ADW Future Design Scholars
2026 ADW Future Design Fellowship · Open Call
Supporting independent research that advances design as a catalyst for new knowledge, interdisciplinary collaboration, and meaningful change across technology, culture, and society.
Design Beyond Boundaries: Convergence, Creativity, and Sustainable Futures
As technological, cultural, and social questions become increasingly interconnected, design can help different fields think and act together. The 2026 theme invites research that crosses disciplinary boundaries while remaining grounded in intellectual depth, creative practice, and long-term public value.
Convergence
New relationships among disciplines, technologies, cultures, places, and forms of practice.
Creativity
Human imagination, human-AI collaboration, and new capacities for collective thought and action.
Sustainable Futures
Lasting and responsible value across environmental, social, cultural, ethical, and institutional life.
Design research for questions that no single discipline can answer.
Technological change, ecological transition, shifting cultural identities, and new forms of public life are reshaping the conditions in which design operates. These questions call for research that can move between disciplines, translate knowledge into experience, and connect critical inquiry with material and social practice.
Established by Asia Design Week, the ADW Future Design Scholars Program supports emerging scholars whose work expands the role of design within this changing landscape. The 2026 fellowship will support a number of scholars undertaking independent research with a recognized university, research institute, laboratory, or academic host organization.
Learn more about the programSix areas of future design research
Under the 2026 theme, the six areas frame design as an evolving field of inquiry: one that produces knowledge, builds new relationships between disciplines, and makes complex ideas tangible and accessible.
Future Design Studies
Design theory, history, criticism, methods, education, and emerging research frameworks.
Design Intelligence and Human-AI Co-Creation
Human-AI collaboration, design reasoning, creative computing, and intelligent design tools.
Creative Technology and Experience Systems
Interaction, spatial computing, media art, digital culture, and experience design.
Sustainable Design and Social Impact
Sustainable systems, public design, community innovation, and social transformation.
Cross-Cultural Design and Cultural Creativity
Cultural knowledge, creative industries, communication, and international exchange.
Research Prototypes and Public Knowledge
Research-driven prototypes, exhibitions, public scholarship, and knowledge visualization.
2026 ADW Future Design Fellowship
Selected scholars may receive a one-year support package structured around the needs of the proposed research and host environment. The indicative total range is USD 80,000 to USD 120,000, subject to final assessment and award terms.
View full fellowship detailsWhat you need to apply
Prepare the materials below in English and submit the complete application by email before May 31, 2026.
How to Apply- Curriculum Vitae
- Research Proposal
- Personal Statement
- Two Representative Works
- Host Affiliation Evidence
- Two Referees
Connecting research with a wider design culture.
Through exhibitions, forums, awards, publications, and academic exchange, Asia Design Week provides a broader public and professional context in which design research can be discussed, tested, and shared.
ADW Partner Network
The program draws on Asia Design Week's relationships with design associations, academic societies, cultural institutions, and professional platforms across Asia and internationally.
University of the Arts Sharjah
Macao Product Design Association
Golden Pin Design Award
Korea Ensemble of Contemporary Design
Hebei International Industrial Design Week
Industrial Designers Society of Thailand
Association of Designers of India
Indonesian Industrial Product Designers Alliance
Industrial Designers Association of Taipei
International Association of Designers
Korea Society of Illustration Research
CEIDA
Art Design Association of Hainan Province
Zhejiang Industrial Design Association
Beijing Design Society
Hong Kong Designers Association
Mongolian National Designers Association
Macao International Design Alliance
Goldreed Industrial Design Award
European Product Design Award
Shenzhen Industrial Design Profession Association
ixDC
Malaysia Design Council
Malaysian Graphic Design Association
Korea Society of Color Studies
Organizations shown here form part of Asia Design Week's wider exchange network. Participation in individual fellowship activities is confirmed separately for each cycle.
Program Updates
An Asia Design Week scholar-support initiative.
Asia Design Week is an international design organization and cultural exchange platform administered by the Asia Design Week Committee, with program and liaison presence in Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, and Seoul.
About Asia Design Week