The unique epistemic and innovative potential of Design Research is increasingly recognized across the academic landscape and is in growing demand from institutions, businesses, and policymakers alike. By bridging traditionally separate forms of practice and modes of knowledge, Design Research occupies a distinctive position—one that challenges clear disciplinary boundaries, formal conventions, and implicit assumptions about secured knowledge and linear progress in traditional research fields.
Embracing this inherent openness as a strength, the New Experimental Research in Design (NERD) conferences serve as a truly inclusive platform for showcasing, discussing, and critically examining the diverse ways in which design’s unique perspectives and capabilities can be employed as a research competence. NERD welcomes contributions from researchers worldwide, spanning all areas of Design Research, with a particular focus on empirical and experimental projects that demonstrate originality—or even boldness—in their choice of topics and methodological approaches.
The conference’s emphasis on empirical and experimental work reflects our conviction that the discourse on the value and potentials of Design Research should be led by example: What constitutes an effective method or approach only becomes evident when put into practice. For this reason, NERD also does not adhere to any predefined topics or schools of thought, recognizing that the qualitatively new transcends established categories.
Developed and realized by BIRD—the Board of International Research in Design, which publishes the book series of the same name at Birkhäuser—as an annual event with changing venues, NERD has firmly established itself and proven its productivity as a conference format, now entering its seventh iteration.
NERD 7th Heaven
Nerd 7th Heaven will be hosted by New Practice, the research platform of the inter-institutional Master’s program Design & Computation at Technische Universität Berlin and Berlin University of the Arts. The event will feature a curated selection of 30-minute research presentations, each followed by 30 minutes for audience questions and in-depth discussion.
We invite submissions from advanced graduate students, doctoral candidates, and early-career postdoctoral researchers to present their ongoing research or completed theses. Contributions should demonstrate a well-conceived, design-based, and empirical or experimental approach and may engage with a wide range of socially, culturally, and intellectually relevant questions.
We take the attributes New and Experimental in NERD seriously—even if sometimes we ourselves can’t say exactly what they mean: if we could, they would likely no longer be new or experimental, but conventional and predictable instead. In other words, we want to be surprised—by bold, unconventional, humorous, even anarchic approaches that challenge expectations and push the boundaries of Design Research.
How to apply
To apply, please submit an extended abstract (1,000–1,500 words) detailing your research project or the specific aspect you wish to present. Submissions should be sent to bird@bird-international-research-in-design.org by April 30, 2025. All submissions will undergo a blind review process, and applicants will be notified of the outcome by June 30, 2025.
The conference will be held in English.