Include 2009 was sponsored by the Audi Design Foundation
Conference supporters are Design Science, The Cambridge Engineering Design Centre (EDC), i~design
Please contact us if you would like to become a supporter of Include 2011.
The Audi Design Foundation is very proud to sponsor the fifth Include conference and be part of a global network that provides a forum for all aspects of user-centred design. Established in 1997, the Foundation’s aim is to encourage designers to develop ideas that create a positive change in people’s lives. We hope that our financial support will allow individuals and organisations to produce exciting and ground-breaking work.
Our Designs for Life programme supports designers by funding the development of physical prototypes for inclusive and/or sustainable products. The annual fund of £85,000 allows exceptional designers to develop ideas and produce practical solutions with users at the heart of the process. Designs of Substance, another of the Foundation’s core initiatives, challenges UK students to work to design briefs set by developing world communities. Undergraduates consider using their design skills to improve the lives of disadvantaged people, rather than for aesthetically pleasing, high-value items. 2009 will be the third year that two overseas students begin an MA by Research (Sustainable Design) as part of an Audi Design Foundation bursary programme in conjunction with Kingston University, London. We hope that the experience gained through a world-renowned British design education will be applied in the students’ home country.
The Cambridge Engineering Design Centre (EDC) was established within the Cambridge University Engineering Department in 1991. Its aim is to undertake fundamental research into the engineering design process and to couple this research with industrial practice. The EDC’s particular skills are research through observational studies, theory integration and rapid prototype software development – bringing together a range of research knowledge and skills.
Design Science is a Philadelphia-based consultancy that specialises in conducting research and providing design support to optimise the human interface of products. Specific services include ethnographic field research, human factors support and graphic user-interface design, all for new product development. A particular area of focus is inclusive design, especially for home-healthcare products.
Recent projects include research for and design of interfaces for blood-glucose monitors, insulin pens and other drug-delivery devices, home dialysis systems, and systems for cardiac patients. Design Science’s staff of 20 includes designers, systems engineers, psychologists, anthropologists, and other social scientists who work in integrated teams. This multidisciplinary approach is designed to optimise the validity of research and the accessibility of research findings, as well as the visual elegance and usability of product interfaces.
Funded since 2000 by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), i~design is a research collaboration between the RCA Helen Hamlyn Centre, the Engineering Design Centre (EDC) at Cambridge University and other partners. Now in its third phase, the current consortium includes the Cambridge Interdisciplinary Research Centre on Ageing (CIRCA), Loughborough University Ergonomics and Safety Research Institute (ESRI), and the universities of York and Dundee. i~design aims to establish a knowledge base for inclusive design and provide tools, guidance, information and user-centred methodologies to help industry, designers and those who commission and manage design, deliver effective and inclusive products and services.
SPARC is an initiative which brings together researchers, practitioners and policy makers in ageing. It specialises in communicating the latest design, engineering and biological ageing-related research to all stakeholders, making the case about the benefits for an ageing population of scientific research, and it encourages new blood into ageing research.
KT-EQUAL is designed specifically to exploit a decade of investment by EPSRC in ageing and disability research by working with stakeholders and facilitating knowledge exchange. There will be many workshops for all-comers. It will exploit work to date in the built environment, inclusive design and rehabilitation. At the same time it will develop a stronger presence in health and wellbeing, independent living and self-management.
