Call for Papers: 'Designing for Peace, Security, and Resilience'
Call for Papers: Journal of Design, Business & Society
Special Issue: 'Designing for Peace, Security, and Resilience'
View the full call here>>
https://www.intellectbooks.com/journal-of-design-business-society#call-for-papers
Overview:
The Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP) recorded a record number of conflicts and wars since the end of World War II in its latest reporting (Davies et al., 2025). The fundamental restructuring of the international order—specifically the disruption of rules-based and liberal systems—has introduced a palpable sense of anxiety into civil society. As geopolitical shifts and changing alliances bring increasing uncertainty to Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America, issues of conflict, national identity and cultural autonomy often distract from the urgent ‘poly-crises’ in labour, poverty, health and the environment.
What can/are designers and design researchers doing to improve intercultural and international relations? How can design create the conditions for co-existence, security and resilience so that the existential crises of our time can be addressed with the ingenuity they require? We invite contributions that explore whether design’s speculative agency and 'futuring' capacity can provide the imaginative yet pragmatic frameworks necessary to mitigate further human-made calamity.
Thematic Pillars:
We welcome interdisciplinary research that proposes new theories or challenges the designer’s role in ‘designing peace’ through:
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Infrastructures & Technology:Technical systems supporting civic society and social relations in pre-conflict, conflict and post-conflict states.
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Dialogic Spaces:Physical and virtual environments designed for understanding between warring parties.
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Planetary Governance:Reimagining social and political organisations at a pan-continental scale to support autonomy and subsidiarity.
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Epistemologies & Ontologies:De-centring and decolonising design thinking to temporally extend our approach to conflict.
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Industry & Ethics:The ‘business’ of war and peace, interrogating design's application within firms in the defence, arms or other sectors.
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Resilience & Readiness:The role of design in military thinking, civic readiness and historical design-led innovations for civil protection.
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Indigenous & Marginalised Perspectives:How communities use design to counter hegemonic or imperialist actions.
Submission Categories:
Research Articles: 6,000–8,000 words, offering an original contribution to design research.
Viewpoints: 2,000–4,000 words, offering a critical reflection on an immediate contemporary issue.
Visualisations: a double-page spread accompanied by an explanatory text of 500–1000 words contextualising the work.
Important Dates:
Abstract Submission Deadline: Sunday 31 May 2026 at 23:59 GMT/BST.
Submission Process:
All submissions must use the journal’s:
. Abstract Form and Submission Checklist
. Harvard referencing style guide.
Please submit your abstract or full paper here>>