Decolonisation in museums is an urgent and evolving discourse that challenges dominant historical narratives, interrogates Western authority over cultural artefacts, and seeks to restore voice and visibility to marginalised communities. In Britain, museums continue to hold vast collections acquired through imperial extraction. Their displays often obscure these colonial origins, reframing artefacts as universal heritage under a Eurocentric gaze. As Abungu (2019) notes, decolonisation requires structural change, rethinking display, interpretation, and who is authorised to tell these stories. Ahamed-Barke (2024) sharpens this provocation by claiming that “to decolonise is to decontextualise”.

In the 2021 publication, 'The Ontology of Design Research', Miguel Angel Herrera Batista argues that the ongoing development of postgraduate programmes in design has led to a growing focus on establishing the field of inquiry as an independent and differentiated research area. For design research to contribute to disciplinary development, researchers need to focus not only on procedural rigour but also on ensuring that the philosophical foundations of selected methodological approaches align with the ontological reality of design. It is, therefore, necessary to encourage postgraduate students to investigate both familiar and novel research methodologies in the search for appropriate approaches to design research projects.

The 2020 South African Presidential Commission on the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) presented five development pillars for the South African 4IR strategy, with the People and Skills pillar emphasising the role of the education sector in South Africa’s successful global participation in the 4IR. The report identifies a lack of soft skills such as creativity and problem solving in new graduates, adversely affecting their work-preparedness and employability. The World Economic Forum’s 15 top skills for 2025 also placed soft skills as the top six future workplace skills. Tertiary educators have the opportunity and responsibility to prepare graduates for this shift to the 4IR-workplace by developing soft skills relevant to their discipline.

Multigenerational households are inhabited by three or more generations cohabiting; however, homes are not always designed to accommodate multiple generations. Having been raised within a home filled with grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, parents and siblings, the personal experience of the primary researcher has been drawn on to frame the analysis of the challenges associated with multigenerational living. Multigenerational living requires functional spaces: space that efficiently includes all occupants to create a harmonious environment.