How are creation and depression related? What effect do the many night shifts have on us? How many of us suffer from burn out and why do we never talk about mental health in everyday university life? How do we want to work in the future? What work ethic do our teachers instill – and how can we defend ourselves? Far away from the university we exchanged experiences on walks, asked designers and educators how they deal with performance pressure and collectively developed strategies for setting our own boundaries. With this focus, options for action that are sensitive to discrimination were discussed in small reference groups as well as joint plenary sessions. In response to our disputes, small actions could arise that drew attention to the still invisible topic, criticised existing structures or showed alternative realities.

The organising team had the opportunity to reflect the seminar within the article “Conversations continued … with Katharina Brenner, Luisa Herbst, Destina Atasayar and Lucie Jo Knilli” published on the Teaching Design platform. You can also download the article here.