Designing for Community Care: Reimagining Support for Equity & Well-being in Academia

TL;DR

This paper discusses reimagining academic peer-support networks using participatory design and care ethics to foster inclusive, sustainable, and equitable community care in academia.

Contribution

It introduces a participatory design approach to develop structured, inclusive support systems addressing systemic gaps in academic communities.

Findings

Co-designed strategies for embedding care and resilience.

Resources for creating equitable support frameworks.

Development of a committed peer support network.

Abstract

Academic well-being is deeply influenced by peer-support networks, yet they remain informal, inequitable, and unsustainable, often relying on personal connections and social capital rather than structured, inclusive systems. Additionally, institutional well-being responses frequently focus on student populations, neglecting the emotional labour of faculty and staff, reinforcing an exclusionary academic culture. Drawing on HCI methodologies, participatory design, and care ethics, this workshop will provide a space for rethinking how academic communities can support inclusive networks. Through pre-workshop engagement, co-design activities, and reflection, participants will examine systemic gaps in networks and explore ways to embed care, equity, and sustainability into academic peer-support frameworks -- from informal, exclusionary models to structured, inclusive care-based ecosystems. At the end of the workshop, participants will co-develop design strategies for integrating care and resilience in academic ecosystems, resources for designing equitable support systems, and a peer network invested and committed to fostering a supportive academic community.