Doing Engaged Research Today: Bridging Activism and Academia

Engaged research that aims to critically interrogate and change the world politically risks being either attacked and censored – as an increasing number of episodes have shown in different countries – or ineffective in achieving the radical changes that are needed. This PhD Symposium aims to explore the challenges, the ethics and the values of doing this kind of research in design and the arts.

The Symposium is introduced and moderated by Paola Pierri, Prof. Social Design at the University of Applied Science in Bern, Bianca Herlo, Prof. Eco-Social Design, and Andreas Unteidig, Co-lead of the MA Eco-Social Design from Luzern University of Applied Science

Jens Badura and Claske Dijkema will provide an input drawing on their relation to engaged research and will act as discussants to address critical questions and unpack our topic:  

Jens Badura is a philosopher and cultural theorist at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HSLU) and co-director of the Graduate School at the Urner Institut Kulturen der Alpen, University of Lucerne. His research explores epistemologies of diverse knowledge cultures, artistic and design-based approaches to social transformation, and more-thanhuman perspectives on change. He holds a PhD in philosophy from the University of Stuttgart and a habilitation from Université Paris 8.

Claske Dijkema is a Lecturer at the Institute for Social and Cultural Diversity at Bern University of Applied Sciences. Her research focuses on spatial aspects of violence, peace, social movements, and empowerment. Her experimentation with a range of participatory methods is driven by epistemic questions around the relation between knowledge and power, with a focus on marginalized communities.

The inputs will be followed by an open discussion.