Call for Papers
We invite you to join us for the Twentieth International Conference on Design Principles & Practices, the annual meeting of the Design Principles & Practices Research Network, taking place 25–27 February 2026 in Rome, Italy and online, in partnership with our host institution, Sapienza University of Rome. The Network offers an interdisciplinary forum to explore the meaning, purpose, and future of design, spanning theoretical inquiry, practice-based research, disciplinary traditions, and emergent modes of collaborative creative work. We welcome proposals that investigate design’s social, cultural, aesthetic, material, pedagogical, and technological dimensions across diverse contexts and scales.
In 2026, our special focus “Design Across Time” invites a collective reflection on the temporal dimensions of design—how it changes, how it shapes change, and how it anticipates futures. Over the past twenty years, the Design Principles & Practices community has witnessed design’s growing significance as a profession, as an academic discipline, and as a catalyst for social, cultural, technological, and environmental transformation. This twentieth-anniversary moment asks how design will evolve over the coming decades, especially amid the intensifying global challenges of the Anthropocene.
Today, designers confront urgent conditions: environmental crises such as climate change and biodiversity loss; social issues including aging populations, inequality, and health disparities; and technological transformations spanning energy transitions, digital divides, and artificial intelligence. Within the “futures cone” of possible trajectories, dystopian scenarios often appear most probable—while preferable futures require deliberate, collective, and imaginative effort.
The special focus invites reconsideration of design’s long-term temporal responsibilities. How might design respond to challenges that unfold over years, decades, or centuries? What kinds of tools, methods, and interdisciplinary collaborations are required to create resilient, equitable, and sustainable futures? Design has diversified into disciplinary and thematic communities, each cultivating its own cultures and methods; yet the challenge of understanding design’s long-term impact remains central.
We invite contributions from all design domains to explore how time operates in design practice and research—historically, presently, and speculatively. What changes do we hope to shape in the next twenty years? What principles and practices must evolve? How can design strengthen its cultural role as a catalyst for meaningful and lasting change?
This year’s themes include: Design Education; Design in Society; Designed Objects; Visual Design; Design Management & Professional Practice; and Architectonic, Spatial & Environmental Design.
Knowledge Experience and Format
The conference is organised as a hybrid knowledge experience, bringing in-person and online participation together in a unified scholarly environment. All accepted proposals become Presentation Pages on CGScholar Event (KX), where presenters can upload abstracts, media, and reflections and where delegates can participate in discussion before, during, and after the event.
In-person presentations, live online sessions, and asynchronous contributions are woven into one integrated program. Regardless of participation mode, delegates have full access to the schedule, session media, and a growing digital archive. Across formats, the emphasis is on collegial, human-scale exchange—conversation, reflection, and collaborative inquiry—rather than one-way presentation.
Publication Pathways
Presenters are invited to develop their conference contributions for possible publication in Design Principles and Practices: An International Journal—Annual Review, or in the Network’s thematic journals—including the International Journal of Designed Objects; International Journal of Design Education; International Journal of Design in Society; International Journal of Design Management & Professional Practice; and International Journal of Visual Design. They may also submit book-length work to the Design Principles & Practices Book Imprint, which publishes monographs and edited collections advancing contemporary design scholarship. Both outlets offer options for traditional and Open Access publication.
Membership and Community
We welcome new and returning members to the Design Principles & Practices Research Network. By purchasing a Presenter Pass, you automatically become—or renew as—a Network Member for the year, with benefits that span both our online environment and our in-person programs. Membership places you inside our online Knowledge Experience in practice. Built by and for members, this shared space connects the full cycle of our work—and your work: preparation, presentation, reflection, and publication. Scholar-led and inclusive by design, it functions as a living commons for reciprocity, rigor, and continuity. Online, you can access everything in one place—conference updates and media, calls for papers, programs, archives, and journal and book content—and use it to share your ideas and current activities. All member posts undergo peer-facilitated community review before being added, a social process of creation, review, and sharing that strengthens collective knowledge and community.
Alongside this online member experience, membership also supports and is activated through our in-person conferences and events, where you can meet peers, participate in sessions, and build new collaborations with our host partners. Membership sustains the Research Network, ensuring continued access to programs, archives, journals, and books, and keeping ideas in motion over time—where belonging is defined by contribution and care.
Join Us
We warmly invite you to submit a proposal and to join us—either in Rome or online—for this year’s annual meeting of the Design Principles & Practices Research Network. Together, we will explore how design evolves across time and how it can shape the futures we desire.
Sincerely,
Viktor Malakuczi, Conference Chair, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
Angela Giambattista, Conference Chair, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
Dr. Loredana Di Lucchio, Research Network Chair, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
Dr. Lorenzo Imbesi, Research Network Chair, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
Dr. Phillip Kalantzis-Cope, Chief Social Scientist, Common Ground Research Networks, United States of America