VCUQatar Presents International Design Conference

Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar presents its biennial international design conference, Tasmeem 2011, March 21 through March 24. This year’s conference, “Synapse: Designer as Link,” will address the challenges facing Qatar.

The interdisciplinary and collaborative Tasmeem 2011 conference aims to forge dynamic links between students, creative problem solvers, local community members, community stakeholders and VCUQatar. Tasmeem 2011 is situated as a working conference, featuring student-driven teams investigating the role of design as a problem-solving activity that tackles community issues and future concerns.

VCUQatar has invited a number of globally recognized designers, academics and thinkers to participate as conference speakers and is conducting undergraduate and graduate level workshops in preparation for the conference.

“What makes Tasmeem different is that we’re smaller than other conferences, so people attending Tasmeem and our students have direct access to design professionals to develop student capacity, education and research here in Doha,” said VCUQatar Dean Allyson Vanstone.

Since 2004, Tasmeem Doha has explored the role design plays in helping establish and maintain the cultural identity of a country, exploring design potential within a growing society or implementing sustainable design policies and practices. Conference activities are designed to generate awareness, raise important questions and provide meaningful, realizable solutions. For more information about Tasmeem 2011, visit http://www.tasmeemdoha.com/.