DS137: Proceedings of the International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Engineering (E&PDE 2025): Fostering Human-Centred Products and Services in Design (OUTPACE). University of Malta, Valletta Campus, Malta. 11th and 12th September 2025

Abstract

E&PDE 2025
Fostering Human-Centred Products and Services Design

The 27th International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education (E&PDE) with the theme ‘Fostering Human-Centred Products and Services Design’ was held at the Valletta Campus of the University of Malta (UM), Valletta, Malta, on the 11th and 12th of September 2025. The conference was hosted by the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, Faculty of Engineering in collaboration with the Department of Technology and Entrepreneurship Education, Faculty of Education, UM. The conference was planned and arranged with the Design Education
Special Interest Group (DESIG) of the Design Society, and the Institution of Engineering Designers (IED).

Since its inception in 1999 in the United Kingdom, the E&PDE conference has grown into a leading international forum. Established as a global event in 2004, it alternates annually between the UK and partner institutions abroad. Its mission is to connect educators, researchers, and industry professionals who are passionate about advancing engineering and product design education. The conference provides a platform to exchange expertise, explore contemporary and emerging methodologies, and discuss the evolving relationship between academia, industry, and society.

In 2019, E&PDE introduced visual papers, in which sketched images play the central role in communicating insights, with text providing a supporting function. These contributions continue to expand the conference’s knowledge base by capturing ideas in ways that are particularly relevant to design education and research.

Conference theme
The product as a technical system remains the core of engineering design. Due to the increasing demands by end users, products are becoming smarter, thereby creating opportunities for innovation, yet sometimes there are challenges and barriers in their use especially by certain strata of the society. Furthermore, the development of smarter products has to be taken into the context of the shift towards product-service business models intended to enable collaborative consumption of both products and services, thereby shifting the cost of ownership and to positively impact the
carbon footprint of products. Central to the shift towards product-service business models is the consideration of social, economic, environmental and experiential challenges that influence society. Designers are therefore entrusted to solve these impactful multifaceted challenges by developing products and services. This entails all of the human stakeholders (e.g. policymakers, factory operators, end-users) who interact with the product or service during some part of its existence. Within this context, engineering and design education needs to keep pace with the development of product-service systems (PSS), to ensure that prospective engineers are equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills. Within this context, the theme of E&PDE 2025 conference focuses on topics which collectively aim at preparing engineering students to meet the demands of PSS in a continuously evolving globalised economy.

The Proceedings
The call for papers invited contributions that:
• explore innovative educational concepts and strategies to prepare students and graduates for future design challenges;
• share best practices in transferring knowledge between academia and industry;
• identify and address skills gaps between higher education and professional practice;
• provide a platform for diverse voices and perspectives within the design education
community
This year’s conference sub-themes included:
• novel assessment methods for multidisciplinary team-based students’ engineering design projects
• challenges and opportunities for educators to foster human-centred product-service
systems (PSS)
• exploitation of systems design methods in product service systems education
• fostering circular economy principles through engineering design educational methods
• educating students in considering ethical and social issues in product service systems
development
• integrating user experiences in different life phases of products and services
• innovative approaches promoting sustainability principles in PSS
• collaborative design education practices fostering multi-user, multi-perspective products and services
• human-centred product-service system design education in the AI era
• industry and academia collaborative models for fostering smart products and services
• migration of students from the private sector to government and NGOs – impact on the development of PSS

The 2025 conference attracted 191 abstracts, including two visual contributions and 18 student submissions. Following a rigorous double-blind peer review process, 125 papers were selected for inclusion in these proceedings. Over the two-day event, more than 150 participants from 26 countries engaged in four workshops and 122 paper presentations, creating a vibrant space for exchange and collaboration.

Keynotes
The conference featured two keynote speakers who provided compelling perspectives on design education in practice. James Attard Kingswell, NPD Officer at Toly Group Ltd., shared insights from his career in product innovation within the global cosmetics industry. Drawing on his academic background in Mechanical Engineering and Integrated Product Development at UM, he illustrated how design education
informs real-world decisions across the full product lifecycle. His keynote highlighted inclusive packaging, multi-component systems, and customer engagement strategies, demonstrating how products are increasingly inseparable from the services they support. Amanda Azzopardi, Senior Principal Engineer at Baxter Malta, brought extensive experience in biomedical product development. Her keynote emphasised human-centred design practices and iterative methodologies applied to medical devices. She discussed navigating complex regulatory frameworks, the critical role of design tools in risk management, and emerging skills, including AI applications, that are essential for future biomedical engineers seeking to deliver safe, effective, and
impactful solutions.

More information

Identifiers

ORCID for Lyndon Buck: orcid.org/0000-0001-7046-5805

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