Research
We think out loud.
We share what we learn as we go: essays on designing for complexity and for the next billion users, curricula for schools, and tools any team can pick up and use.
What we publish
Ideas and methods, out in the open.
Articles · Essays & field notes
Essays & field notes
Writing on human-centred design, public systems, foreign policy and designing for the next six billion. The thinking behind the work.
Read the articles
Publications · Curricula & books
Curricula & books
The Design Thinking & Entrepreneurship course book series for schools, written with DIC Hub, IIT Hyderabad, India.
See the curriculum
HCD Toolkit · Methods & tools
Methods & tools
Frames, worksheets and methods for doing human-centred design in the real world. Free for teams and teachers.
Open the toolkitThink tank
HCD Policy Lab: designing for the next six billion.
Our think tank studies how human-centred design works in public services, education, accessibility and government across the UAE, India and the Global South.
Publications
A design thinking curriculum for every school.
Book series · Grades 5–12
Design Thinking & Entrepreneurship for Indian Students
A learner-centred book series that takes students from a problem they noticed to a fix they've built, tested and pitched. Two editions: Upper Primary (Grades 5–8) and High School (Grades 9–12).
The first title: Introduction to Design Thinking and Innovation — An Entrepreneurship Curriculum for Indian High School Students. Published by DIC Academic & The Institute of Human-Centred Design.
- Dr Deepak John Mathew — Professor, IIT Hyderabad, India; Head, DIC Hub, IIT Hyderabad, India; Founding Board Member, HCD Institute
- Jacinta Bell — Researcher, DIC Hub, IIT Hyderabad, India; Fellow, HCD Institute
From the articles
Questions we keep coming back to.
- Designing for the next six billionFrugal innovation, inclusion at the scale of a population, and why universal design matters in India.→
- UPI: human-centred design at scaleWhat a nation-sized digital public system teaches us about design.→
- Human-centred design examples from IndiaIndian stories that show the method at work in an Indian context.→
- Why every school needs a design thinking labMoving learning from memorising answers to making them.→
- Why human-centred design belongs at the heart of education policyDesign thinking, education policy and learning by doing.→
- Design thinking in the age of AIWhen AI makes making cheap, human judgement becomes the rare thing.→
- Why every CEO needs a design mindsetDesign as a way of leading, not just a set of tools.→
Research in practice
Where the research gets used.
Curriculum
HCD Lab curriculum
A design lab curriculum built on the DIC Hub framework, where each lesson builds on the last and leads into a real project.
See the curriculum
Field method
Sustainability audit
Seven ledgers for reading what a practice costs the earth, scored on evidence, not good intentions.
Sustainability audit
Standards
Universal Access framework
Accessibility frameworks and guidelines, built from research and tested with disabled users.
Read the frameworkConvening
Global South Design Summit
Co-hosted with DIC Hub, IIT Hyderabad, India: design research and practice from across the Global South, in one place.
The summit
Recognition
FutureEd UAE 100
Honouring 100 educators across the UAE whose inventive, human-centred teaching makes a real difference. The first edition is in 2027.
FutureEd UAE 100Collaborate
Want to research something together?
We work with institutions and publishers on design research, curricula and field studies.
Tell us what you're working on, who's behind it, and where you think we fit.
Research with HCD