This workshop will bring together and explore the principles and practices of design future and speculative design applied to the context of biotechnology and synthetic biology.

There is significant ecological pressure and economic and social value in radically transforming many industries to be more sustainable. From architecture, materials, energy, communication, transport, waste management, food, and more, the possibilities of a future bioeconomy are repeatedly forecast to be disruptive and revolutionary. However, such a revolution cannot be fully explored by tech-centric developments in science and engineering alone. 

This workshop will provide the students with an introduction to rapidly emerging biotechnologies while simultaneously teaching them to engage in design thinking. In a highly practice-based learning environment, students will work both individually and collaboratively on activities that will directly engage them in the course's core teachings, which will be reflected in a single assessment requirement.

Objectives:

1. Develop a critical awareness of biodesign in the context of technological progress, ecological sophistication, and user experience.
2. Develop skills in interdisciplinary thinking and research.
3. Develop skills in speculative design founded on genuine trends in synthetic biology and biotechnology.
4. Develop awareness around conventional techno-centric futuring and confidence to challenge this creatively.
5. Undertake advanced reflective practice and understand the importance of this.
6. Gain exposure to contemporary biodesign today, both in academia and industry.

Syllabus:

Day 1 Sessions

Intro to Biodesign

This one-hour session will run as an online live lecture followed by a class discussion via the Teams online chat. This session will meet SLOs 1, 2. This session will provide:

• An introduction to the critical vocabulary of biodesign
• An understanding of 'products versus systems' and user experience
• An introduction to the field of synthetic biology

What is Good and Bad Biodesign?

This forty-five-minute session will run as an online activity in which students will be introduced to existing contemporary biodesign work. Students will vote on their preferences for the different works presented and justify their choices, prompting critical thinking and confidence to participate in later group work. This session will meet SLOs 1, 2, 4, 5, 6. This session will provide:

• An understanding of speculative design versus false assumptions
• An understanding of the importance of iteration and user experience
• Exposure to what other students and practitioners are doing in this space
• An opportunity to critically engage in design future

 ******15 min break*****

Speed Book Club

This one-hour session will run as an online activity, in which students will be divided into groups. Students will select one item off the recommended reading list and explore it together using Miro's collaborative online tool. Instructors will move between the Teams group calls to facilitate the activity. This session will meet SLOs 1, 2, 4, 5. This session will provide:

• An opportunity for deeper engagement with relevant material and consultation with experts through this process
• An opportunity to engage in active (instead of passive) learning
• An opportunity to present their learning to the class

Day 2 Sessions

Intro to Design Thinking

This one-hour session will run as an online live lecture, followed by a class discussion via online chat. This session will meet SLOs 1, 2, 6. This session will provide:

• An understanding of the theory of design thinking
• Tools for developing a design philosophy for facing systems thinking and complex problems
• An understanding of what design can do for the development of disruptive technologies

Rapid Biodesign Project

This two-hour session will run as an online activity, in which students will be divided into groups. Students will work through a guided exercise in Miro, in which they are presented with a (bio)design problem to improve through iteration. Students will be guided to set up their breaks throughout the session. Instructors will move between the group calls to facilitate progress through the activity and answer questions. Instructors will assess this activity at the end of the course. This session will meet SLOs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. This session will provide:

• An opportunity to practice design thinking
• An opportunity to critically reflect on existing biodesign work
• A chance to practice empathy in design
• Access to feedback to enrich and solidify learning

Day 3

Bait and Switching

This one-hour session will run as an online live lecture in a Microsoft Teams call, followed by a class discussion via online chat. This session will meet SLOs 1, 3, 4, 6. This session will provide:

• An introduction to 'drop-in replacements'
• An opportunity to engage in critical thinking
• An introduction to multi-level biodesign through TEK: traditional ecological knowledge

New Territories – New Methods

This two-hour session will run as an online activity, in which students will be divided into groups. Students will work through a guided exercise in Miro. They will have the opportunity to use dramaturgy tools to engage in diagesis to iterate their assessment and make final improvements to it. Students will be guided to set up their breaks throughout the session. Instructors will move between the group calls to facilitate progress through the activity and answer questions. This session will meet SLOs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. This session will provide:

• An opportunity to explore diagesis in speculative design
• A chance to practice user experience centered design
• Access to instructor feedback to enrich and solidify learning
• A chance to improve their first attempt at the assessment

Assessment plan:

On Day 2, students will be introduced to the assessment and guided through the design process to attempt it as a group. Students will be given an existing biodesign and will be expected to use the tools and knowledge delivered to improve the design's fundamental flaws or gaps. Students will be encouraged to loosely restrict their creativity and are encouraged to move away from the original biodesign significantly were appropriate. On Day 3, students will be provided with additional knowledge to iterate this design further, allowing them to gain feedback from the instructors and the chance to implement it. The assessment will be submitted as a written component (800-1000 words). It should include references to the course readings and an oral part, recorded as a 5-7-minute Teams presentation and submitted in .mp4 format.

Assessment criteria:

1. Clear and meaningful use of references relevant to the course content
2. Well written and structured written component that is of academic caliber and contains a reflective quality
3. Demonstrated ability to use the tools learned to iterate the biodesign in an original way
4. Engaging and well summarised oral presentation that demonstrates diagesis
5. A capability to critically contextualize the biodesign regarding user experience and ecological sophistication