Designing for Community Care

Reimagining Support for Equity & Well-being in Academia

Academic well-being is deeply influenced by peer-support networks, yet they remain informal, inequitable, and unsustainable, often relying on personal connections and social capital rather than structured, inclusive systems. Additionally, institutional well-being responses frequently focus on student populations, neglecting the emotional labour of faculty and staff, reinforcing an exclusionary academic culture. Drawing on HCI methodologies, participatory design, and care ethics, this workshop will provide a space for rethinking how academic communities can support inclusive networks. Through pre-workshop engagement, co-design activities, and reflection, participants will examine systemic gaps in networks and explore ways to embed care, equity, and sustainability into academic peer-support frameworks – from informal, exclusionary models to structured, inclusive care-based ecosystems. At the end of the workshop, participants will co-develop design strategies for integrating care and resilience in academic ecosystems, resources for designing equitable support systems, and a peer network invested and committed to fostering a supportive academic community.

Keywords: Academic Support Systems, Care Ethics, Community-led Design, Resilience, Well-being in Academia

how to apply

We invite submissions from diverse voices across academia – early-career researchers, mentors, equity advocates, and HCI practitioners – who are passionate about designing inclusive, care-centered peer-support systems.

What to Submit:

  • A brief statement of interest (around 250 words) or a 2-minute MP4 video sharing your experience in academic community-building or your vision for equitable peer support.
  • Alternative formats (e.g., zines, design prototypes) are welcome to accommodate different communication styles.
  • Subject to your consent, accepted entries will go live on our website, be added to arXiv, and emailed to the participant group.

When & Where:

Bring your unique insights and join us in collaboratively reimagining peer support as a shared act of care.

Motivation

Academic communities often rely on informal yet meaningful peer-support systems, as researchers face a number of systemic challenges that compromise their well-being and hinder professional development. However, the ad hoc nature of these support structures often leaves many without consistent support. In response, this workshop will discuss what is needed to shift from these informal mechanisms to intentionally designed, inclusive care-focused networks that prioritise equity, community care, and sustainability. By moving from informal, chance-based systems to structured, equitable frameworks grounded in care ethics, intersectionality, and sustainability, we aim to reimagine academia as a resilient, collaborative ecosystem where academic well-being is a collective responsibility. Participants will co-create artifacts and guidelines for academic peer support informed by their lived experiences, addressing systemic barriers and exploring alternative ways to embed equity and care into academic culture. The workshop aims to generate practical tools, spark conversations that challenge existing norms, and inspire a shift toward more inclusive and supportive practices within academia. By bringing together diverse voices from across academic roles and disciplines, this workshop seeks to catalyse broader cultural change, inviting participants to collaboratively design solutions that go beyond individual resilience and laying a foundation for academia to expand as a more equitable, interconnected, and sustainable community.

Workshop Structure

1 Pre-Workshop

Ice-breaker

  • Prior to the workshop, participants will receive a welcome email detailing the agenda, objectives, accessibility needs, and essential event information. They will be invited to join a dedicated online platform (e.g., Discord) where they can engage in reflective prompts and informal discussions to begin exploring their experiences with academic peer support. Participants will be encouraged to share short posts or examples of their networks and support systems, fostering early connections and setting the stage for in-depth discussions during the workshop.

    These pre-workshop activities aim to build a sense of shared purpose while ensuring accommodations are met and avoiding cognitive overload.

    • 2 During the Workshop

    The workshop will span a full day, structured into a morning session focused on foundational discussions and an afternoon dedicated to hands-on activities and the development of community-driven interventions.

    Welcome
  • We will introduce the workshop’s goals, structure, and feminist care-ethics ethos – emphasising equity, resilience, and allyship in community-building. (10 min)

    • Keynote & Q&A with Dr. Geraldine Fitzpatrick

  • Dr. Geraldine Fitzpatrick will provide an opening virtual keynote to ground discussions and set the tone. (30 min)
    • Participant Introductions
  • Each participant (max 3 min each) shares their background in academic peer support and their aspirations for more sustainable, care-centered structures. (30 min)

    • From Lived Experience to Core Values

  • In small groups (3–5 people), participants map key moments, challenges, and informal supports they’ve relied on in academic peer networks. They then collaboratively extract the core values – such as inclusivity, mutual aid, and resilience – that have shaped these experiences. This anchors our exploration of lived realities and establishes a shared foundation. (45 min)
    • Break
    (15 min)

    From Values to Action

  • Part 1: Defining Groups select one core value and discuss how it currently manifests (or fails to) in academic contexts – addressing questions like “How is this value realized today?”, “What systemic barriers impede it?”, and “What would a well-supported peer community look like?” (30 min)
    Part 2: Prototyping Using design-centered methods (e.g., design fictions or zine-making), groups create speculative prototypes that operationalize their chosen value. Examples may include alternative support structures, policies, tools, or community practices. (1 h)
    • Lunch
    (1 h 30 min)

    From Actions to Sustainable Structures

  • Part 3: Synthesis Groups refine prototypes into concrete, real-world applications – detailing specific steps, necessary resources, potential barriers, and mitigation strategies. (45 min)
    Part 4: Establishing Guiding Principles Participants distill their work into adaptable guidelines for inclusive, sustainable, and resilient academic communities, grounded in the core values identified earlier. These outputs will inform post-workshop collaborations and potential institutional recommendations. (45 min)
    • Break
    (15 min)

    Group Reflection

  • Each group presents its strategies and identifies three essential features for care-based academic support structures. Participants collectively reflect and refine these elements to ensure shared ownership. (45 min)
    • Wrap-up
  • Closing thoughts, takeaways, and next steps for post-workshop collaborations. (15 min)

    • 3 Post-Workshop

    Workshop outputs will be compiled and shared via the same online platform where we gathered for pre-workshop activities. Participants can continue discussions, refine ideas, and explore potential applications. This platform will serve as the seed of a care-focused academic peer-support community.

    Expected Outcomes

    With participant consent, insights will be synthesised and systematised toward resource-sharing and knowledge building. We plan to submit a report to the SIGCHI Equity Committee for future implementation. Additionally, we aim to produce a collaborative position paper (e.g., in Interactions or DIS Provocations), compile contributions into arXiv proceedings, and host follow-up events (World Café, SIGs) to extend these conversations.

    tl;dr

    This one-day, in-person DIS ’25 workshop brings together academics, equity advocates, and HCI designers to co-create care-centered, equitable peer-support systems. Through pre-workshop reflection, hands-on co-design activities, and post-workshop community building, you’ll help turn informal, exclusionary networks into sustainable, inclusive ecosystems.

    Submit a brief statement of interest (around 250 words), 2-minute video, or creative artifact by July 2 2025 to join us in reframing academic well-being as a shared act of care.

    Workshop Organizers

    Beatriz Severes is a PhD Candidate at the University of Lisbon and a researcher at the Interactive Technologies Institute / LARSyS. With a focus on academic resilience, her work reimagines the role of technology in supporting well-being by developing context-sensitive tools that empower ECRs and promote community-based care. By exploring individual, community, and institutional dimensions, she creates participatory tools that bridge personal insights with systemic support, fostering resilient academic ecosystems.

    Ana O. Henriques is currently a PhD student at the Interactive Technologies Institute / LARSyS, at the University of Lisbon. Ana has focused their research on the intersections of ethics, feminist HCI and community-based work while developing a concept of community-led ethics as a process of feminist ethical frameworking for community-based projects. She is also a member of the SIGCHI Equity Committee.

    Rory Clark is a Research Associate at the University of Bristol on the ProSquared Network+ Project. His research covers Work As Done in real-world contexts and how HCI can help interaction in-the-wild. He is currently working on how to assist entry-level users with prototyping and production of hardware devices.

    Paulo Bala is an Auxiliary Researcher at the Interactive Technologies Institute / LARSyS, with a computer science and digital media background. His work uses different HCI lenses to design and develop cultural heritage narratives from marginalised perspectives. He provides student-focused support within his research institution and started and developed a program of soft-skill workshops for ECRs in Madeira, Portugal.

    Anna R L Carter is a Research Fellow at Northumbria University. She has extensive experience in designing technologies for local council regeneration programs, focusing on accessible digital experiences via human-centred methods and participatory design. She builds Digital Civics research capacities of early career researchers through the EU-funded DCitizens Programme and works on digital civics, outdoor spaces, and sense of place as part of the EPSRC Centre for Digital Citizens.

    Rua Mae Williams is an Assistant Professor in User Experience Design at Purdue University and former SSRC Just Tech Fellow (2022–2024). As PI of the CoLiberation Lab, Dr. Williams’s work explores how disabled people imagine and build their own sociotechnical worlds, often in spite of existing bias, stigma, and exclusion. They also investigate how technology policy and research practice interact to disrupt disabled people’s bodily autonomy. In 2023, Dr. Williams launched a free Disabled Mentoring program and a web series on Neurodivergent strategies for daily life, developing an informal mentorship network of over 1,000 people.

    Geraldine Fitzpatrick was Professor of Technology Design and Assessment and led the HCI Group in Informatics at TU Wien until September 2023. Her research focuses on socio-technical and people-centred perspectives of computing. She holds a PhD in CS & EE (Uni of Queensland) and an MSc in Applied Positive/Coaching Psychology (UEL). Geraldine is an ACM Distinguished Scientist, IFIP Fellow, and recipient of the SIGCHI Lifetime Service Award, IFIP TC-13 Pioneer Award, and TU Informatics Best Teacher Award. She now delivers academic career and leadership consultancy, speaks internationally, and hosts the Changing Academic Life podcast series as a community service.