The aim of the project is to develop a design method-based toolkit in partnership that contributes to and facilitates the development of creative competences of the children of the 300 most impoverished villages of Hungary, participating in the Presence Program of the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta. The long-term goal of the project is to establish a sustainable partnership between the two institutions that can deliver socially engaged design projects in an adaptable form to children from disadvantaged communities in the Hungary and the CEE region.

During the project, an interdisciplinary research team developes an adaptable, design process based methodology that can contribute to the advancement of creative competences of children coming from disadvantaged backgrounds. To implement the methodology in reality, field lab based workshops are organized at the Máltai Presence House in Zalakomár in the form of a Hackathon, where students, researchers and participating local children are experimenting with various design approaches to create new values together.

The goal of these events are to engage university students, teachers and local kids in these design based experiences that supports the methodology development. During these occasions, several disciplines are represented, such as: architecture, media design, animation, product design, textile design.

Researc phases

Methodology

Jan 2022 – Nov 2022

An interdisciplinary research team developed an adaptable, design-process-based methodology that can contribute to the advancement of creative competences of children coming from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Hackathon

Apr 2022

Field lab based workshops were organized at the Máltai Presence House in Zalakomár in the form of a Hackathon, where students, researchers and participating local children were experimenting with various design approaches and they created new values together.

Summer University

Jul 2022

An immersive, fieldwork focused summer university was organized in Zalakomár’ Máltai Presence House where students and teachers of MOME and colleagues of Máltai Charity conducted participative and co-design based workshop series with local kids of vulnerable background.

Exhibition

Oct 2022 – Nov 2022

The temporary Social Design Field Lab exhibition presented the research process, as well as the fieldwork-based educational situations implemented in Zalakomár, where several disciplines (architecture, media design, animation, product design, textile design) were represented.

Methodology 2.0

Jun 2023 - Dec 2023

In 2023, we are testing and further developing the methodology in the form of a two-day long summer hackathon, followed by numerous workshops during the autumn and a course week with students, where they have the opportunity to work on the ideas and directions already listed during the summer hackathon.

Methodology

Hackathon

Summer University

Exhibition

Methodology 2.0