DESIGN EDUCATION | AFRIKA | 4TH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
Hosted by University of Johannesburg & Inscape Education Group

The 2021 DEFSA Design Education conference which will be streamed live on 5-7 October 2021 from UJ Arts Centre

The abstract phase is closed.

• 55 abstracts submitted
• 24 Institution represented
• All design disciplines are represented. The most popular disciplines (excluding pure research) are Built Environment,Visual Communication and Industrial Design.

We now begin the second phase - double-blind appraisal by the conference committee where [anonymised] abstracts are assessed at a high level for required criteria such as relevance to the conference theme and design education. Please click on the link in the menu for the full review process. We will announce here when we expect to notify authors of their acceptance into the next phase (full paper submission). 

Our conference will be virtual in 2021 - and in support of the conference theme we are taking this opportunity to present new formats and peer review procedures.

• The provisional Review Process in 2021
• DEFSA 2021 Conference - Call for Papers
• Subscribe to receive 2021 Conference notifications & deadlines

Conference Theme

The First Industrial Revolution used water and steam power to mechanize production.

The Second used electric power to create mass production.

The Third used electronics and information technology to automate production.

Now a Fourth Industrial Revolution is building on the Third - the digital revolution that has been occurring since the middle of the last century.It is characterized by a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres.

Klaus Schwab (2016)
Founder and Executive Chairman, WEF

The COVID-19 pandemic has visibly impacted every sphere of life. The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) and its impact on design education can similarly be viewed through the lens of this global pandemic.

The unique context of Afrika adds further layers to this lens. In past DEFSA conferences, design educators would reflect the conference theme on their particular context, lived experience, and specific design discipline. To encourage this self-reflection and forward-thinking, the 2021 DEFSA Conference addresses the past, present and future of design education while considering the Fourth Industrial Revolution in the context of Afrikan scholarship.

Abstract Phase

Your abstract should be between 300 and 500 words. The abstract should be a concise statement of the problem, approach, results and conclusions of the work, and should clearly state the paper’s contribution to the field. Include three to five keywords with your submission. All references to the author/s in the abstract body should be removed before submission.

Full Paper

Full papers should be between 3 000 and 5 000 words. The DEFSA editors will communicate the technical requirements for the full papers and the video presentations to authors whose abstracts are accepted.

Video Conference Presentation

All accepted papers are required to be presented by the author and/or co-authors.

Peer Review Process

All abstracts and full papers will be subject to a double-blind peer review process. We are following the requirements as stipulated by the SA Department of Higher Education. Only authors with accepted papers will be allowed to present at the conference.

The outcome of both the abstract and full paper review will be communicated to authors once the results are verified by the conference committee. Any decision taken is final, and no correspondence shall be entered into.