Design is a professional discipline, which is to say that design academia is linked to a family of design professions, and needs to be sensitized to the norms, practices, values and trends of these professions. Even while preparing students with the skills and knowledge to perform as design professionals in this industry, design schools also must imbue students with the curiosity, social and cultural awareness and critical attitude to question and transform the conventions and assumptions of these professions through their practice.

DesignEd Asia plays an important role in providing contexts for the testing of radical propositions, the gestation of transformative strategies and the nurturing of speculative approaches that spur and inform the continuing evolution of the professional practice of design.

Keynote speech, panel discussions, paper presentations and workshops will address the following areas:
• facilitating the transition between academia and industry
• educating for change
• design education beyond the design professions
• dissemination and impact