Pedagogical Interventions and the Future of Product Design Education

Innovative pedagogical models, curriculum frameworks, studio-based learning, interdisciplinary approaches, and competency-driven education in product design, creative thinking, divergent ideation, reframing, co-creation, and innovation capabilities among design students.

Submissions may also explore forward-looking perspectives on the future of design education, the evolving role of design schools, ethical considerations in emerging technologies, and shifting professional identities within product design.

Sustainability and Indigenous Knowledge Systems in Product Design

Sustainable product systems, circular economy approaches, materials innovation, low-impact manufacturing, repairability, emotional durability, and responsible design.

Contributions may also explore the integration of indigenous knowledge systems, crafts, local practices, rural innovation, and cultural narratives into product design. Studies on material-driven design, experimentation with emerging materials, prototyping cultures, and the role of making and fabrication in shaping design learning are also encouraged.

Human-Centred Product Design for Healthcare, Inclusivity and Social Impact

Inclusive design, accessibility, elderly care, assistive technologies, participatory design, and socially impactful design interventions. It also includes research on healthcare product design, rehabilitation technologies, regulatory and clinical constraints, prototyping within medical contexts, and pedagogical approaches that prepare students for design challenges in healthcare and social innovation.

Industry–Academia Collaboration and Real-World Projects in Product Design and Innovation

Studies on industry–academia partnerships, live project engagement, internships, user immersion programmes, incubation ecosystems, and models of integrating professional practice within design education. Well-documented product design case studies that illustrate real-world challenges, collaborative processes, and learning outcomes are also welcome.

Product Design for Emerging Technologies

The impact of frontier technologies such as AI, robotics, digital fabrication, extended reality (XR/VR), IoT, smart materials on product design practice and education. Papers may investigate how these technologies reshape design processes, redefine designer–tool interactions, and transform the learning experiences and roles of designer in contemporary product design. 

Product Design and Innovation

Any other submission related to Product Design and Innovation

Submissions will undergo a review process to ensure quality and relevance. After the review process, a submission may be accepted either as a full paper or as a poster / demo. A submission selected as a full paper will be presented at the seminar AND will be archived in the proceedings. A submission selected as a poster / demo will be presented at the seminar, but will NOT be archived in the proceedings.

Submissions will go through two rounds of review. In the first round, Review Committee Chairs will review all submissions and will reject submissions that are not anonymised as per the anonymisation policy, are incomplete, have a low quality, or are off-topic. If a submission is accepted in the first round, it can be presented at the seminar at least as a poster or a demo. Authors will be notified if their submission is being accepted at least as a poster or a demo. This is to facilitate authors to make travel arrangements. Meanwhile, all submissions accepted in the first round will proceed to the second round of review.

In the second round each submission will be subjected to rigorous blind peer review by three expert reviewers. The final decision for accepting or rejecting a paper will be made by the Review Committee Chairs in a PC meeting, after which the authors will be notified of the decisions. Submissions selected in the second round will be accepted as papers, which will be presented at the seminar as well as archived in the proceedings after the seminar.

All acceptances will be conditional pending changes suggested by the reviewers. The accepted papers will be published after the seminar. The authors of each accepted paper will receive detailed instructions on how to submit a final, publication-ready version of the paper. The paper will not be formally accepted for archival until the authors revise it and submit a final draft for approval by the Review Committee Chairs. Until such times, all papers will be considered “conditionally accepted”.