Conference Agenda

This paper investigates the transformation of NHS Scotland garment systems through a design-led, commons-based localist framework that challenges prevailing globalised procurement models. Drawing on co-design methodologies and sustainable material innovation, this project repositions garments - specifically surgical caps and scrubs - as relational artefacts embedded within systems of care, identity, and ecological responsibility. Collaborations with healthcare professionals, designers, and regional manufacturers have yielded prototypes utilising regenerative fibres such as lyocell and linen, made locally within Scotland. These interventions demonstrate the potential of commons-design to foster civic engagement, decentralised production, and circular economies. By embedding garment systems within local ecologies and economies, the research advances a situated design paradigm that foregrounds care, stewardship, and institutional transformation. The paper argues for a conceptual shift from commodity-design to co-design and ultimately to ‘commons-design’, offering a replicable model for sustainable innovation in healthcare infrastructure that is both socially responsive and environmentally attuned.

This paper reflects on how two dementia-friendly communities (DFCs) in Scotland shaped participatory research exploring interactive textiles for wellbeing. Drawing on two practice-based studies in Scotland, study 1 which was based in the Outer Hebrides and the study 2 based in both the Outer Hebrides and East Lothian; it explores how place, geography, culture, and community influence participation and sense-making. Using Research through Design (RtD) and person-centred methods, both projects engaged participants using or making interactive textiles. Comparing the two locations shows that the remoteness of the Hebrides, the Gaelic language, the historical textile industry and the surrounding environments fostered distinct forms of connection and belonging, while mainland workshops presented more of a challenge to find culture, interest in textiles and belonging. The paper argues that place is an active collaborator in research and explores how locality shaped participatory design research from ideation to findings.

This paper explores how craft, as an unselfconscious design practice and embodied knowledge, contributes to situated design research, based on an ethnographic field study in Fife, Scotland, and a co-creation workshop in Edinburgh. The study points out that existing studies and practices promoting craft–design collaboration tend to focus on urban contexts and designer-led methods, often resulting in a lack of context-sensitive consideration and the presence of imbalanced relationships. Thus, this study underscores that understanding the local knowledge of rural-based craft practitioners and the distinct attributes of rural settings can respond to the challenges of rural craft practices and the barriers to collaboration. The fieldwork and workshop reveal that creating non-hierarchical collaborative spaces, based on situated knowledge gained from local contexts, can encourage spontaneous knowledge exchange and empower craft practitioners to confidently present their craft knowledge, which bridges craft and design to promote meaningful collaboration and long-term sustainable development.

There are five unique historic burial grounds within the proximity of Edinburgh’s city centre. Cross-sector consultations with police, heritage and council officials decry the decline of these spaces. Each is at risk; erosion, limited resources, and perceived anti-social behaviour obscure their value as social spaces apt to explore, share and process grief. The potential of these historic sites has been limited to imagining convivial and heritage-aligned uses of graveyards. This case study explores their potential as unique spaces to publicly discuss bereavement, mortality and grief through design workshops. It argues that designing provides an appropriate process to scaffold these conversations in situ and in so doing, can generate novel ways of engaging with grief. The authors identify the potential of Edinburgh’s historic burial grounds as spaces of grief dialogue through design, contributing to a transdisciplinary and participative approach to facilitating a constructive dialogue into how and where we grieve.

Putting emotions into words is a natural human strategy for reinterpreting situations, even when done unintentionally. Evidence shows that this process, known as affective labelling, can reduce distress compared to non- affective verbalisation. Given that, the word 'fine' is widely used as a self-report label for emotional states, yet its meaning remains strikingly ambiguous. Limited research has explored such neutral or mid-spectrum emotional terms that are neither overtly positive nor negative but still shape the design process. This study examines how Scottish design students use 'fine' to describe their emotional experiences during their final design projects. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to clarify the interpretation of this expression. Findings reveal that 'fine' represents a neutral state with negative undertones, reflecting emotional disengagement or low-intensity dissatisfaction. These results highlight the need to contextualise expressions within design education, emphasising their role in understanding students’ emotions and engagement throughout their design journeys.