Submission to DFGN.R '23
are open!
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Don’t lose the opportunity to join the second edition of the conference organised by DFGN, DFGN.R 2023.
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Submit your contribution by the 11th of June (extended deadline), and join us at the conference on the 5th-6th of October.

📢 Attention all DFGN.R enthusiasts! 📢
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You have now until the 11th of June at 11:30 AM (GMT+3) to submit your contributions. So grab your caffeinated beverages and get ready to rock those keyboards! We eagerly await your contributions.
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DFGN.R 2023, "Designing for Multiplicity," is the second research conference organised by the Design Factory Global Network. This open event offers an opportunity for like-minded educators, designers, and researchers to share insights and inspire others on education methods, practices, and ecosystems of co-creation and innovation.
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DFGN.R is a two-day event hosted on-site in Ankara, Turkey. The conference program includes presentations of submitted extended abstracts and hyper posters, providing an opportunity to exchange ideas and initiate collaboration with researchers from around the world. Additionally, the conference program includes paper development sessions, workshops, and non-traditional format sessions that prioritise knowledge sharing and provide opportunities to explore the local ecosystem.
This year's conference is organised in collaboration with Aalto University from Helsinki, Finland and hosted by METU Middle East Technical University. The conference is organised alongside International Design Factory Week 2023, the annual gathering of DFGN members.
The conference collaborates with the CERN IdeaSquare Journal of Experimental Innovation (CIJ), and selected papers will be published in a special issue in December 2023.
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DFGN.R 2023 Themes
Designing for Multiplicity
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Some of the major topics that occupy the discourse of design and innovation in recent years refer to challenges of inclusivity, diversity, sustainability, equality, and social justice. While there are numerous approaches towards these topics not only within the field of design and innovation but also in other fields (i.e., economy, education, sociology, anthropology), we would like to suggest that one of the common denominators of all these discourses lies in the theoretical-philosophical-practical concept of multiplicity.
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The Design Factory Global Network acknowledges the challenges and benefits of exploring diverse perspectives, practices, and pedagogies to work towards solving challenges beyond the remit of a single solution or discipline. We invite submissions exploring how design-driven thinking and practices can use multiplicity to gain new meanings and approaches, create more inclusive and achievement-oriented learning environments, and foster design and innovation that are more responsive to diverse perspectives and needs. Authors are welcome to submit their research on the following sub-themes:
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[EDUCATION] How is the multiplicity of teaching and learning in higher education expanding one's capacity for innovation?
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[CULTURE] How is design-driven education contributing to creating a more open culture, embracing ethics and design of the multiple?
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[TECHNOLOGY] How are new technological advancements shaping education, inclusivity and multiplicity?
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Additional topics may include:
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Strategies for incorporating multiple lived experiences and needs into the design process.
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Managing diversity in design teams
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Teaching and learning empathy from the perspective of the multiple
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Design for Everybody: inclusive and universal design principles
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Multiplicity and design for the Earth: leveraging diversity to increase the social, ethical and environmental sustainability of design
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People first: How can the future generation of global innovators use concepts of multiplicity, flows, and horizontal thinking and who are the educators that can foster their passion and skills.
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Multiple spaces, places and inclusive learning environments for work and play
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Dissolving disciplinary distinctions or forming new ones to forecast the challenges of the 22nd century.
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Creativity and critical thinking for uncertainty, ambiguity and unknown future skills. Managing up, down and sideways, negotiating diversity in innovation ecosystems
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Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches are all welcome, and papers should represent original, empirical work. We welcome new perspectives that might fall outside these specific themes, as we love to be surprised! For more detailed information on the conference theme, please visit the 'For Authors' page on the conference website.
Call for Contributions
The DFGN.R 2023 is pleased to announce a call for contributions on the topic of "Designing for Multiplicity". We are seeking contributions in two formats:
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Research Contributions - Extended abstracts between 1000 - 1500 words
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Experiential Contributions - Hyper posters in non-traditional formats that prioritise knowledge sharing through experiential, emotional, or aesthetic means, with a short description of 200-250 words.
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The Design Factory Global Network is already diverse in its own way. As a passion-based network, we acknowledge the challenges and benefits of exploring varied perspectives, practices, and pedagogies to increase the chances of solving challenges beyond the scope of a single solution, practice, or discipline.
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We invite submissions that explore how design-driven thinking and practices can be infused with new meanings and approaches using the concept of multiplicity; how design can support the creation of a more inclusive and achievement-oriented learning environment; and how inclusivity can be enhanced by interaction with the concept of multiplicity. We also welcome provocations on how the concept of multiplicity may allow for novel or hybrid methods and paradigms; how it affects pedagogic approaches to design and innovation; and how it may be used to generate radical innovation. We encourage contributions that demonstrate how diversity and multiplicity can foster design and innovation that are more responsive to diverse perspectives and needs.
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The authors of accepted extended abstracts and hyper posters will be invited to present at the conference. Accepted contributions will be published in the DFGN.R 2023 Conference Proceedings. The accepted research contributors will then have the opportunity to submit a full paper of up to 3,000 words. These full paper submissions will be considered only for publication in a special issue of the CERN IdeaSquare Journal of Experimental Innovation (CIJ), set to be released in December 2023. Please note that full papers will not be published in DFGN.R 2023 Conference Proceedings.
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The deadline for submitting abstracts and hyper posters is June 5th, 2023. For more detailed information on the different types of contributions, the submission process, and the conference theme, please visit the 'For Authors' page on the conference website.



The Venue
Middle East Technical University Campus
Orta DoÄŸu Teknik Üniversitesi,
Üniversiteler Mahallesi,
Dumlupınar Bulvarı No:1
06800 Çankaya Ankara/TÜRKİYE
Note: More specific information about the venue will be published closer to the event.
