On the morning of Oct.31, the opening ceremony of the Second DESIS Symposium: Transformation Design for Public was grandly held at Jiangnan University (JU). In the field of design, DESIS is one of the major design symposiums of international significance. Jointly hosted by School of Design of JU, College of Design Innovation of Tongji University as well as Politecnico di Milano University, the second DESIS symposium gathered scholars and students from leading universities in design such as Jiangnan University, Tsinghua University, Politecnico di Milano and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Professor Zhang Linghao, Deputy Dean of School of Design of JU, officiated at this opening ceremony.
At the opening ceremony, Prof. Xu Yan, Vice President of JU delivered an opening speech and officially appointed Prof. Ezio Manzini from Politecnico di Milano and Prof. Massimilano Campi of University of Naples "Federico II" as guest professors of JU. Meanwhile, the Jiangnan University DESIS Lab was inaugurated jointly by Prof. Zhong Fang, Director of the International Office of JU and Prof. Ezio Manzini of Politecnico di Milano at the ceremony.
Prof. Ezio Manzini of Politecnico di Milano, also the founder of DESIS Network, gave the first keynote speech on “To make things happen: triggering sustainable solutions” which struck a chord among the attendees and won rounds of applause. Afterwards, centering on the theme of this symposium scholars and experts had roundtable discussions in a brisk atmosphere from international and domestic perspectives respectively. Exchanges of views and understandings on design and face-to-face communications between students and scholars have presented attendees a brain-storm grand banquet on design. At the end of the inaugural symposium, Prof. Xin Xiangyang, the newly designated dean of School of Design of JU, put forward some constructive suggestions for the development of School of Design through lucid explanations of complicated concepts and active interaction and expressed his high expectations for the students of School of Design.
In the afternoon, scholars and experts had in-depth panel discussions centering around six topics, strategic design for sustainability, design innovation with social concerns, interaction design for public, protection and design for historical district, sustainable design with traditional culture as well as sustainable mobility and public transportation. During panel discussion, students and scholars became involved as the interaction between them got more active, which in return helped them get achievements and reach consensus concerning their respective subject.
Holding of the Second DESIS Symposium is an important move by School of Design to internationalize its teaching and research. It helped us accumulate a wealth of valuable experiences in reform and innovation of teaching and also improved the international prestige of JU. This international symposium enabled faculty and students of School of Design to communicate and interact with international leading scholars in the field of design and get a sense of their cutting-edge design concepts and theories, which have broadened their visions and brought them inspirations of design. This symposium will play a significant role in promoting the internationalization of JU’s Design Department.(Han)
