KISDtalk with Disha Mittal and Pascal Ackerschott

The semester has begun, and we’re kicking things off with two KISDtalks, both will take place on April 21. We’re looking forward to many visitors.

Schedule:

5:30 p.m. Pascal Ackerschott: Participatory Futures in Public Service Design
6:10 p.m. Break
6:20 p.m. Disha Mittal: Who Gets to See the System? Fragmented Knowledge, Invisible Services and the Designer’s Role.

More Information:

Talk 1

Participatory Futures in Public Service Design

Drawing on his work at the Berliner Ideenlabor and his PhD research in Service Design for the Public Sector, Pascal explores how methods from design and futures research can strengthen constructive societal discourses about our common future. He will share examples from his work at Berliner Ideenlabor, offer insights into his research at Sapienza University of Rome, and open a conversation on whether and how design can help connect people amid technological change and social division.

Pascal Ackerschott

is Managing Partner at Berliner Ideenlabor GmbH, as well as an author, lecturer, and design researcher at Sapienza University of Rome. His research and professional work focus on the intersection of design methods and futures studies.

TALK 2

Who Gets to See the System? Fragmented Knowledge, Invisible Services and the Designer’s Role.

Service design has built its professional authority on a particular image: the designer in front of a wall of Post-its, holding the system-level view on behalf of everyone else in the room. It’s a powerful image. It’s also, this talk argues, a quietly self-defeating one.

Drawing on public sector practice, Disha Mittal makes the case that most of what we call “complexity” in public services is really fragmented knowledge: the system is not complicated, it is invisible to itself. This talk reframes service design as a political act of distributing sight: giving service users, frontline workers, and decision-makers the ability to see and act on the systems they’re already inside. The question for students isn’t “how do I understand this system?” but “who else needs to understand it, and what would it take for them to?”

Disha Mittal

is a service design practitioner and career coach based in London with her experience spanning public and private sectors. She currently works as a service designer in a local government authority in London. Her work is rooted in systems thinking, inclusive innovation, and a strong commitment to supporting the next generation of design talent. She is the founder of Service Design Careers, a platform supporting aspiring and early-career service designers. Through 1:1 mentoring, she helps designers strengthen their job applications, articulate their practice, and confidently position themselves in the industry. She brings a sharp eye for ethnographic research and an ability to make sense of complex ecosystems. Alongside her practice, Disha is an active contributor to the design community. She regularly lectures at the Royal College of Art, University of the Arts London, Glasgow School of Art and is a visiting lecturer at Politecnico di Milano. She has shared her perspectives on design, systems change, and inclusive innovation at global platforms including TEDx, SDinGov, and the Service Design Network.

Copyright

Foto 1: Pascal Ackerschott: Camilla Rackelmann, Berliner Ideenlabor GmbH / Disha Mittal
Foto 2: Pascal Ackerschott
Foto 3: Disha Mittal