Events and Conferences
The Centre leads, and looks to partner, different types of events including workshops, lectures, forums and conferences nationally and internationally.
Lectures
Centre staff are available to deliver lectures on a variety of topics based on our four areas of interest:
Lectures can be tailored to a variety of needs and audiences.
Centre staff regularly feature at academic conferences, business forums, and as part of research or teaching engagements. Lectures cover methods, processes and case studies around Inclusive Design, Design Thinking and Creative Leadership.
Include conference series

Include conference 2019, Detroit (photo: Rama Gheerawo)
In 2001, we founded the Include conferences series, focusing on Inclusive Design and bringing together practitioners, academics, business leaders and policymakers. The first Include conference was held in 2001 and 2019 was the tenth in the series. Include is a unique event that brings together those interested in inclusive and people-centred design.
The first six conferences were held at the Royal College of Art, however in 2013 and 2017, the conference was held in Hong Kong under the Include Asia brand as part of Knowledge of Design Week 2013. Include 2019 took place in Detroit in partnership with Design Core at the College of Creative Studies .
Visit our Include Publications and Proceedings page to view the back-catalogue of conference proceedings, newsletters, books and electronic resources.
Conference Partnerships
The Centre also supports conferences organised by other organisations, either through partnership or content provision. Major collaborations have included:
- Healthcare network Salus on two conferences - European Healthcare Design and Healthy City Design
- The International Association of Universal Design conference series
- The European Business Conference on Inclusive Design series with DEsign and Architecture Norway
We have also partnered with numerous other events, small and large. Please contact [email protected] if you wish to engage with us.
Seminars and Workshops
Alongside conferences, we also run and participate in seminars and workshops. We can partner with you to create a bespoke event or facilitate and produce small events on your behalf.
A highly successful format includes a four hour workshop using creative tools and methods to explore and map agendas for topics ranging from surgery to mobility, from autism to the office.
We have also delivered ideation events and internal workshops as part of professional development for government, business and the public sector, introducing people to the creative value of design.