Designer in Residency 2026: More Than Us

Residency theme:

User-centred design has shaped the way designers and engineers work but even with its good intentions, this approach has stayed tightly focused on humans — and, for a long time, mostly on men. Meanwhile, the billions of animals, plants, and ecosystems that support our lives have been treated as background, as resources we can use without much thought. This quiet distancing has shaped entire industries, allowing extraction to feel normal and hiding how deeply connected we are.

With the fast rise of AI, a new worry appears: the future may stop revolving around humans and artificial general intelligence might grow beyond our control. If we feel uneasy about becoming secondary to AI, maybe it’s time to face how easily we have placed other living beings in that same position.

In this years Designer in Residency open call, we invite you to open space for a different kind of design practice, one that recognises the full spectrum of life and sees humans not at the centre, but as participants in a much wider, beautifully interconnected living system.

Apply to the Designer in Residency Open call via the link HERE.

Application deadline: 2 March 2026

Residency Dates: 17 August 2026 – 7 December 2026

View the full open call: Designer in Residency 2026 Open Call: More Than Us

If you have additional questions regarding the open call, you can join us at the virtual session on the 2 February 2026 at 17.00 CET or contact Eva Kraljič: eva.kraljic@center-rog.si

You can apply to the virtual session here.

Check video highlights from previous participants of Designer in Residency programme below.