
Åsa Wikberg-Nilsson
Professor and Head of Subject, Head of subject, Distinguished University Teacher
Research subject: Design
Division: Humans and Technology
Department of Social Sciences, Technology and Arts
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Luleå, A3516
About me
Bio
Åsa Wikberg Nilsson is a designer and professor of design at Luleå University of Technology, where she also serve as Head of the Design Group. Her work is characterized by a transformative and practice-oriented approach to design research, focusing on how design methods and prototypes can catalyze social and ecological sustainability. Through co-design and speculative design, she reimagines the role of design in shaping more sustainable societies - both by challenging current systems and by fostering new ways of thinking, acting, and relating to the world.
At the heart of her research is an exploration of how design tools, methods, and approaches are not just instruments but powerful agents of change - deeply intertwined with the ideas, concepts, and theories they help to advance. She pushes beyond traditional methodologies, innovating new ways to explore and materialize possible futures. For instance, a practice-based design researcher might develop a novel tool or method to engage communities in exploring alternative futures, embedding design within lived experiences. In doing so, they generate insights into social dynamics, values, and aspirations - revealing possibilities for systemic transformation - and advancing existing design theories.
Åsa's appraoch to prototyping extends beyond mere artifacts: each prototype becomes a dynamic and time-based intervention, a speculative probe into how a particular design situation might evolve. By critically analyzing how these tools reshape established design methods, she aims to contribute to deeper understanding of how design can be leveraged not just to respond to challenges, but to radically configure them. Her work embodies the conviction that design is not just a means of problem-solving, but a generative foce - an active participant in imagining and generating new, more just, and regenerative futures.
Åsa has extensive experience in sustainable design processes and was nominated for the Design S Award in 2016 for her co-creation of NOVA, tools and methods for norm-creative innovation External link, opens in new window., which since 2024 is part of the permanent exhibition Design Stories at Röhsska Museum
External link, opens in new window. . In 2016, she also co-authored the Design: process and methods
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Åsa teaches at undergraduate, masters- and doctoral level, and is also engaged in the broader design community, participating in organizations such as Design Society External link, opens in new window., SVID
External link, opens in new window., Svensk Form
External link, opens in new window., Svenska Designsällskapet
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External link., Svenska Designakademien and Design Leadership
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