In May 2013 the Center for Research Design and Entrepreneurship received a commission from the company Maersk Oil Qatar to design a brochure about the proper installation and use of child car seats. The team tasked with creating the brochure began with a question: how can design change peoples’ behavior? This question was the first step toward the quick evolution and exponential expansion of the project from a single brochure on child car seats to a nation-wide campaign and social movement encompassing all aspects of road safety.

In Qatar traffic accidents account for one out of every eight deaths, and are responsible for more deaths than cancer or cardiovascular diseases. The dangerous conditions on Qatari roads are the product of a lack of education about safe driving practices, in some cases a lack of experience, and widespread distracted driving behaviors. The need to address this issue is vital for Qatar, however, it does present a complex set of challenges, including what can be done to effect changes in peoples’ behavior.

The Center for Research Design and Entrepreneurship at VCUQatar began with ideas for the commissioned brochure on child car seats as a foundation and turned to both qualitative and quantitative research methodologies to answer key questions about changing behaviors and the impact of design. Working with psychologists at VCUQatar, the team combined design thinking and research to develop a series of pilot projects, which led to the development of the “ONE SECOND” campaign. The government of Qatar has adopted this campaign and the team is now responsible for deploying the project nationwide.

This panel discusses the evolution of the project from small and focused to large scale and widespread, and the integration of research and design at each step. We will also delve into the “ONE SECOND” campaign as an example of a successful integrative-interdisciplinary research project that demonstrated a practical model that could be applied for any future social problem.

An engaging panel conversation on interdisciplinary collaboration

This group proposed to improve the juvenile detention system through policy as well as through change in the design of detention centers. Team members agreed to redesign the system in order to avoid dehumanizing adolescents and to introduce them to a new kind of community environment. The design of the prison will be based on a set of concentric circles. The inner circle will be the most restrictive in terms of freedoms and privileges. As the adolescent gains skills and trust, they move from the inner circle to the outer circles. The outer circles allow for more freedom and trust, physically demonstrated through the opening of the prison space into individual houses. With this increased trust and freedom, adolescents will also take on more responsibilities and become effective members of the prison community–working in the community garden for example.

This group responded to the challenge in part with a conceptual piece of creative writing–a “conference snapshot” written by the Unconference Research Initiative (URI). The initiative is a transdisciplinary group of scholars who build conference infrastructure to support conference content. Robots? Check. Karaoke? Check.

For the past two years, five departments in ISU’s College of Design collaborated with the University’s Provost, the College’s Dean, Iowa businesses, and Iowa’s Main Street program to visualize and finance an interdisciplinary masters program in Historic Preservation. With the first phase of implementation complete this breakout session reviews a study that examines 1) how university programs in the arts and applied arts can collaborate with regional businesses and existing governmental agencies to secure external funding and 2) the key characteristics and essential strategies of a successful interdisciplinary and cross disciplinary collaboration.

Watch a video clip from the d.school bootcamp with Bill Burnett, Executive Director of the Design Program at Stanford University

Inspired by their flight out to Palo Alto, this team decided to tackle the airline industry and wanted to create a better flying experience. Their airline, called Aspire America, helps business travelers arrive at their destinations refreshed and inspired. The customized interior of each plane provides spacious first-class style seating for everyone and a large work area in the tail of the plane with desks, whiteboards and digital tools for teams to collaborate before arriving at their destination. Movable flat-panel displays provide collaborative digital tools, inflight exterior video and entertainment in a flexible manner. Satellite broadband combined with onboard data services keeps data secure while helping employees to perform at their best. The workspaces are equipped with full range studio monitors for audio performance and jam sessions.This enables teams of employees to continue working, rest or otherwise find inspiration inside their reimagined take on classic jet-age travel.

This panel looks at strategies that have been used over the last 10 years at Virginia Commonwealth University and elsewhere to develop projects in the third space between arts and healthcare. Issues addressed will include creating work with no existing blueprint and the resultant narrative difficulty of explaining it to wider audiences; structural, logistical, and philosophical issues of working between departments; and internal political considerations for funding toward sustainability. Please note this video has low sound issues

This panel demonstrates how innovative collaborative pedagogy is critical for the future of both the transitioning discipline of Graphic Design and the emerging discipline of Environmental Studies, and how one possible curricular solution to a current pedagogical crisis in design is to engage students in the empirical, scientific process. The panel also discusses how reflective practice and creative problem solving can become core pedagogical strategies to strengthen research practices and allow scientists and designers to collaboratively address issues affecting the way we undestand and engage with life on our planet.

What is the future of arts-integrative interdisciplinarity in higher education? This lively panel discusses the issues.