Talk 1

Silvia Barbero, Ph.D. and Associate Professor at Politecnico di Torino (Department of Architecture and Design). She is a lecturer of Product Environmental Requirements at the Design and Visual Communication degree and of Systemic Design at the Systemic Design Master degree at Politecnico di Torino. She is also responsible for the stage & job design curriculum. Her research mainly focuses on Systemic Design to foster territorial development. She is the scientific coordinator of the RETRACE project (Interreg Europe) on the development of local and regional policies moving towards a circular economy, and many other European projects about sustainable development and Circular Economy. She has been the coordinator also of the regional project, and team leader of the international project. She is the author of some books on sustainable design, furthermore, she wrote more than 100 papers in peer-reviewed journals, book chapters and reviewed international conference proceedings.

Paul Willoughby is a co-founder of and executive creative director of Human After All, a London based design studio powered by reason and empathy. With HAA, he has developed projects on sustainability with brands like Genervest, a financial services company offering peer-to-peer lending aiming to stop climate change. Human After All believes that good business balances profit with people, planet and purpose. Their recent partnership with HBO shows the willingness to move towards a more inclusive society, in fact, the studio was asked to build a platform for queer communities of the brand – Human By Orientation.Paul is also the creative director of Weapons of Reason, a publishing project that aims to help readers to understand complex global issues, like climate change, inequality, and conflict. He has curated the Guardian’s Masterclasses in Illustration, while his design clients have included BAFTA, HBO, Greenpeace, and The United Nations.

Danah Abdulla is a designer, educator and researcher interested in new narratives and practices in design that push the disciplinary boundaries and definitions of the discipline. She holds a Ph.D. from the design department at Goldsmiths, University of London. Her research is particularly focused on decolonising design, possibilities of design education, design culture(s) with a focus on the Arab region, the politics of design, publishing, and critical views of social design. Currently, she is Programme Director of Graphic Design at Camberwell, Chelsea and Wimbledon Colleges of Arts (University of the Arts London). Prior to this role, she was Senior Lecturer in Brunel University London’s Design department and was a Lecturer in the Design school at London College of Communication. Danah is a founding member of the Decolonising Design research group, and the Creative Director and Editor of Kalimat Magazine, a non-profit publication about Arab thought and culture.

Nesta Italia is an independent, non-profit organization whose aim is to introduce a new approach to social innovation in Italy, one that has already been developed and tested at an international level. Nesta Italia was founded in 2017 in Turin, with the support of Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo, one of the biggest philanthropic organizations in Italy, and Nesta, a global innovation foundation based in the United Kingdom. Their work is focused on the intersections of different areas – education, social inclusion, technology, arts and culture – because Nesta believes that that’s where the opportunity for innovation lies. Among the organization’s core values are openness and confrontation: they work with radical innovators, businesses, public institutions and non-profit organizations to design tailor-made projects targeting specific social challenges.