workshop Study on Al-Assisted Collaborative Design: Insights from a Digital Construction Scenario Jiayang Li, Xing Chen, Yilun Wang, Yunsheng Su | ||||
| 13:30-14:30 | Foyer:Lunch provided | |||||
| SESSION 2 14:30 – 16:30 Paper presentations | Moderator: Nomalanga Mahlangu | Moderator: Zanne de Meillon | Moderator: Richard Strydom | Moderator: Thato Radebe | ToorBos Virtual exhibition | Posters Session 1 Session chair: Zandile Zamele, Keshni Nana 14:30 – 15:30 A ground-up perspective on gen-AI adoption from industrial design professionals Charlotte Sjödell, Trym Abrahamsen Reducing cognitive Load in virtual spaces through a six- gateway transition framework Seoyoung Lim, Jungryun Kwon, Minyoung Kim, Byunghwa Jeung, Eui-Chul Jung Playground theory: Subversive pedagogy, play and AI in the 5IR Tasmiya Chandlay |
| Design Futures and the Language of Transition: AI as a Discursive Mirror Leena Muotio | Meta-design Fictions: Reframing experience prototypes for the challenges of 5IR Terence Fenn | EnerGPT. A human-AI collaboration tool to envision energy future scenarios and stimulate debate Sanni Juri, Eric Tron Gianet, Luca Barbierato, Lorenzo Bottaccioli, Maria Luce Lupetti, Edoardo Patti |
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| Adaptive speech interaction design in dynamic human–computer collaboration: Optimising speech interaction style and frequency for exercise immersion Pingping Fang, Yonghong Liu, Zhengbei Niu, Qingxia Chen | Artificial Intelligence: Examining AI’s role in shaping design methodologies and outcomes Nooreen Lallmamode Ittoo | Artificial intelligence and the inscription of African spatial narratives, culture, and spirituality in architecture practice and education Ntetleng Orepa Mosidi, Menzi Ndlovu |
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| Design Audit as Strategic Design Intelligence Bhavin Kothari, Sugandh Malhotra, Vivek Kant | Chief Design Officer: An Overview of the Design Literature Gisela Pinheiro, Teresa Franqueira |
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| 16:30 – 16:45 Foyer: Tea/coffee | ||||||
| SESSION 3 Workshops | Design Cultures for Peace Organised by Cumulus and DESIS, in connection with PDC.2026 17:15 – 18:50 | Cumulus X Working Group: Bridging Gaps with AI: rethinking internationalization 15:30 – 18:50 | Cumulus Food Think Tank Working Group: Food Transformation III: Connectivity 17:15 – 18:50 | P-R-E AI Digital Culture Work Group: Digital Culture 17:15 – 18:50 | Cumulus Fashion and Textile Working Group: A glimpse at African fashion 17:15 – 18:50 |
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| Evening event: 19:00 – 20:30 | Moving into Dance – African Contemporary Dance Performance Keoropetse William Kgositsile Theatre |
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| Cocktail evening and entertainment on the Piazza Drumming Circle |
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| 20:30 | UJ Bus: Transport back to Rosebank | |||||
| Thursday 27 November | ||||||
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| 07:30-08:30 | UJ Bus: Transport from Rosebank to Auckland Park Campus | |||||
| 08:00–9:00 | Piazza and Foyer: Registration & morning tea and coffee | |||||
| Time | Keorapetse William Kgositsile Theatre | |||||
| 09:15-09:45 | Keynote 2 Ms Tracy Lynch Executive Creative Director of Clout/SACurator of the Nando’s Design Programme Visionary, committed to celebrating South African creativity, craftsmanship and heritage |
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| 10:00-10:30 | Foyer:Tea/coffee | |||||
| Time | Keorapetse William Kgositsile Theatre | Overtones Choir Room | Tunkie Dance Studio | Khulani Drama Studio | UJ Arts Centre Boardroom | UJ Art Gallery |
| SESSION 4 10:30 – 12:45 Paper presentations | Moderator:Elanah van der Wath | Moderator: Jason Wiggin | Moderator: Neshane Harvey | Moderator: Emmerentia Deminey | ||
| Designing with, Not for: Preparing Students for Participatory Design through a Handover Approach in Dementia Contexts Lieke Lenaerts, Niels Hendriks, Andrea Wilkinson | Critical Design Reconfiguring the Technopolitics of Drone Vision Fan Wang, Fang He | TechStitched XR: Immersive and AI Technologies for Sustainable, Culturally Grounded African Fashion in the Metaverse Daniel Getachew, Farai Bayai Ncube | ToorBos Virtual and physical exhibition | Chill space Networking |
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| Reimagining Interaction Design Education through Affordance Assemblies Paul Hubertus Mathijs Geurts, Gabriele Ferri, Marije de Haas, Choi Jaz | The Fifth Industrial Regenerative Revolution (5IRR)—Ontological, Pedagogical and Entrepreneurial approaches Delfina Fantini van Ditmar, Katie Pfeiffer, Amina Abbas-Nazari | Thresholds of Innovation: Speculating on Fashion Education Futures Jennie Cook, Hawa Stwodah |
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| Panel discussion 1 PADI/DEFSA 11:45 – 12:45 | The role of prototyping in developing appropriate innovation in the architectural design process Celine Nel, Cobus Bothma, Christo Van der Hoven | Empowering Future Professionals: University-Company Collaboration for 3D + AI Integration in Fashion Design Xiaozhu Lin, Matteo O. Ingaramo |
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| 12:45-13:30 | Foyer:Lunch provided | |||||
| SESSION 5 13:30 – 15:00 | Moderator: Alex Noble | Moderator: Ilse Prinsloo | Moderator: Bongisa Msutu | Moderator: Terence Fenn | ||
| The Cultural Re-signification of Materials. Design as a mediator between circular innovation and intangible heritage in SMEs Veronica Pasini | Knowledge Graph Construction for Imperial Artifact Production in the Yongzheng Reign of the Qing Dynasty Driven by Large Language Models and Chain-of-Thought Prompting An Sui, Yongshen Tong, Ning Gao, Xuya Jiang | Designing with intelligence: integrating AI in participatory practices Marco Biferale, Laura Galluzzo, Ambra Borin | Creating outside the classroom: experiential learning and Participatory Design approaches to learning in the 5IR Annabelle Wienand | ToorBos Virtual exhibition | Poster Session 2 Session chair: Tasmiya Chandlay 13:30 – 15:30 Speculating Work Ethics Jingra Jia |
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| Material-led Speculations in Design Studies Jenny Bergström, Heidi Pietarinen, Amna Qureshi, Satu Miettinen, Melanie Sarantou, Piia Köyste | Engaging People with Local Cultural Environments by Designing Meaningful Virtual Reality Reconstructions Siiri Paananen, Juri Etto, Henri Mella, Amna Qureshi, Jonna Häkkilä | ANN-AR Synergy in Heritage Resilience: A Conceptual Approach Addressing Fragmented Technology and Community Engagement Bo Deng, Mengjuan Zhang | Feeling Breath Feeling You: Co-design a Cyborg-Mediated Somaesthetic Ritual for Social Connectedness Ines Ziyou Yin, Zhen Zhao, Kin Wai Michael Siu, Hailiang Wang, Vanessa Keiun Van |
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| Reconstructing Materiality and Indigenous Design Intelligence: Lessons from Qing Imperial Glass for the Fifth Industrial Revolution Ning Gao, Yongsheng Tong, An Sui, Hui Zeng | Quo Vadis - Building Information Modelling (BIM) implementation and collaboration in the higher education sector in South Africa Amanda Breytenbach, Emmerentia Deminey | Hackathons for Care: Co-creating AI-powered Product Innovation for Vulnerable Communities Jie Zhang, Xinyu Tao | Ubuntu and Spatial Justice: Reimagining Architectural Futures in Post-Bantustan Landscapes Nomalanga Mahlangu |
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| 15:00-15:30 | Foyer: Tea/coffee | |||||
| SESSION 6 Workshops | Co-creating the Designer´s code of ethics 15:30 – 17:00 | IP Cumulus Working Group: IP and AI strategies for academics 15:30 – 17:00 | XtraTerrestrial Working Group: Extra terrestrial 15:30 – 17:00 | Service Design Cumulus Working Group: Empathetic Service Design for Forward-looking, Emotion-oriented and Relevant Services 15:30 – 17:00 | ToorBos Virtual exhibition | Cirro Working Group Student networking 15:30 - 17:00 |
| 17:00-18:00 | UJ Bus: Travel to FADA Building on the Bunting Road campus | |||||
| 18:00-20:30 | FADA Student exhibition opening Food will be available to purchase from various Food Trucks & Design Café |
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| 20:30 | UJ Bus: Travel to FADA Building on the Bunting Road campus | |||||
| Friday 28 November | ||||||
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| 07:30-08:30 | UJ Bus: Transport from Rosebank to Auckland Park Campus | |||||
| 08:00–9:00 | Piazza and Foyer: Registration & morning tea and coffee | |||||
| Time | Keorapetse William Kgositsile Theatre | |||||
| 09:00-10:00 | Keynote 3 Prof Caro McCaw Otago Polytechnic, NZ Academic leader, design educator, researcher, connector and facilitator |
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| 10:00-10:30 | Foyer:Tea/coffee | |||||
| Time | Keorapetse William Kgositsile Theatre | Overtones Choir Room | Tunkie Dance Studio | Khulani Drama Studio | UJ Arts Centre Boardroom | UJ Art Gallery |
| SESSION 7 10:30 – 12:30 Paper presentations | Moderator:Suzanne Erasmus | Moderator: Alex Noble | Moderator: Amanda Breytenbach | Moderator: Monica di Ruvo | ||
| Memory, Mortality, Metaverse: Death in the Digital Realm Jason Wiggin | Material Translations: Reimagining Historical Dress through Digital Design Maarit Kalmakurki | Participatory Design of Restorative Spaces in the Age of the Fifth Industrial Revolution Petra Nurmela, Amna Qureshi, Jonna Häkkilä | “She can accompany me when planting flowers”: Human-AI Co-Design for Online Speculative Role-playing and Storytelling about Future Family Communication Ines Ziyou Yin, Xinjun Miao, Yirong Jiang, Yijun Yin, Yuan Yuan, Izzy Yi Jian, Kin Wai Michael Siu | Chill space Networking |
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| Experience of Movement Outside the VR FoV through Multi-Sensory Experiences in Virtual and Physical Spaces Seoyoung Lim, Euichul Jung | Embodied materiality: meaning making, sense making, and the role of traditional art materials in human-centred design education Marita Nieuwoudt | Awareness as a key in design education to unlock true potential Hilde Van Dyck, Kristof Vaes | A Comparison of Chinese and Korean Users’ Acceptance of Metaverse Museums: The Case of the Dunhuang Metaverse Museum Chuhao Shen, Kun Wang, Min-kai Hsiao, Ren Jia, Yi-Yen Wu | |||
| Participatory Design as a Tool for Inclusive and Ethical Metaverse Dimitrios Panagiotakopoulos, Spyridoula Tzortzi, Georgia Cheirchanteri | The Integration of artificial intelligence into creative design processes: An empirical study on its impact in first-year product design students and the concerns arising from its use Ariel de Jesús Méndez Brindis | Disruptive Design Dictionary Terresa Hardaway, Lisa Elzey Mercer | ||||
| Segmented timber shells from Africa: A computational framework for multi-objective optimisation rooted in context Nicola Smuts, Christo Van der Hoven | DIY reusable sanitary pad kits to empower schoolgirls affected by period poverty Zanné de Meillon, Daniel Carstens | |||||
| CLOSING SESSION 12:30 – 12:45 | Cumulus Conference President Prof Lorenzo Imbesi Closing Address |
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| 13:00 | Foyer:Lunch provided | |||||
| 13:15 | UJ Bus: Transport back to Rosebank | |||||
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