In the last ten years, fifteen members of the Inclusive Design Research Centre have received their PhD degrees (nine from China, one from the USA, and one from Germany, and four from the UK).

In 2024, Professor Hua Dong was elected Vice-Chair of the Design Research Society (https://www.designresearchsociety.org/articles/drs-announces-new-chairs-and-executive-board) where she has been the convenor of the InclusiveSIG.

From the summer 2023 to the autumn 2024, several members of the Centre collaborated through an international project, and jointly produced a book: Collaboration in Creative Industries: Insights from the AHRC’s UK-China Research and Innovation SEED Fellowship. A shorter version of the book can be freely downloaded from the project website https://www.creativeindustrieshub.com/

We are sad to have lost Professor Zengwei Wang, Founder of Industrial Design Department at Tongji University who introduced barrier-free projects to the industrial design curriculum. In the preface to ‘Inclusive Design: Chinese Archive’, he wrote: “The number of universities in China offering industrial design courses quickly grew from just a few to over a hundred, flourishing across the country. Design theories also exhibit a vibrant diversity. However, amid this abundance, inclusive design—aimed at accommodating the largest range of users—remains a glaring void.” “The publication of this book will certainly play a positive role in advancing inclusive design in China, keeping pace with international developments, and exploring new paths for China.”

Our long-term collaborator, Professor Julia Cassim, passed away on the 16^th June 2024, in Japan. Julia visited us through teaching and attending symposia at Tongji University. As the UK Design Week’s Hot 50 who brought together ‘creative communities across the world to work with disabled or aging people, allowing them to understand tehri needs in order to seek a remedy to them through design’, Julia left a life legacy in pushing inclusive design ‘onwards and forwards’.

We interviewed Julia for the ‘AllDesign’ special issue on inclusive design. The special issue is out of print but the PDF version is now available on https://www.researchgate.net/publication/387533957_ALL_DESIGN_special_issue_on_inclusive_design_dashejibaorongxingshejitekan. Its DOI is 10.13140/RG.2.2.21657.33126