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The Knowledge Triangle Cards (KT Cards) is an educational tool designed for a pilot course at Mälardalen University which aims to help students to contextualize studies to global and national societal needs and to collaborate more closely with society (business and municipalities). The aim is to have students become better at choosing assignments, projects and thesis topics that tie in closer to the labour market and societal needs. The KT Cards are based on a traditional deck of cards and the suits represent different aspects of the knowledge context: opportunity, process, outcome, and stakeholder. Additionally, a set of gamified and non-gamified exercises were designed to prompt reflection and discussion about how student projects incorporate these aspects. A pilot study was carried out in order to test and develop the educational tools and future studies. A total of 24 students and teachers participated and data was collected through observations and feedback from participants. The study indicates that the gamified activities could influence reflection and discussion by speeding up pace of the activity and affecting group dynamics. Two aspects were identified as potentially prompting gamification-shorter time frames and having multiple groups completing the activities. Further studies will look more closely at these aspects for designing gamification and how this affects discussion. The next design iteration will implement minor changes to the visual design of the cards and review how the prototype could provide students with know-how on university-society collaborations and a deeper understanding of the Knowledge Triangle concept.

Collaborating with society (businesses, industry and municipalities) is a common practice for many universities today. To support such collaborations, there is a need to share and evaluate these practices. This research explores the use of creative and visual methods from Participatory Design to support reflective practice in university-society collaborations. The paper describes an exploratory workshop consisting of an abstract collage-making exercise and a list of questions. The purpose of this workshop is to see how the visual exercise could support discussions about university- society collaborations and to develop future studies. The results from the workshop show that using abstract collages generated multiple interpretations and metaphors about the visualized collaborations. The collage-making exercise prompted discussions about the interrelationship between collaboration, innovation processes and knowledge creation. It also stimulated playful interactions between participants. Moreover, the workshop participants gave valuable feedback on how to develop materials and questions to discuss university- society collaborations.

This pilot study examines how design students comprehend collaborations with external organizations— the roles and involvement of different actors in a design process. The study looks at two undergraduate courses where a total of 33 design students collaborate with a municipality and governmental agency. Data focuses on the students' terminology in regard to the external organizations and is collected through questionnaires, voice recording, workshops and written assignments. The data analysis is both quantitative and qualitative, focusing on the word frequency and semantics of the terminology. The results show that the students were not used to working closely to external organizations. This is reflected in the prevalent use of the term "client" instead of "collaborative partner". Not working closely with organizations nor users is reflected in the students’ inabilities to handle the complexities that emerge when working with multiple stakeholder and users. At the end of the paper, suggestions are made of ways to develop students’ comprehension of ways to involve external organizations and users in the design process.

In the design research community, diverse narratives and ontologies are discussed in relation to sustainability. Relational ontology is proposed as an alternative to the dominant dualist ontology as a way to reconnect people with their ecological embeddedness and responsibility. This work presents a dialogical tool called 'teatime' created to introduce diverse, immaterial perspectives on sustainability in a co-design project with youth and researchers. The study explores the role of the teatime design in eliciting diverse narratives and forming a dialogical space. The results show that the teatime supported reflections on immaterial perspectives, bringing out relational and social values related to the ecological crises. This study uses a systematic evaluation to reveal a micro-material perspective on ways in which the teatime design and facilitation supported the inquiry process. We propose that the design practitioners take on the role of crafting dialogical spaces that support social relationships and evoke immaterial perspectives.

Poise-self-awareness of how one is and acts, and punctuation-attunement to relational dynamics, describe integral relational sensitivities for practitioners in Participatory Design (PD). These concepts describe important personal and embodied "practices of readiness"for participating in contingent and relational processes of designing with others. However, more attention on these "practices of readiness"is required in design research and design training to better comprehend and develop relevant relational sensitivity and competences. Through an empirical study, this paper explores what relational sensitivity i.e., poise and punctuation, could be in a participatory practice and what it can do for the process. The paper also explores ways in which relational sensitivity could be nurtured through participatory practices. This research contributes to PD literature by connecting concepts related to relational sensitivity with an empirical study, elaborating on the role of relational sensitivity in PD practice. 

Relational sensitivity involves attuning to subtle and complex collaborative dynamics and plays an important role in participatory design (PD) processes. PD practitioners, including researchers, designers, and facilitators, need abilities to navigate group dynamics while responsibly considering their own impact on the process. This article focuses on the term 'relational sensitivity' to develop perspectives and a vocabulary for discussing the competence and readiness needed in PD. This knowledge can contribute to design research by addressing the lack of understanding regarding how practitioners are trained in design facilitation and sensitivity to relationships. The article articulates relational sensitivity through the perspectives: sensitivity to self, to intersubjectivity, and to materiality and process. It makes a valuable contribution to the PD field by bringing together and exemplifying concepts and aspects connected to relational sensitivity, as well as applying Wilber's four-quadrant model and Ofman's adapted model in a new research context.