The European Commission has awarded €400,000 to the Erasmus+ project DRIVE (Design Reframing of Impact, Values and Evaluations).
Led by Dr Joana Ozorio de Almeida Meroz and Cyril Tjahja of VU Amsterdam’s Arts & Culture cluster of the Department of Art & Culture, History, and Antiquity, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities (FSH) , DRIVE unites five European universities to co-develop an innovative framework to inclusively evaluate design's sociocultural impact; translate the framework into a flexible, modular and transferable BA/MA course that can be integrated in programmes across Europe; test the framework's practical applicability and societal relevance; and sustain and adapt DRIVE in the long term.
Design has become an important instrument in European efforts to address complex societal challenges, including diversity, inclusion and social participation. Over the past years, the European Union has invested substantially in design-driven initiatives aimed at creating more inclusive societies. Yet despite these investments, adequate methods to assess design's sociocultural impact are lacking, as traditional expert-led evaluations rely on quantitative and economic metrics.
The new Erasmus+ project DRIVE seeks to address this challenge. The project will develop an innovative framework for the Design Reframing of Impact, Values and Evaluations, and translate it into educational materials that can be embedded in higher education programmes across Europe. They will also test the framework with a range of design industry and policy partners to assess its practical applicability and societal relevance. Through DRIVE, academics from across Europe will combine their knowledge to create a practical and qualitative framework that supports more pluralistic approaches to evaluating design.
The consortium is coordinated by VU Amsterdam and includes partners from five countries:
- University of Southern Denmark (Denmark)
- Aalto University (Finland)
- University of Bologna (Italy)
- Academy of Fine Arts and Design, University of Ljubljana (Slovenia)
With DRIVE, VU Amsterdam and its European partners are taking an important step towards recognising and measuring the full societal value of design, strengthening the role of design as a driver of positive social change.
