This year’s Integrated Design Research (IDR) Conference, themed “Creative Intelligence”, delves into the evolving relationship between imaginative thinking and informed decision-making in the field of design. The conference invites exploration into how creative intelligence emerges at the intersection of intuition and analysis, tradition and innovation, emotion and logic. It aims to examine how this synergy shapes contemporary design practices, tools, and pedagogies, while addressing pressing social, technological, and ecological challenges.

“Creative Intelligence” emphasizes design as a multidimensional mode of inquiry—where creativity is purposeful, and intelligence is expansive. It encourages a rethinking of how designers generate insight, synthesize knowledge, and craft meaningful change across diverse cultural and disciplinary contexts.

The conference will explore the following sub-themes through the lens of creative intelligence:

Society and Culture: Investigating how design, infused with creative intelligence, responds to shifting cultural narratives, social complexities, and collective aspirations.
Vernacular Knowledge and Practice: Highlighting the role of indigenous, local, and traditional knowledge systems as vital sources of creative insight and adaptive intelligence in design.
Economy and Industries: Examining how creative intelligence drives innovation, value creation, and transformation within economic systems and industrial practices.
Design Pedagogy and Thinking: Exploring how design education cultivates creative intelligence—through emerging methodologies, interdisciplinary thinking, and reflective practice.
Design Across Technologies: Analyzing the relationship between creative intelligence and technological advancement, particularly in the age of AI, digital fabrication, and interactive systems.
Circularity and Sustainability: Addressing how creative intelligence informs regenerative design practices that prioritize environmental responsibility, circular economies, and systemic change.

Join us for IDR 2025 as we engage in a dynamic convergence of perspectives, methods, and provocations that celebrate creative intelligence as the driving force behind meaningful design. Through insightful discussions, innovative presentations, and collaborative exchanges, the conference will explore how intuition, insight, and innovation come together to shape the future of design theory and practice.