We are proudly announcing that in October 2018, PEOPLE project will be part of the largest European event promoting applied anthropology and social sciences (again): this year, Anna Kirah, design anthropologist and PEOPLE Advisory Board member will be there to inspire you as one of the keynote speakers. And in her workshop, Ajda Pretnar, one of the members of the Slovenian PEOPLE project team, will be sharing with you her fascinating knowledge on data ethnography and computational anthropology!

We were already successfully Powering the Planet in Durham in 2017, when energy was in focus of the Why the World Needs Anthropologists (WWNA) symposium, organised by the EASA Applied Anthropology Network with partners. This year, the event’s leitmotif are design and anthropology. We will be Designing the Future on 26, 27 (and 28) October 2018 in Lisbon, Portugal.

The full programme of the symposium is now available on the event website. We are up for two days of keynote talks, networking events, and workshops that will hone your skills crucial for design and design anthropology: data ethnography, storytelling, prototyping, sensory ethnography, and more. There is an extra day added this year for exploring Lisbon and a meeting of the EASA Applied Anthropology Network members.

DAY ONE presents speakers and the final panel discussion. This year’s keynote speakers are José Manuel dos Santos, Head of Design & User Experience, Americas at Philips Lighting, Sarah Pink, Distinguished Professor at RMIT University, Jamer Hunt, Vice Provost for Transdisciplinary Initiatives at The New School, and Anna Kirah, Managing Director at Design Without Borders (we did an interview with Anna in 2017). At the Design Hotspot, you will be mingling and networking with WWNA partners at their fair stalls.

DAY TWO brings you eight exciting hands-on workshops. If you are wondering what data ethnography and computational anthropology are we cordially invite you to sign up for Ajda Pretnar’s workshop (registration for the event opens on 1 June 2018!). Within PEOPLE, Ajda is participating as a PhD student in the Slovenian case study on energy information systems and interaction between smart buildings and building occupants. In her workshop in Lisbon, she will present the emerging field of data ethnography, where qualitative methods meet quantitative. Among other things, you will learn where and how to get the data and define what kind of research problems benefit from quantitative analysis.