Design Thinking Roundtable

Suhayla Bazbaz Kuri is a Mexican political scientist dedicated to human rights, social justice and participatory democracy. She founded Community Cohesion and Social Innovation in 2009 to strengthen community ties and promote inclusive, rights-based, community-led development across Mexico. Passionate about collective action, Suhayla combines research, advocacy, and capacity-building to amplify co...

Katy Rubin is a Legislative Theatre practitioner and strategist based in the UK, and founder of  The People Act  hub for creative civic practice. She works in partnership with local and national governments and community groups to co-create equitable and innovative public policy. She currently collaborates with cities around Europe to design policy initiatives on multiple issues such as housing an...

Tales of the Field is a podcast series which gives voice to social activists and social innovators who work in and with their communities to create social impact and sustainable change. They share with us their work in the field - where they  tackle complex social issues and aim to create sustainable change and social impact. At its core, their work is human-centered, systemic and always informed...

Hanieh Khosroshahi is an independent design consultant, researcher, and community organizer working in pursuit of people and the planet. Her work spans multiple sectors from international development and public health to women’s rights and technologies. She also worked in many geographies including Canada, Rwanda, Tanzania, Nepal, and Afghanistan.  She applies principles and methods of Human-centr...

Tales of the Field is a podcast series which gives voice to social activists and social innovators who work in and with their communities to create social impact and sustainable change. They share with us their work in the field - where they  tackle complex social issues and aim to create sustainable change and social impact. At its core, their work is human-centered, systemic and always informed...

Jorge Lagarto, founding member and currently Director of LabX – Center for Innovation in the Public Sector. After starting his career working in consulting and project management, he spent many years in the public sector, particularly in the areas of innovation, digital transformation, and servicedesign. He holds a degree in Environmental Engineering and a specialization in eLearning Pedagogy and...

Jon Alexander, a Storyteller, Strategist, and Visiting Fellow atHarvard University. Jon started out in advertising and co-founded in 2014 with Irenie Ekkeshis a consultancy, the NewCitizen Project which works with organisations across sectors to explore what it would mean to treat people as citizens, not just consumers. In 2022, he published a book, Citizens, which won numerous book of the year aw...

Pushpa Joshi is a young activist from Nepal with over a decade of experience advancing Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR), adolescent sexuality, and gender equality at national and international levels. She co-founded YoSHAN(Youth-led SRHR Advocacy Nepal), where she leads youth-centered, feminist initiatives. An experienced educator, Pushpa has trained healthcare providers on rights-...

Francesco Cara, a designer, educator and curator. Francesco explores what it means to design in the current epoch, the Anthropocene, marked by climate disruption, unstoppable biodiversity loss and growing social inequality, with a focus on two domains: digital sustainability and human-wildlife coexistence. Francesco is an activist   for AlGore's  Climate Reality Project  and for the  Right to...

Dima Boulad, a designer and problem solver moved by positive impact with more than 14 years of experience. Dima is currently the Head of Design Research for the Dubai Design Lab, which is part of Dubai Future Foundation. Prior to that role she led the Design Research Team also at the Dubai Design Lab. She also worked as Innovation Design Manager for EY and has worked on multiple projects as an ind...

Meena is a social innovation consultant and design strategist tackling complex social challenges through human-centered design and community engagement dedicated to tackling complex social challenges through human-centered design and community engagement. With a background in social anthropology and design, she has worked across diverse settings, from urban slums to corporate boardrooms. Previousl...

Adriana Valdez Young is a design researcher with more than 15 years of leading design research that focuses on centering the experiences of historically excluded and underrepresented people for startups, government, non-profits, and corporate clients. . She advises inclusive research at SOUR, a global design studio with the mission to address social and urban problems, servers as associate chair o...

Tales of the Field is a podcast series which gives voice to social activists and social innovators who work in and with their communities to create social impact and sustainable change. They share with us their work in the field - where they  tackle complex social issues and aim to create sustainable change and social impact. At its core, their work is human-centered, systemic and always informed...

Robert Fabricant is Co-Founder of Dalberg Design, where he brings human-centered design and systems thinking to clients looking for creative approaches to breakthrough innovation and expanded collaborations in social impact and community engagement. He leads an extremely diverse team with studios in Dakar, Mexico City, Mumbai, Nairobi and New York, leveraging Dalberg’s global footprint and capabil...

Engin Ayaz, a transdisciplinary designer and strategist with a background in architecture, systems thinking, and interaction design. He is the co-founder of ATÖLYE, a design and innovation consultancy, which amplifies the impact of purpose-driven leaders by transforming people, places and experiences through the power of communities. Engin received a dual degree in Architectural Design and Enginee...

Victor Udoewa is Service Design Lead  for the CDC (centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Prior to this role, Victor was Chief Technology Officer, Chief experience Officer and Service Design Lead at NASA. Prior to NASA, Victor served as the Director of Strategy at 18F, a civic consultancy for the federal government inside the federal government. Previously, as a Global Education Instructiona...

Rachael Dietkus is a social worker-designer. Her practice, research, and writing at the intersections of social work values, trauma-responsive principles, and care-focused design research methods. Rachael is the founder of  Social Workers Who Design  and an active member of the Design Justice Network and the Social Work Futures Lab. Since September 2022, she has served as a Digital Services Expert...

João Brites is an entrepreneur, breakdancer, and agroforester who has lived in Portugal, Mexico, United States, Brazil and Spain (his current home). Currently, João is Director of Growth & Innovation at HowGood, a SaaS platform that helps companies measure, improve, and communicate their social and environmental impact. Prior to HowGood, João worked as Global Director of Sustainable Developmen...

Tales of the Field is a podcast series which gives voice to social activists and social innovators who work in and with their communities to create social impact and sustainable change. They share with us their work in the field - where they  tackle complex social issues and aim to create sustainable change and social impact. At its core, their work is human-centered, systemic and always informed...

Tales of the Field is a podcast series which gives voice to social activists and social innovators who work in and with their communities to create social impact and sustainable change. They share with us their work in the field - where they  tackle complex social issues and aim to create sustainable change and social impact. At its core, their work is human-centered, systemic and always informed...

Tanya Bhandari is a communication designer from India who has been working in the social impact space for over a decade. Currently she is the Design Director at  ⁠YLabs⁠  in Kigali, Rwanda. She was previously Design Lead at  ⁠UNICEF’s Office of Innovation⁠  (New York), Design Fellow at  ⁠Center for Urban Pedagogy⁠  (New York), and Designer at  ⁠Teach for India⁠  (Mumbai.) In this episode, reflecti...

Liz Gerber is a professor at Northwestern University, co-director of Northwestern’s Center for Human Computer Interaction + Design, and faculty founder of Design for America, a national award-winning network of interdisciplinary students who work together to solve problems they care about in their community. Liz works at the works at the intersection of design, social computing, and organizational...

Sara Camnasio is a multi-disciplinary designer and researcher focused on government (public services), science, and climate projects. Her work spans from integrating design mindsets into environmental and conservation projects, creating educational curricula to engage students on STEAM topics, to helping improve public and private services and products.  After spending 5 years conducting Astrophys...

Isaac is the founder of  Mideva Labs  - a research, design and innovation consultancy studio based in Nairobi Kenya, and a co-founder of  Idea Studio Africa  - a community-powered learning, skills development and apprenticeship studio helping young professionals build meaningful career pathways in innovation and entrepreneurship. Isaac previously co-founded the  Africa YES  Program - a 6-month lea...

Harmonie Coleman is a Senior Community Engagement Manager at IDEO.org. In this role, she collaborates closely with design teams, partners, and local community members to advance equitable practices in design research and community co-design methods across the organization. She specializes in designing transformative experiences, healing-centered facilitation, participatory design methods, and recr...