Cumulus, together with a group of member institutions, has just kicked-off a European Erasmus+ project to generate learning materials on diversity and inclusion for research and training at the doctoral level.
The partnership is composed by BAU, College of Arts and Design (project Coordinator, Spain), Cumulus Association (Finland), Itinerari Paralleli (Italy), Universidade Lusófona (Portugal), RMIT Europe (Spain) and Sapienza Università di Roma (Italy).
The project was officially launched with a virtual kick-off meeting in November 2024 and will span until October 2026, when the results and new content will be presented.
DesignMatters presents several opportunities for exchanging knowledge and experiences on doctoral practices with other institutions. It enables the creation of a network to address shared concerns and collaboratively generate training materials for PhD students and thesis tutors.
In that regard, one of the highlights of the project’s website it’s the HUB section, where doctoral students and anyone interested in the project can request membership and get access to an open forum that allows for chatting, sharing documents and materials, and exchanging information about their programs and practices.
DesignMatters will be developed in 5 Work Packages created collaboratively between all the partners. BAU, La Sapienza and Lusófona will be the testing ground of the project, where all the activities will take place. RMIT is an expert partner in practice-based research and PhD in cotutelle, Itinerari Paralleli is an expert partner in inclusion and diversity and Cumulus Association is an expert partner in communication and dissemination.
This project opens a scope of possibilities to push further the practice-based methods of research that its doctoral school is already supporting. In that regard, it will also allow for the integration of unconventional forms of knowledge that normally do not enter academia.
Project website https://www.designmattersproject.eu/.
