Project Summary
Gendered Design in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics) for Low-and-Middle-Income-Countries (LMICs) is a project funded by the International Development Research Centre and facilitated by Carleton University. Goals of the project include contributing to more inclusive technological designs in science, technology, engineering, the arts and math by building capacity in gendered design and innovations. These are new or improved products and processes designed using sex and gender analysis, generating substantial benefits for society and advancing gender equality.
Within the context of this project, Gendered Design is defined as reflecting upon and incorporating gendered considerations when designing technological-based solutions, applications, methods or processes. This especially pertains to women, who are too often underrepresented and/or overlooked in technical and design fields. For this call, proposals for designs that are led by women, or directly or indirectly benefit women in light of their lived experiences, perspectives and histories will be prioritized. At the same time, this project is intended to be exploratory in coming to terms with what gender and design can mean within different geographical and national contexts. We therefore encourage all potential applicants to carefully consider and articulate how their proposed project falls within the category of ‘Gendered Design’ in respect of their unique LMIC context.
Responding to gaps in gendered research and design, the project seeks to:
- expand and enhance the community of experts and innovators in gendered design, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs); develop gendered case studies
- design projects that are driven by LMIC interests and researchers
- make gendered challenges in the design of technologies more visible to researchers, designers and innovators, particularly in LMICs.
Carleton University, in close collaboration with multidisciplinary experts in Canada and LMICs, manages and coordinates the primary activities:
- call for projects in two streams
- the delivery of complementary training and mentoring
- knowledge synthesis.
Stream 1: case studies and/or narratives of past/ ongoing experiences, both unsuccessful and successful.
Stream 2: prototypes coupled with case-study research that will result from Research-through-Design and Speculative Design processes.
The project team and other collaborating experts will provide successful applicants with the necessary support, mentorship and guidance to refine their ideas and research, while also affording applicants the opportunity to build partnerships (formal and informal) with experts at Carleton University and other partners in Canada and the Global South – as well as among themselves. Applicants will be required to submit an expression of interest pertaining to innovations linked with STEAM fields, followed by an invited formal proposal, with a particular, but not limited interest in applications in the following sectors.
- Transport/ mobility
- Renewable energy
- Manufacturing
- Housing, built environment and public space
- Infrastructure
- Accessibility (cross cutting)
Duration of project: April 2019 – March 2022 (36 months)
Lead Institution: Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada
Co-Principal Investigators:
Bjarki Hallgrimsson, Director, School of Industrial Design, Faculty of Engineering and Design
Dominique Marshall, Chair, Department of History, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
Project Coordination:
Chiara Del Gaudio, Assistant Professor, School of Industrial Design
Beth A. Robertson, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of History and School of Industrial Design
Project Facilitation:
Heloise Emdon, Carleton International
Regional & Gender Advisors:
Emmanuel Mutungi, Lecturer and Department Head, Art and Industrial Design Faculty of Vocational Studies, Kyambogo University
Amina Mire, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Carleton University
Stay up-to-date with the project as it develops here on this website
and follow @GenDesignSTEAM on Twitter
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¹ Londa Schiebinger, “Introduction: Getting More Women into Science and Engineering,” Gendered Innovations in Science and Engineering, ed. Londa Schiebringer (Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 2008), 4; Londa Schiebinger, “What is Gendered Innovation?” Gendered Innovations in Science, Health & Medicine, Engineering & the Environment, Stanford University and the European Union, 2011, http://genderedinnovations.stanford.edu/what-is-gendered-innovations.html
² Schiebinger, “Introduction: Getting More Women into Science and Engineering,” 4
