Design Thinking Roundtable

Suhayla Bazbaz Kuri is a Mexican political scientist dedicated to human rights, social justice and participatory democracy. She founded Community Cohesion and Social Innovation in 2009 to strengthen community ties and promote inclusive, rights-based, community-led development across Mexico. Passionate about collective action, Suhayla combines research, advocacy, and capacity-building to amplify community voices.Suhayla leads regional initiatives such as #LetThemKnowThatWeKnow, addressing power and information asymmetries affecting Indigenous and Afro-Mexican peoples, women, youth, people with disabilities and persons in mobility in decisions about their territories and megaprojects. She also participates in Latin American collectives that advocate for authorities, businesses and financial institutions to meet their human rights obligations, and engages in demonstrations and dialogues on institutional violence against women. Suhayla was the Spring 2026 Social Innovator in Residence with the ERA Chair in Social Innovation and the DESIS Lab at NOVA SBE.Follow Suhayla on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suhayla-bazbaz-kuri-63b94112/Learn more about Community Cohesion and Social Innovation:https://cohesioncomunitaria.org/Credits:Host: Anne-Laure FayardPost-production: Valter GouveiaMusic & Art Work: Guilhem TamisierRecorded at the Fidelidade Creative Studio, Nova SBE

Hanieh Khosroshahi is an independent design consultant, researcher, and community organizer working in pursuit of people and the planet. Her work spans multiple sectors from international development and public health to women’s rights and technologies. She also worked in many geographies including Canada, Rwanda, Tanzania, Nepal, and Afghanistan. She applies principles and methods of Human-centred Design, participatory research, and systems thinking to design, test, and scale innovative and impactful solutions, both online and offlineHer mission is to advance the health, opportunities, and rights of those on the margins, with a particular focus on youth and women in under-served and low-resource settings, from or with roots in the global majority. In this episode, Hanieh shares with us the journey that led her to English Literature, Visual Arts and Journalism to Human-Computer Interaction and UX design, to her work today at the intersection of design, social change and community organizing. She shared her perspective and work on participatory design and decolonizing practices, providing us with a sense of what designing for collective liberation and justice-centered futures looks like. Community, care and relationships are at the core of her work as a researcher, a designer and a social activist.To learn more about Hanieh's work, follow her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/haniehk/and check her website: https://hanieh.me/Learn about Thousand&One, a global, feminist community co-founded by Hanieh. It supports Women of Colour to thrive in their personal and professional lives.: https://thousandone.orgCredits:Conception, host and production: Anne-Laure FayardSound design & Post-production: Valter GouveiaMusic & Art Work: Guilhem Tamisier

Jon Alexander, a Storyteller, Strategist, and Visiting Fellow atHarvard University. Jon started out in advertising and co-founded in 2014 with Irenie Ekkeshis a consultancy, the NewCitizen Project which works with organisations across sectors to explore what it would mean to treat people as citizens, not just consumers. In 2022, he published a book, Citizens, which won numerous book of the year awards, was reviewed by the Financial Times as an “underground hit”, selected by the World Economic Forum for its CEO Book Club.Jon wears a few other hats: as a Visiting Fellow at the University of Manchester, a Senior Associate at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, a founding member of the OECD's Innovative Citizen Participation Network, and a member of the Advisory Councils of DemocracyNext, the Apolitical Foundation, and the Democracy and Culture Foundation. Jon holds three Masters degrees spanning humanities and business.In this episode, Jon reflects on his journey from advertising to starting a consultancy The New Citizen Project to writing a book and become an author, public speaker and actionist. He reflects on human history as a journey from subject to consumer to citizen. He proposes a definition of citizen as a practice rather than status and as verb as a noun. He explores how storytelling is not only a way to inspire and agitate, but also a form of action. He shares many inspiring stories that can help imagine a citizen future. Jon highlights the value of collaborations especially at the intersections, and invites us to embrace a citizen-centered design approach.To learn more about Jon's work, follow him on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-alexander-11b66345/and check his website: ⁠https://jonalexander.net/⁠Two references he shared with us in the podcast:Using Emergence to Take Social Innovation to ScaleMargaret Wheatley and Deborah FriezeNavigating Societal Change through Designby Sara Gry Striegler and Julie Hjort.Credits:Conception, host and production: Anne-Laure FayardSound design & Post-production: Claudio SilvaMusic & Art Work: Guilhem Tamisier

Francesco Cara, a designer, educator and curator. Francesco explores what it means to design in the current epoch, the Anthropocene, marked by climate disruption, unstoppable biodiversity loss and growing social inequality, with a focus on two domains: digital sustainability and human-wildlife coexistence. Francesco is an activist for AlGore's Climate Reality Project and for the Right to Repair. He taught ecodesign at Politecnico di Milano and IED Milano. He had various leadership roles in design at Nokia, Sapient,IconMedialab in Finland, France and the UK, and co-founded one of the earliest User-Centered Design studios in Europe, CB&J in Paris He curated Climate Space festival with Ludovico Einaudi and Ponderosa Music & Art. Francesco has a MSc and a PhD in Cognitive Science from the University of Edinburgh.In this episode, Francesco reflects on his journey and how he went from cognitive science "in vitro" to cognition "in the wild", and design; and within design: from Human-centered design to ecodesign and human-wildlife coexistence. Francesco argues that design has a fundamental role to play in finding solutions and a new balance. He highlights the limits of ecodesign, noting that reducing social and environmental impact is not enough. He proposes a fundamental worldview shift, from considering human beings as apart from and in a position of superiority to placing human beings back within the web of life. Through several inspiring stories, he illustrates how we can create the conditions for positive relationships between people and the living world to occur. Last, he discusses his work as an activist and engaged researcher, which aims to provide more positive narratives of a future where humans live in harmony among themselves and with the living world. To learn more about Francesco's work, follow him on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/francescocaraand check his website: medium.com/@frakara Credits:Conception, host and production: Anne-Laure FayardSound design & Post-production: Claudio SilvaMusic & Art Work: Guilhem Tamisier

Meena is a social innovation consultant and design strategist tackling complex social challenges through human-centered design and community engagement dedicated to tackling complex social challenges through human-centered design and community engagement. With a background in social anthropology and design, she has worked across diverse settings, from urban slums to corporate boardrooms. Previously, Meena spent eight years at IDEO, where she led community engagement for OpenIDEO and advised IDEO U’s initiatives. Her expertise lies in fostering collaboration, equity, and innovation to drive meaningful change. Born in Aotearoa New Zealand with Indian ancestry, she brings a global perspective to her work in social impact.Meena was the Spring Social Innovator in Residence with the ERA Chair in Social Innovation and the DESIS Lab at NOVA SBE.Follow Meena on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meanestindian/?originalSubdomain=nzand on Subtack: https://randomspecific.substack.com/Credits:Host: Anne-Laure FayardPost-production: Claudio SilvaMusic & Art Work: Guilhem TamisierRecorded at the Fidelidade Creative Studio, Nova SBE

Tales of the Field is a podcast series which gives voice to social activists and social innovators who work in and with their communities to create social impact and sustainable change. They share with us their work in the field - where they tackle complex social issues and aim to create sustainable change and social impact. At its core, their work is human-centered, systemic and always informed by a deep understanding of the context and people’s lives. In this episode, we talked with Carlos Mendes Gonçalves, the founder and CEO of Case Mendes Gonçalves, a family business in Portugal. Casa Mendes Gonçalves’ commitment to sustainability inspires the company’s effort to transform the food system and create a model for a new way to work and live together within our communities and nature. Carlos tells us about Vila Feliz Cidade, a regenerative agriculture project that aims to integrate the economic dimension with social and environmental responsibility. To read more about sustainability at Casa MG and about Vila Feliz Cidade: https://www.casamg.pt/en/sustainability/ Co-conception and Voice: Melchior Tamisier-Fayard Co-conception: Anne-Laure Fayard Interview in Portuguese by Rita Nascimento Quotes in English read by Claudio Silva Sound design, Music and Post-production: Guilhem Tamisier Artwork: Jyoti Tamisier-Fayard

Engin Ayaz, a transdisciplinary designer and strategist with a background in architecture, systems thinking, and interaction design. He is the co-founder of ATÖLYE, a design and innovation consultancy, which amplifies the impact of purpose-driven leaders by transforming people, places and experiences through the power of communities. Engin received a dual degree in Architectural Design and Engineering from Stanford University, and a master's degree in Interactive Design and Media Arts from Tisch School of Arts, ITP of New York University. His work has been exhibited worldwide and received awards from Core77, Architizer, Arkitera, World Architecture Community, and Good Magazine, among others. Engin was the Fall 2024 Social Innovator in Residence with the ERA Chair in Social Innovation and the DESIS Lab at NOVA SBE. Follow Engin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/enginayaz/ Learn more about Atölye: https://atolye.io/

Rachael Dietkus is a social worker-designer. Her practice, research, and writing at the intersections of social work values, trauma-responsive principles, and care-focused design research methods. Rachael is the founder of Social Workers Who Design and an active member of the Design Justice Network and the Social Work Futures Lab. Since September 2022, she has served as a Digital Services Expert in Design and Social Work and a Trauma-Informed Practice Subject Matter Expert with the United States Digital Service, a design and tech unit under the White House. In this episode, Rachael reflects on the different civic and public interest roles she has had over the last twenty years to explore how social work and design are intrinsically connected in her practice. She explains how she encountered trauma-informed design and more recently trauma-responsive design. She stresses the importance of language, of care, of intentionality and relationality. To learn more about Rachael's work, follow her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachaeldietkuslcsw/ and check the Social Workers Who Design website: ⁠https://www.socialworkerswho.design⁠ To learn more about the topics we discussed: 'Trauma-Informed Care: A Sociocultural Perspective' / ⁠⁠https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK207195/⁠⁠ Social Work Futures Lab / ⁠⁠https://www.socialworkfutureslab.org⁠⁠ Racism Untaught / ⁠https://racismuntaught.com⁠ Some of the references Rachael's made in the podcast: Desmond Patton's / 'Applying Reflexivity to Artificial Intelligence for Researching Marginalized Communities and Real-World Problems' / ⁠https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/items/7607e8e6-db3b-45c6-87c5-516e8e67ba08/full⁠ Resmaa Menakem / ⁠https://resmaa.com⁠ + ⁠https://onbeing.org/programs/resmaa-menakem-notice-the-rage-notice-the-silence⁠ Karen Treisman's 'Trauma River' / ⁠https://media.churchillfellowship.org/documents/Treisman_K_Report_2018_Final.pdf⁠ AJ Singh's 'Justice Sensitivity is the Cure, Not the Sickness' / ⁠https://ajs4dlg.substack.com/p/justice-sensitivity-is-the-cure-not⁠ Credits: Conception, host and production: Anne-Laure Fayard Sound design & Post-production: Claudio Silva Music & Art Work: Guilhem Tamisier

Tales of the Field is a podcast series which gives voice to social activists and social innovators who work in and with their communities to create social impact and sustainable change. They share with us their work in the field - where they tackle complex social issues and aim to create sustainable change and social impact. At its core, their work is human-centered, systemic and always informed by a deep understanding of the context and people’s lives. In this episode, we talked with Gilbert Nkpeniyeng, who after working as a program officer with Amplio Network, is currently doing his MPhil in Development Studies at Cambridge University (UK). Gilbert passionately believes that access to knowledge can change people's lives. He shares his personal experience with the Amplio Talking Book, an audio device designed for users with low literacy, he encountered while in primary school. He also tells about a project he implemented with women producing shea butter in Northern Ghana highlighting how all community members were involved. To read more about Amplio Network: https://www.amplio.org/ Follow Gilbert Nkpeniyeng: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gilbert-nkpeniyeng-1648a017a/ Co-conception and Voice: Melchior Tamisier-Fayard Co-conception: Anne-Laure Fayard Sound design, Music and Post-production: Guilhem Tamisier Artwork: Jyoti Tamisier-Fayard Recording done at Fidelidade Creative Studio at Nova SBE Thanks to Amplio Network Ghana team for sharing some of the audio sources used for the sound design of this episode.

Tanya Bhandari is a communication designer from India who has been working in the social impact space for over a decade. Currently she is the Design Director at ⁠YLabs⁠ in Kigali, Rwanda. She was previously Design Lead at ⁠UNICEF’s Office of Innovation⁠ (New York), Design Fellow at ⁠Center for Urban Pedagogy⁠ (New York), and Designer at ⁠Teach for India⁠ (Mumbai.) In this episode, reflecting on the projects she has been involved, Tanya stressed the power of co-design, where young people lead the process and participate from beginning to end. Tanya talked about prototyping as a form of research and how to prototype in resource-constrained environments. As we discussed how her work involved complex collaborations, she stressed the importance of always having part of the team embedded in the local context. Last, Tanya suggested that design for social impact required designers to step back from a position of expertise, to become sense makers and facilitators. To learn more about Tanya's work, check her website: https://tanyabhandari.in/about Follow her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanyabhndri/ Credits: Conception, host and production: Anne-Laure Fayard Sound design & Post-production: Claudio Silva Music & Art Work: Guilhem Tamisier

Sara Camnasio is a multi-disciplinary designer and researcher focused on government (public services), science, and climate projects. Her work spans from integrating design mindsets into environmental and conservation projects, creating educational curricula to engage students on STEAM topics, to helping improve public and private services and products. After spending 5 years conducting Astrophysics research at the American Museum of Natural History and at telescopes around the world for 5 years, Sara decided to dive into design to apply design thinking methods to science and conservation projects. She’s been a National Geographic Explorer since 2015, and through this community, she has led and co-led several international projects focused on conservation and environmental education. Currently, she is helping grow Human-centered design and co-design practices at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, in the US Federal Government. She also runs the Sonoma County Feminist Bird Club – a growing community of friendly bird nerds who care about the outdoors and social justice. In this episode, Sara explains how she combines in her work service design with participatory approaches to help people engage more deeply and more consciously with the world around them. She stresses how design shapes all our interactions – with objects, technology, humans, and nature, and therefore has a role to play in addressing issues we are facing like climate change. We discussed how design can help translate complexity and identify and frame what problem to solve, and the role of the designer as a facilitator and storyteller. Sara emphasizes the need for designers to think of unintended consequences and be reflexive about their practice; design being in the end a deeply political practice. To learn more about Sara's work, check her website: https://www.saracamnasio.com/ Follow her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saracamnasio/ Credits: Conception, host and production: Anne-Laure Fayard Sound design & Post-production: Claudio Silva Music & Art Work: Guilhem Tamisier

Harmonie Coleman is a Senior Community Engagement Manager at IDEO.org. In this role, she collaborates closely with design teams, partners, and local community members to advance equitable practices in design research and community co-design methods across the organization. She specializes in designing transformative experiences, healing-centered facilitation, participatory design methods, and recruiting community members with lived experience. Her past experiences as a teacher and community organizer both deepen her expertise and ground her current work and interests. Harmonie has a Master of Education from Harvard University and a Bachelor in Psychology and Race and Difference Studies from Emory University. In this episode, Harmonie shared her views on community and intentional relationship building, and stressed the need to move from transactive interactions to intentional relationship. She illustrated the value of intentional relationship building by sharing two projects she worked on with families and youth who have been impacted by the child welfare system. She discussed how the distinctions between participatory design, community design and co-design were not necessarily generative. Instead, she invites us to focus on the "how" and practice, rather than the labels. Last, we discussed adrienne maree brown's work and how the notion of emergent strategy informs Harmonie's work. I asked Harmonie to share some recommended readings: Thick, Tressie McMillan CottomThe Art of Gathering, Priya ParkerEmergent Strategy, adrienne maree brownHow We Show Up, Mia BirdsongHolding Change, adrienne maree brownAbolishing the Cop in Your [Designer's] Head, Sarah Fathallah and A.D. Sean Lewis https://designmuseumfoundation.org/abolish-the-cop-inside-your-designers-head/ Read Harmonie's essay "On Community": https://www.ideo.org/perspective/on-community-harmonie-coleman Follow her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harmonie-coleman-a42b25155/ Credits: Conception, host and production: Anne-Laure Fayard Sound design & Post-production: Claudio Silva Music & Art Work: Guilhem Tamisier

Bon Ku is an emergency physician, professor and host of the Design Lab podcast. He is the Assistant Dean for Health and Design and leads the Medicine+Design initiatives at Thomas Jefferson University. As the Director of the Health Design Lab, he created the first design thinking program at a medical school. Bon is creating design-minded solutions to improve patient health. Bon co-wrote the book, Health Design Thinking, with Ellen Lupton and was a regular panelist on the primetime medical TV show Chasing the Cure with Ann Curry. In this episode, Bon talks about the role of design and prototyping in the development of products and services for better health care. He discusses medical education and design and explains how the Health Design Lab empowers future doctors to redesign healthcare services, physical spaces and medical devices. Bon stresses the need for more creativity in medical education and medicine. We also talk about collaboration and co-creation and how essential it is to design a better health system. To learn more about Bon's work: https://linktr.ee/bonku Listen to his podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/pt/podcast/design-lab-with-bon-ku/id1529983261 Follow him on LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/drbonku/ Credits: Conception, host and production: Anne-Laure Fayard Sound design & Post-production: Claudio Silva Music & Art Work: Guilhem Tamisier